Collage can be a powerful way to stay focused on your goals and manifest your dreams. This page is based on the book "Visioning" by Lucia Capacchione, which I highly recommend. Whether you want to set a goal to lose weight, own your own home, find a lasting relationship or anything in between, visioning can be a powerful way to visualize and manifest them.
Visioning is a process of using collage to create a picture of your goal - this process of collecting, sorting, organizing and pasting pictures mirrors the psychological process of deciding, planning and taking steps to implement our goals.
Lucia Capacchione writes in her book "Visioning":
"We know from the work of C. G. Jung, Joseph Campbell and countless others that the unconscious mind, feelings, intuitions, wishes and dreams speak most truthfully in the language of images and symbols. This is the domain of the right brain, which specializes in visual-spatial perception, metaphoric thinking, emotional expression and intuitive knowing. It is the realm of dreams and the arts. By first approaching our deepest feelings and wishes through right-brain visual imagery in pictures, we gain direct access to the unvarnished truth of our heart's true desires. Then we can move on to verbalizing our insights and our creative process. Visioning is a whole brain approach. It uses both hemispheres of the brain: the visual, non-verbal right side (through collage-making) and the verbal left side (through captions and phrases, as well as journal-writing)."
She also writes:
"One thing that all Visionaries have in common is that they practice making 'thoughts become things'. They cultivate their creative ideas like loving gardeners. And they have faith. They don't have to keep digging the seed up every five minutes to find out if the plant is growing. They germinate ideas and trust the creative process. In addition, Visionaries are committed to taking all the steps necessary to give birth to their creations. Their attitude is: whatever it takes. They face doubts, fears, rejection, disappointment, delays and other obstacles that everyone faces in life. Yet they hold true to the creative idea, knowing that sooner or later it will take form in the physical world. Some gestation periods are longer than others. One idea may take 20 years to hatch, another may take 20 days. The creative thought is the thing. Nurture it, charge it with energy and enthusiasm, and the world will be drawn to it as to a magnet."
Step 1 - Collecting The Pictures
Magazines are a good place to start, even the internet if you have a colour printer. Think about your goal and cut out any pictures or words that relate to or describe it. Don't be fussy or too neat at this point - the sorting and laying out will come later.Step 2 - Sorting The Pictures
Go through all the pictures and words and start culling the ones that don't feel right or aren't specific enough. Again, don't rush this process, really think about each picture or word and whether it fits your goal. You can even sort them into "Definitely", "Definitely Not", and "Maybe" piles.Step 3 - Deciding On Your Pictures
This is where you decide finally what exactly will be making up your collage. At any point you can return to the first stage if you feel you don't have enough of the right pictures/words.Step 4 - Working Out The Layout
The process of working out how your pictures will go together on the page/board is an important one, and usually takes the longest. Once again, don't rush things - this is about your goal, so take your time and work out how you want it to appear on paper.Step 5 - Pasting Everything In Place
This is the final and most important step. You will be grounding your dream in reality with this step, and giving it a permanent place in your subconscious mind as well as the 3D physical world. It is a good idea to put your finished collage up somewhere you can see it every day.Step 6 - Celebrate!
Time to celebrate as though you have already achieved your goal. You have finished the sometimes long process of bringing your dreams into reality and now is the time to commend yourself. Rather than just sitting back and waiting for your dream to manifest, make sure you keep your eyes and ears open for signs and opportunities from the universe - you have put it out there - and soon the seed will germinate. Well done!
Click here to buy Lucia Capacchione's book "Visioning" from Amazon.com
Click here for Lucia Capacchione's Home Page
