Envisioning

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."

-William Wordsworth

A few months ago I hosted a vision board making evening. Three friends and I tore through magazines, cut out words and images with any scissors I could find around the house, choreographed what went where on each of our 18"x20" space and, once committed, glue-sticked our hearts' desires onto our poster boards. Soft background music met the slicing and dicing of glossy pages, chit chat crescendoed and faded depending on the stages of everyone's progress, readers were worn and more lights illuminated as the night sky turned dark. Our devotional hum of conjuring whilst making, thinking whilst doing, matched the blurry merging of the cricket and coqui song. All four of us deliberately laid things out, word by word, frame by frame calling in our own magical symphonies in the company of trusted others. The mood waxed witchy and poetic, prayerful and playful, the activity leading us to a kind of flow state you don't realize you're in until you paste that last piece and realize what you've created.

I've done vision boards every year for the last ten years. They're always different, with a little bit of the same. Things I'm still grasping for remain, but maybe in smaller font or with less real estate. New themes pop in glitter or in the center. A mix of dreams, goals and necessities mingle on the board in a palette that speaks of intention and calling it in. I used to save them, but with all of the moving, I purged my old visions. This year's board sits in my studio, to the right of my desk. Hues of blue and green spread from left to right stirring my senses with hints of twilight, bookends, cusps. There is a mood of growth, grounding and floating. A bejeweled dragonfly flits against a crusty cloud sprinkled dawn colored horizon; a brown haired boy sporting goggles floats in an aqua pool, mouth agape towards an unseen sky; a hot air balloon folds in on itself at the hands of two silhouettes in a sandy dessert; and at the center is a little yellow clapboard cottage with pastel green shutters. There are animals and trees, flowers and words, affirmations and motivations. But at its heart, whenever I gaze upon it, I feel a sense of calm and curiosity rejoicing in "dreams" I've leaned into and remembering the ones I'm still developing. I've already cast the spell and I'm witnessing its actualization, breath by breath and day by day.

I don't know about you, but I'm not a tracker. I don't count the miles I run each week, the hours I sleep, the weight I'm lifting, the calories I burn. I trust that I'm doing enough, be it running, sleeping or eating. And if something feels off, I switch things up. I'm not motivated by numbers and scales, but by my own sense of embodiment. (This gets challenged with frozen shoulders, sprained ligaments and temperamental sacrums, but the goal is still the same, if just a little more challenging.) The same goes as when I paint or when I'm working with a birth chart, I'm driven by how my body feels in the gathering and expressing of information. It's not analytical, but emotional. There is fire and motivation, as well as pausing and listening.

As I look at my 2026 board, I realize, perhaps, that the creation and directive of the vision board is my own version of tracking, my personal tool of accounting. The referral point when things feel blurry or like I've arrived. It's my internal mission statement, with a side of innuendo. It's there to push me and pull me- guide me and hold me. (There's a song here, I just can't remember the singer or the name...) It's an ephemeral map, an invisible thread that ties me to what is sacred, important, whimsical and fleeting.

How does it work for you? Is it numbers, vision boards, journaling or something else? What motivates your mojo and quantifies your dreams? How do you keep track of your desires and goals? What defines your feeling of success, especially if you don't always know where you started? What qualifies as a failure or a work in progress? Do you give yourself gold stars or do you withhold? Do take yourself shopping or shoot higher or farther? Maybe you just smile and give yourself some credit.

That's what I'm working on this year. Credit. Being kind to myself, appreciating what I've accomplished. Looking at my watery, earthy sensual vision board highlighted with phrases like "Power Moves. Siren call. Your Ambition. Start with Art. Stories to Tell. Eternal Truth Seeker. Soothing Low Hum." I'm encouraging myself to keep going, keep reaching and at the same time, settle in and trust. I've already got everything I need, the joy is realizing it's all a miracle, it's all beautiful. The success is being a live and loving the ride, even the bumpy parts.

To end I'll quote two wordsmiths who land it home and remind you to always put your intentions out there, to not keep them hidden from yourself.

"You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream."

-C.S Lewis

"Focus more on your desire than on your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself."

-Mark Twain

With love and wonder,

St. Sunshine