My Life Vision/ Dream/ Success Journal

Happy Valentines Day! I hope you’re all having a good day. I’ve had a truly wonderful loved filled day so far. My son woke me up with a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. He was excited because he was having 2 parties today. I walked into work to find voicemail and email messages from every single one of my ex-boyfriends throughout my lifetime. That was so thoughtful and sweet of them. I received a cupcake from a single co-worker who was feeling rather depressed over the impending day so I bought her a card and some flowers yesterday. After lunch, one of my co-workers gave me a beautiful art postcard he got for free at an art exhibit he went to, its so pretty I posted it right away on my cube wall. He was grateful for the chocolate almond Hershey kisses I brought in to work for everyone to share. See, in sharing the gift of love, I received love back ten-fold.

Yes, its been a very good day. At this moment I’m very happy but exhausted! I've been working on something in bits and pieces in my spare time for awhile and it’s finally starting to come to fruition. Now that the first phase is finished I can share some of it with you all. It’s my life/dream/vision/success journal.

This all started when I took a class last summer that had me think about my bucket list [see post below and link to an earlier post]. During that class I was asked a question, which I’ve modified for myself: “What would you do /create/be, if you knew you couldn't fail?” Well, that question led me to aspire to amazing dreams and create some incredible visions for my life- such as moving to Virginia someday, meeting the kind of people I want to have in my life, and planning the kinds of things I want for my son and myself in the future, etc.. Well, so it could be even more powerful, and I could remain focused on my goals I put them all it in the form of a mini visionary collage, which you see in the first above:

The picture shows the inside cover of my Life Vision/Dream/Success Journal/binder. This is an unusual journal in that I'm going to check-in and track my progress and any challenges (including writing about how I overcame them) in this Success Journal in order to ensure that I achieve my dreams and goals.

At the center is me (in a hideous, ill-fitting bridesmaid dress) with my incredibly wonderful best friend whom I miss greatly. The reason this picture is there is because I want to invite more wonderful friendships like hers into my life. Just above my head is a fan of money, signifying all the money making ideas I will generate from my writing, to my photography, to other entrepreneurial efforts. Above the money is the business card which I designed for my consulting business which I know will take off soon.

Above the business card is my very first major dress design, for which I received a fashion award (which eventually became my wedding dress; actually, that’s me modeling the dress in 4” heels during the competition). I eventually sold that dress at a very hefty profit on ebay. To the right of the dress are deep red tea roses (I love flowers) which signifies nurturing and caring for nature (I want to have a fruit, vegetable and flower garden again some day). To the left of the dress are the words "I love you". This is to remind myself there are several types of love, of which the most important is self-love. In loving myself I am making myself whole and complete and enough, any outside love I receive is gravy. Yes, sometimes I forget in my various roles to take care of myself and this reminds me that in spite of my imperfections, God, the Universe, and everything in it, loves me and the woman I am trying to be.

Back to the center of the collage and to the right of me is a woman in a Pilates pose. Doing Pilates is a major challenge for me because my knees are still weak from my accident last year. It’s a weakness that I hope to overcome by the end of this year – hence its’s here as a goal! Rosie the Riveter is to the left with her encouraging message of "We Can Do It! Reminding me that I’m not alone in anything I do. If I have challenging moments I can reach out to others and get their love and support to continue on.

Below Rosie is a portion of my favorite Modigliani painting, one which I love very much and hope to own someday, even if its in replica. It’s meant to inspire my own creativity in either the visual arts or in writing . Below the Modigliani is the house I would like to live in some day in Virginia, I envision horses nearby. Pretty is it not? And to the right of that is the trip of the lifetime – destination Europe. In pencil, and not visible to you, are the words "writing my book series" as I hope to also do someday. There’s lots more incredible pictures, in the different tabbed sections of the journal, of my wonderful dreams which will keep me inspired and smiling for a very long time.

BTW, inside I created tab sections [see pic at end] with goals and action steps typed out and pasted onto the page, so that I could keep track of the actions I need to take and there I can write any additional steps I need to take or things I need to consider in circumventing obstacles or even ideas I get and how I'll handle them. For instance, in my financial section my financial mentor might throw out a nuget (an idea) which I'll need to capture and process, this is where it'll go. Before it was scattered in slips of paper I collected in a folder. Not a very effective reminder as I didn't carry the folder with me and I couldn't review it at progress check-in time. This journal will go with me everywhere!

Hmmmm, could this in and of itself be a book in the making? Imagine: me helping people create their own success journal. Wadda ya think? Is there potential here?

Let me know what you guys think!