Trying Not to Try: The Heart of Visioning®

In an effort to make their collages images come true, many novices try too hard to bring about their vision. They notice a woman on the collage is wearing a bright yellow blouse, so they overspend on the wrong color shirt that's just a little too tight. An impulse buy: all for the anxiety of forcing their vision, rather than allowing their vision.

I'm not discounting that your fairy godmother could walk up to you with prepaid tickets to Bali for two and happens to be wearing a bright yellow blouse, but the Art of Visioning® states:

"We can rearrange the outer world forever, but if we haven't rearranged the furniture in our hearts and minds the experience of fulfillment will elude us. As we replace outworn beliefs and limiting perceptions with new pictures and a new scenario, we literally recreate ourselves." Lucia Capacchione, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams, page 253.

In the same way I practice writing, we must also practice Visioning®. Embodying our collage images through journal writing, movement and contemplation brings our vision deep into our heart memory. As we feel our way to our vision, we make adjustments to release the inner critic's voice. We release self-sabotaging thoughts and habits.

This point is brought home in a recent article about Edward Slingerland's book, Trying Not to Try: Cultivating the Art and Science of Spontaneity.

"Our excessive focus in the modern world on the power of conscious thought and the benefits of willpower and self-control causes us to overlook the pervasive importance of what might be called “body thinking”: tacit, fast, and semiautomatic behavior that flows from the unconscious with little or no conscious interference. The result is that we too often devote ourselves to pushing harder or moving faster in areas of our life where effort and striving are, in fact, profoundly counterproductive."

"Starting Over" Collage 1 from my 5-panel series: "I Know What I Said."

After playing with my latest vision board  "Starting Over," I got an intuitive body hit to explore moving to Europe. Elated one day, panicked two days (I had just got settled), by day four I was making a plan to scram next year, and finally, I started over at peace.

Now I'm planning to take a vacation to explore several cities where I can see myself living. I bought a travel guide, borrowed language CDs from the library and filled out my passport application. In August, I'll check in with my friend who lives overseas to see what her plans are. Beyond that, I'm enjoying where I live and work now, and following my Visioning® heart.

Dorothy Segovia is a certified Vision coach and author who explores creative journaling and music in My Body, My Car: How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Accidents. Learn more about her at www.writeinside.com.

Discover the heart of your creativity by becoming a Creative Journal Expressive Arts facilitator. Learn how to teach and coach others in a beautiful, retreat setting. Teachers, health practioners and other professionals can incorporate the Creative Journal and Visioning® methods into their own teaching. Visit Lucia's web site for details.