Visioning® Solutions

It is mid-January, do you know where your goals are? If you are happily moving towards your intention, then HOORAY, keep going! But if you are like me, you are still figuring out which one of your many desires to actually commit to paper.

In addition, I've often found that setting a goal had the opposite affect. That is, I give up because my desire seems too big, too far away or takes too much energy. Esther Hicks, co-author of the Abraham-Hicks series of lectures and books explains goal-setting this way, 

“There is something in the attitude of trying that makes you turn and go the other way (against the current that leads to your dream.) But it is something different if you just let go. You call it surrender, but we don't mean giving up. You can't give up on your desires because your dreams are eternal.”

As a long-time visionary, I know that we set goals because we believe reaching them will create happiness. But I want peace and joy regardless of external circumstances. This intention, combined with Visioning®, will itself lead to my desire.The reason is that Visioning® is the solution when we are in the middle of a stressful situation. In chapter 11 of her book, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams, Lucia addresses the topic of work and career. She sites specific case studies of others who solved issues through collage and journaling. One case addresses dealing with difficult people on the job—specifically the manager from hell. Having the manager of hell as a boss doesn't seem like the path to peace.

Photo from LinkedIn.com

“Visioning is a highly effective method for dealing with such situations from the inside out. Why? Because it is possible to safely express emotional buildup through a picture of “what is” and then move on to visioning “how it could be.” The release of tension through collage and writing frees up tremendous amounts of creative and physical energy. Worries and anxiety can be dumped out onto the paper, clearing the way for the vision of a positive future.” page 175, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams.

Of course Marissa, the visionary in the case-study successfully arrived at a solution through Visioning®, but you'll need to check out the chapter yourself if you want to know the specifics.

So, 2014 is going to be all about applying Visioning® to situations that keep us stressed out, instead of blissed out. Learn the method firsthand Sunday, January 19, 2014 from 10am to 5pm in San Luis Obispo, CA., by joining Lucia at her Visioning® workshop. The cost is $100.00 and space is limited. Register by calling 805 546-1424 or by emailing luciacapa@aol.com.

For more information on this workshop or Lucia's other 2014 workshops, click to go to her website.

Dorothy Segovia is a writer, musician and certified Visioning Coach. She welcomes your questions, comments and suggestions about this blog. Contact her through her website at www.writeinside.com.

Visioning Step 6: Create the Collage

When we reach this step of the collage process, we have learned how to listen to our heart's message, clipped images, sorted them, composed our design and wrestled with the doubting Critic. However, just because we are out of the woods and actually gluing images and words onto our heart-sized paper, we are not necessarily immune to the fear-based rational mind.

In spite of having created many collages, I never fail to be delighted and surprised at my completed Vision board. The initial composition, images and words set on the page before step 5, the step where I dialogue with the Critic and stand up for my dream, always shifts in this stage—IF I ALLOW IT TO TRANSFORM.


Photo from www.inhabitat.com


Here's what one of Lucia's workshop participants experienced:

“For example Clare was completing a Vision collage and noticed a big empty space under a photo of a bespectacled photographer looking out from behind the lens of his camera. Clare had interpreted the photo as symbolizing her need to focus on her dream. Suddenly her eye glanced over to a discarded ad in her reject word pile. A caption and paragraph jumped out at her and spoke to a far deeper meaning in the picture. It read:

Visionary
Our eyes are capable of seeing many things in life;
what is common and familiar, or what is rare and extraordinary.

Clare took this to mean that she needed to look at everything in life with new awareness and attentiveness. A camera lens is a mundane and quite literal illustration for the idea of focus. On the other hand, the word “visionary” and its accompanying text allude to another, deeper level of perception.” page 117, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams.

By allowing Clare to stay in her heart space rather than head space, she was able to notice and retrieve her word caption from the discard pile.

As Lucia states in her book, Visioning is a form of active meditation. That is, both practices seek greater connection to our Creative Self. This Visioning principle applies to our daily life as well. Of course we all wake up with a plan of what we need to accomplish, but allowing our heart to gently guide us through our to-do list makes an ordinary day, extraordinary.

Dorothy Segovia is an author, songwriter and certified Visioning coach practicing in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. She can be reached via her website at www.writeinside.com.