Visioning Step 3: Focus on the Vision

So. You're sitting amidst piles of images and words. You've gathered them because your heart has sent you on a quest. You have made a wish, you have a focus phrase, now it's time to focus on the vision.

"It is said that Michelangelo described sculpting as 'getting rid of everything that wasn't the sculpture.' That's what you are about to do. Step 3 emphasizes the next phase in the creative process: discrimination, elimination, editing, refinement, exclusion." -- page 84, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams.

Now it's time to sift and sort. This step is often overwhelming because I want to take everything with me. So I break down the process further with three piles:  Yes. No. Maybe.

I need to do this because three other words are blocking the way to my collage creation:
Discrimination. Elimination. Exclusion.

These are harsh words. I believe that more of anything is better, especially creative ideas.

This third way of  "yes, no, maybe" creates breath and space. It makes way for fun so I can enjoy the  process. After all, Visioning(R) is fun!!!! Remember???

Gratefully Step 3 applies to the collage after it is created as well:

 

I live in a safe and sacred home in Ventura.

I can apply the discrimination. elimination. exclusion word revelations to my current vision of moving to Ventura. While my collage has manifested in amazing ways, I'm still....not....quite.....there: renting a room and working.
PHOOEY!!!!

But phooey creates the opening for the Saboteur to step in and give up on the journey when I may have only 500 yards to drive.

Looking at my collage, I focus on the phrase "Today is the day I write my own story." Yes. No. Maybe.

Yes, I still want to move to Ventura.
No, I'm not willing to give up on my dream.
Maybe if I send out an email to everyone asking specifically for what I want--my own room in Ventura, even temporarily--so I can practice living my Ventura life.

Bingo! I am happy to report I am staying for several days in a fabulous guest room in Ventura on a beautiful sunny ranch with two dogs, three cats and four amazing new friends.

"Your heart may show you things your minds is not ready to grasp. Keep your eyes open for new possibilities. If you knew everything there is to know about yourself, you wouldn't be weaving a new dream or following your heart's desire. Your creative self is leading you into new territory. Will you travel there?" --page 85, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams.

Visioning(R) works.

What will you do today to focus on your dream????

Write your answers in the Comments section!!!

Guest blogger Dorothy Segovia is a certified Vision Coach who knows how to  focus on a dream. She is the author of My Body, My Car: How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Accidents, a book about using Creative Journaling and original songs to move through obstacles. www.writeinside.com.

Visioning Step 2: Visioning Euphoria

Visioning® Euphoria by guest blogger Kate Dana

With Lucia Capacchione, PhD, in San Luis Obispo CA, October 2012.

I have this collage with me today.

In October 2012 I attended a one-day workshop with Lucia Capacchione, PhD, best-selling author of 18 books, including VISIONING®: Designing the Life of Your Dreams. Under Lucia’s guidance, several attendees and I followed the 10 steps of Visioning® and ended the day with huge posters of our heart’s desire (“dream goals”). Mine was based on creative work, travel and living in a Spanish-speaking country, all of which I am doing now. Visioning® works. I was convinced when I read Lucia’s book, but meeting her and practicing the method together confirmed me as a believer. If you have a chance to attend one of Lucia’s workshops, I strongly recommend it.

Starting the 10 Steps to Visioning® on a sunny Saturday in México

Occasionally, life goals need adjusting. While I still have my original Vision board with me, when I find parts of it feel “stuck,” I create a smaller board to focus in on what needs a boost. Additionally, I have learned if you are not specific enough with your Visioning®, you will get what you ask for, like ordering mayonesa for your elote, when you really wanted crema. It still tastes good, but it’s not exactly what you want. Realizing this, I spent a sunny Saturday afternoon working Lucia’s magic. Just starting the process of Visioning® made me happy: when we stir energy around us – our lives, our desires, etc., – the kinetic energy is almost like a natural euphoria.

Midway through Visioning® – creative energy feels great

I have the 10 steps for Visioning® from Lucia’s workshop here with me in México. I follow them one by one, from brainstorming to finding images and text to assembling everything into a collage. One of my favorite of the 10 Steps for Visioning is Step 2: Searching for Images and Words, or the designers research phase, which comes as no surprise since I have graphic design experience. Step 2 begins by gathering pictures, captions, and phrases from magazines, a personal collection of photos or other visual sources. The emphasis is on what experience you wants to create in life rather than just images of things to be acquired. The mantra is: Grab what grabs you. Lucia urges creators to keep an open mind while gathering as many relevant images and words as needed. If other great but unrelated pictures surface, set them aside to be used in other collages. As mentioned in Step 3: Focus on the Vision, some people gather too many images, creating a giant pile that feels overwhelming to sort through. The best solution for this is to ask specifically, “Does this express my innermost wishes, my fondest dreams?” If it doesn’t, there may still be a reason it “grabbed” you; find a large envelope and stash these images or words for a future collage, where they may be relevant.

Collage detail: “Grabbing what grabs me”

When gathering words and images, I sometimes feel persuaded to collect positive phrases or motivational quotes, partly because I am fighting off what Lucia calls the “Inner Critic” voice, the doubts we occasionally hear in the back of our minds as we pursue anything. Mentioned in Step 5: Explore and Find Order in Creative Chaos (from the 10 Steps to Visioning®), these doubts can come from ourselves or others around us. I find it most important when this happens to stop and write a “Q and A conversation,” asking myself what I want and why, responding honestly and free of fears. As with most situations in life, if you doubt them, you rob them of opportunity. If you believe, they have a much stronger foundation to stand on, with your focus and faith as support.

Visioning® to Go, in a vibrant “Méxican pink” envelope

While Lucia recommends a giant poster, I don’t have the space, so I create a smaller piece that folds in half or thirds, like a card or brochure. I find having my Visioning® collage with me is like carrying a mantra or prayer. This small item keeps me in check. I refer to it when I wake up, throughout the day, and before I go to sleep so the vision is fresh in my mind. Eventually, the desired outcome begins to happen. Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly; signs and events reveal that the Visioning® is working: it is real. We all have the power to direct our own life, we just need to say how or what we want, and be specific.

Visioning® collage: Inspiration. It’s all around us.

My Visioning® collage turned out great: colorful, organized, and specific to what I am focusing on: all very much to my liking. I can already feel the changes I want happening. Gracias Lucia por tu Visioning® y por su información. Todos somos de gran alcance en su interior.

Guest blogger Kate Dana is a mixed-media artist and travel writer studying Spanish and teaching English in Jalisco, México. Since 2009 Kate has been studying Spanish, creating art and traveling. She is inspired by the music, food and history of Spanish-speaking countries and has enjoyed visits to Spain, the Dominican Republic and México. Visit www.katedana.com to read about Kate's travel adventures.

Kate is also a 2012 graduate of International Teacher Training Organization in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, where she earned a Certification in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. For more information visit www.katedanateaches.com

Visioning® in Business

Learning from the Masters

My original career was in art and design (Mattel, Hallmark were my clients). In my second and third careers as art therapist and author, I worked for Disney as a corporate consultant. While doing management training and talent development with theme park designers at Disney Imagineering for ten years, I stood back and observed the design process in a way I never did while actually designing products. It was the opportunity of a lifetime: watching the Imagineers work their magic. We introduced Visioning® collage work for personal and team goal-setting, a technique I was already using with my private art therapy clients. The Imagineers ate it up with a spoon. Working with one of my co-authors, the late Peggy Van Pelt, we saw the staff's creativity and skills in innovation increase many times over. It was a privilege and honor to be around this amazing brain trust of world-class talent. Some of the Imagineers I knew actually worked directly with Walt and what stories they told!.

One of the most enjoyable experiences I had was sitting in on "blue sky" design sessions when Imagineers were brainstorming new theme park ideas. I felt very much at home because they did the same thing we do in Visioning®: putting images and words onto the walls without editing or critiquing the ideas. "The sky's the limit", was their attitude in these sessions. That's why they called it Blue Sky. In Visioning® that's the "grab what grabs you" phase of collecting images and words from magazines. Without worrying about practicality, feasibility, or affordability, we open our minds to think outside the box. The famous "box" we are trying to get outside of, the one we are trapped in, is really our old ways of doing of defining ourselves and of doing business.

If there ever was a time when we needed to get outside the old business box it is right now. There's not a moment to waste, collectively or individually. And change starts with each one of us. Innovation is no longer a luxury, something to think about or take a seminar in. These days, innovation spells the difference between surviving or capsizing.

In my book Visioning, I often quote the Imagineers and Disney himself. In fact, I live by his golden words: If you can dream it, you can do it! Walt should know. He innovated so many "impossible dreams," such as Snow White, the first feature length animated film (released in 1937). That was towards end of the Great Depression of the 30s. Things had been improving slowly yet steadily during the New Deal when Roosevelt put millions back to work on government funded projects (just as President Obama is doing). However, in 1937 the economy took a sudden downturn again. People got scared. Was the country headed for another total collapse?

From a rational, left-brain point of view, that would not have seemed a good time to introduce a new film genre. There were those who thought no one would sit through a long "cartoon" and that Walt was crazy. Well, "they" were wrong, and the rest is history. Snow White was a blockbuster, became a classic and paved the way for a whole new kind of film which became Walt Disney's gift to the world.

Another leap forward into a new form of entertainment was the first Disneyland, and all the theme parks that spun out of it. Walt's "focus phrase" (as we call it in Visioning®) was "to create a place where the whole family could have fun together." Financiers thought Walt was "madder than a hatter" when he approached them about investing in his new scheme. But he listened to his heart and forged ahead. With Herbie Ryman (art director of Fantasia) creating full color renderings of Main Street and other attractions in Walt's mind, they made their Vision boards. Then, in another stroke of genius, Walt borrowed the idea of "commercial sponsorship" used in television. Walt got Carnation, Dow Chemical and other companies to put up the money for sections of Disneyland. They used these stores and attractions as advertising for their firms. Now that is creativity in business.

I take tips from the masters of innovation. They all say the same thing. Listen to your heart! (Step 1 of Visioning®). Think outside the box (Step 2 of Visioning®) and the way will be clear, the clouds will move aside and the sun of your own inner and outer resources will shine through. And there will be wonderful surprises.

Change is what is needed now. And it starts with you. Visioning® your way to a new job, career or business is within your reach. All it takes is scissors and glue, some magazines and paper. Go for it!

For more on the process, go to: VisioningCoach.org.
Or read Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams. You will want to check out the chapters that have to do with finding work, abundance and a career path that is right for you.

Visioning® Your Career Goals

Visioning® at Work

Media news about the economy, millions of job losses and a collapsing real estate market have thrown many people into panic. It would be easy to sink into a personal depression watching the global economy sink into a financial depression. But it doesn't have to be that way. What better time to do Visioning® for career, business and job goals than now? These are not times for the faint of heart and Visioning® relies on listening to the heart. As they say: When the going gets touch, the tough get going.

It takes courage (a word that is rooted in the French word for heart) to face big challenges. When huge changes are happening all around us, we are called upon to change within. Using the Visioning® process, I personally jump started myself into new directions during our last big recession in the early 90s. The tanking economy served as a catalyst for me to listen to my heart. That's when I Visioned and bought my dream house (shown in a previous blog) for a savings of $133,000 from the original asking price. It was at the bottom of the real estate market in early 1993. Since I work at home, finding this house really altered my work and income producing ability. I now had a beautiful light-filled studio (shown here) for resuming work as an artist and outlets for exhibiting my art right here in Cambria (known worldwide for its galleries, shops and restaurants exhibiting photos and paintings).

In my dream house I also had room to conduct a private practice and small workshops in my home. I used hotels and meeting rooms nearby for larger conferences and training programs. All this within a few minutes of where I live. Through my Visioning® collages done after I moved into my dream house, I received guidance on new book and audio projects and innovative business enterprises that greatly expanded my work.

Visioning® has led to many exciting business enterprises for me: conducting workshops in Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, taking groups to Italy, conference and book tours in the English countryside in Glastonbury, trainings in old farm houses in the English Lake District near Beatrix Potters' house, afternoon tea in quaint thatch-roofed houses in the Cottswolds. The list goes on and on. They all showed up in my collages (made in the studio shown above) before they became a reality. Half the time I was incredulous as I created my collage. How is this ever going to happen? I would think. But if I was clear, the opportunities just knocked at my door and I let them in. And I got paid for all of that fun.

You can engage in Visioning® work that fulfills you and supports you. It's an inside job. For more information, go to VisioningCoach.org To buy my book, Visioning, go to: LuciaC.com

Yes you can! Visioning® Renewal

The New Year - 2009 - is a great time to start Visioning®. We have a new President and are beginning a new era in our country. Sure, we have lots of challenges, but in America you can feel change in the air. And apparently this has spread around the globe. At my website, I've received lots of good wishes from readers in different countries representing many nationalities, races and religions. They are excited and hopeful about America turning over a new leaf. But hope is not enough. Bringing about renewal is something each individual must do. That's where the Visioning® process of life design comes in.

As Walt Disney said: If you can dream it, you can do it! So let's start with you. And let's start now!

What you will need:

Visioning® begins with finding your true heart's desire and creating a photo collage to illustrate your dream. You'll need art paper or poster board (18 x 24 inches or larger), scissors, glue, magazines (and other sources of photo images and words). You will also need a bound blank book (unlined pages) for keeping a Creative Journal (preferably 9 x12 inches). I recommend a set of felt pens in 8 or more colors for writing. If you are serious about making your dreams come true, get a copy of my book Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams (Tarcher/ Putnam). It describes the process in detail, complete with photo illustrations. Set the mood for each step in the process with the musical CD, Visioning (music by recording artist, Jessie Allen Cooper (available only at LuciaC.com and coopersoundwaves.com).

You might be wondering: What's unique about Visioning®? What sets it apart from from all that other stuff like The Secret, visualization, life planning, affirmations, treasure maps, and so on? First, the 10 steps of Visioning® follow the stages that all designers, inventors, architects pass through when they create in the material world. These are the folks who designed the computer you are using, the chair you are sitting in, the desk, the floor, the room, etc., that surrounds you. Why not learn from them? These creative people are trained, skilled and experienced at taking thoughts and turning them into things? That's exactly what you do in Visioning®.You apply tried and true design principles to your life and work. Believe me, they work!

When a designer gets an idea she puts that inspiration, idea or mental picture into physical form immediately (sketches, blueprints, renderings, etc.) In Visioning® we do this by fashioning a collage - a sort of storyboard - similar to the ones filmmakers use in mapping out their story. We don't use the cartoon strip format of linear pictures, rather it's an all-at-once impression, a collage that conveys our dream. It might have words in it, too. The goal is to illustrate the heart's desire, what it would look like and feel like. It's a preview of coming attractions, how we want to feel once the dream is realized. That all shows in the Visioning® collage board. This is not about accuuilating things. It's about how we want to grow and who we want to become.

Visioning® can be done by individuals, couples, families, groups, organizations, work teams, and companies. We've used it in public schools systems (team teaching groups), corporations, hospitals, non-profit organizations, church groups, and more. Collages can be done as individual boards or posters or in group applications as a combined mural. They can also be created as individual boards all fitting together to create a shared Vision. Shared Visioning® boards are photographed and each member of the group gets a picture of the whole while keeping their own collage. Sometimes shared collage murals are displayed, as in the case of one elementary school in Texas. The teachers doing team teaching posted their group collage of the "goals for the year" on the walls outside their classrooms for themselves and their students to see. The school had high scores and great morale.

Secondly, Visioning® provides psychological tools for clearing obstacles. Creating the Visioning® board is only the beginning. Big dreams always bring out big inner blocks. It's part of the game. Inevitably, when we start reaching for new goals, the Inner Critic or Judge jumps out and chatters away in our brains. "This is stupid. How ugly. What a waste of time. You'll only be disappointed. This is a pipe dream and will never happen. Who do you think you are with these grandiose ideas? And anyway, you have more important things to do right now, like paying bills or laundry or mowing the lawn or doing your taxes or......."(you fill in the blanks)

One of the keys to success with Visioning® is the time tested technique for dealing with this universal voice of self-criticism and self doubt within. I've written whole books about this, most notably, The Power of Your Other Hand (Career Press). The Visioning® process provides journal activities for writing your way through these internal blocks of self-judgment and skepticism about the Visioning® process. If I hadn't developed this technique I would never have written 13 books. Here's how I did it.

While attempting to start my first book, The Creative Journal (Career Press/New Page), I was plagued with a crippling writer's block. I spent two to three days a week staring at white paper in the typewriter. Finally I practiced what I was teaching in my Creative Journal classes (which was the topic of the book, ironically enough). In one journal session, I cleared the block in two pages of writing. I wrote what the Inner Critic said with my dominant hand (the one I normally write with), and answered back with my non-dominant hand (the one I don't usually write with). Within two pages I was done, felt utterly liberated and energized. I rose from my journal, went to my studio and completed the book within three months by writing two or three days a week. I had a "real job" as a college instructor and art therapist while becoming an author on my own so that's all the time I could afford.

But wait, that's not all. Breaking through my block also gave me the courage to put the word out to friends (step 9 of Visioning®), get a support system around me, and find a mentor who referred me to his publisher. They said yes right away. Better yet, the book needed no editing. In spite of what my Inner Critic had said, I'd written a perfectly acceptable manuscript! Over the years, The Creative Journal has become a best seller, been published in three different editions and formed the basis of an entire method of journal therapy being used all over the world.(LuciaC.com)

Dream it and do it. I've done it, and I know you can, too. See more on VisioningCoach.org.