This year isn’t going as planned, is it?
The Best Laid Plans
In January, I led a workshop to create vision boards, which is a process where you gather images from print magazines and online, then artfully arrange them on a poster board. The process focuses your intentions, both in making the board and in using the board as a reminder each day of what you most desire.
Desired abundance comes to us when we can imagine ourselves experiencing that vision.
Experiencing is the key word here.
Manifesting isn’t just about saying the words or cutting out the photos to glue onto a board.
Articulating what you desire is an essential first step, but it is not enough.
To step into transformation requires you to embody the intention with your senses and imagine yourself already enjoying the experience, as if you were living in an alternate timeline or were the perky heroine in your own romantic comedy.
When I consider how this year has turned out and look at my 2020 vision board, all of this sounds like nonsense. Literally, half of the board shows images that involve travelling.
That’s now impossible due to COVID-19. Not that I’m bitter or anything.
Press the Reset Button
Have you ever plugged in a hair dryer, turned it on, and had it not work? You turn it off and turn it on and what you want to happen isn’t happening?
An outlet with a built-in grounding circuit senses that whatever is plugged in may be unsafe and triggers the reset button. Once you figure out what’s happening and press the reset button, the hair dryer turns on.
Looking at the not-to-happen-this-year travel section of my vision board, all I see is loss and disappointment. What could have been is not what is.
But, is it really true that all is lost? Perhaps the answer lies in what I choose to see.
I could stand by the bathroom sink, looking at my hair dryer in frustration and asking why things like this always happen to me. I could reinforce that negative script.
Or, I could step back mentally and physically to see what’s happening and what can be shifted.
To succeed at a reset, I must be willing to stop having tunnel vision on my problems.
Lift Your Head—Literally
Tunnel vision misses the seeing broader picture, which tells a different story.
My vision board has another half where seven intentions have come true. And it’s only June.
In order to press the reset button, you must lift your head up.
Literally, lift your head.
Lift your eyes.
Step outside and fully take in the sky from left to right.
This physical exercise—that I call “lift your eyes to the heavens”—shifts you into expansiveness.
Lifting your eyes to the heavens shifts your mindset and allows you embody the reset button.
Life Transitions
I know a thing or two about life transitions. In fact, I wrote a whole book about them named Who Am I Now? Realign Your Home and Life.
When your life is in transition, you may or may not have initiated that transition.
Unexpected and unwelcome life transitions like the death of a loved one or loss of a job can throw us into a tailspin. Life as we know it will never be the same.
We need to sit in the emotions of these unexpected, unwelcome life transitions for as long as needed. No one else gets to dictate our own healing paths.
At some point, however, it ceases to be valuable to focus on the loss. You feel a nudge to respond differently, but you feel stuck in the loss.
Are YOU Ready for the Reset?
When you feel this nudge, you can step outside and do the “lift your eyes to the heavens” reset. Then return to your home or life situation and look around with the eyes of a tourist.
Take it all in.
Notice what’s not working AND what is working.
Find something to appreciate and let that vibe fill your body with joy.
The joy will attract more joy. Soon, you will have abundant joy.
When I look through the reset lens, I see the reasons why I was so excited to take the trips on my vision board.
- I wanted to connect with my husband during the trip.
- I desired the excitement of seeing new places.
- I anticipated the anticipation of travel enjoyment (which studies say can be more satisfying than the actual trip for some people).
With a broader vision—a reset vision—I see that I can experience the enjoyment that the trips would bring. The enjoyment can happen right here and right now.
Yes, I will be different. Yes, I still wish to go on these adventures.
Get Out of Your Own Way
What stops me from feeling adventurous and connected in my life right now?
The good news AND the bad news is that the answer is ME. I get to make a choice.
It’s about what I will allow to flow through me.
I get to press that reset button and embody the abundant joy that I was seeking all along.
I invite you to join me.
- Are you willing to try the “lift your eyes to the heavens” reset technique?
- Are you open to seeing where things are going well along with where you are disappointed?
Let me know by emailing Kate@KateVarness.com. I’d love to hear.
If you desire more of this mindset guidance, join my Facebook group, Make Space for Abundance at https://www.facebook.com/groups/makespaceforabundance/
