Oprah might be on to something...

A few months back Marcus got a magazine deal where he got Sports Illustrated ("For the sports!" Right!) and Photography Magazine, and out of his great generosity he got me a subscription to Oprah's magazine O.

 O doesn't do it for me,  there aren't any good recipes, and it isn't visually appealing.  I like pretty things, things that make me go "Ohhhh!" and "Ahhhh!  But I have a year subscription.  So I read an article here and there.  Sometimes they are good, most of the time just so, so.

In my current issue, I read an ariticle about vision boards.  "The Vision Thing" by Martha Beck.  It caught my attention because, like I said visual things are my bag, I love a good of collage, it had a pretty picture, and well...it caught my interest.

The sum of the article, which I found profoundly interesting and helpful, was that human beings create their own destiny,  to a certain extent.  This is what I found most interesting and helpful. And that vision boards can help you along the way.  Now...don't be scared off, stay with me.  I know, it's new age, it's far out, it's so 80's...it's like, "Wheres my crystal pendulum and my sage stick?"  But stay with me...

What the article goes on to say is that it isn't really the vision board itself that creates your future, it is you taking the energy and effort and focusing it into one moment.  In that moment you are creating a catalyst for change in your life, in the world.  Now this is so "The Secret" or "What the Bleep do we know" or "Weekend at Bernie's"...wait, that might have a different message, I will have to check on that.

Now what you put on the vision board is of course of a very personal nature.  But what the author of the article  says is that it isn't the picture of a hummer, or visions of 24 ct. dog tags, Kim Kardashian's butt, or a mansion that are going to get you to where you want to go.  Because those things are what society tells us we want.  But is that what we really want?  Does our primordial self desire a diamond studded collar for fido?  I don't think so.

What we really want is something much deeper, more profound, primordial.  Not cave man, primordial. But closer to heavens, primordial.  Or maybe not, maybe I really do want Kim Kardashian's butt, and a 4 ct. diamond nose ring.  I will let you know when I am done with my vision board.

In the conclusion of the article the author advises making a board, a page,  of things that speak to you, things that make you go "Ohhh!" and "Ahhh!".  And then recycle it, toss it, torch it.  Let it go.  Let go of the ideas and see what comes back to you.

Maybe the vision board thing isn't your bag, maybe you are less crystal pendulum and more about things like facts and stuff.  Whatever does it for you...

But couldn't we all use more time just being in the moment?   More time to focus on the "Ohhh!"'s and the "Ahh!"'s?  More time focusing on what we want than on what we don't want?  Smelling the roses and the like?

So, find some things that make you go "Ohhh!" and "Ahhh!".  Things that push your buttons in  a good way.  Maybe you don't have to do a vision board at all, just find something that moves you, speaks to you.  Love it for a few moments, devote your attention to it, be present with it.  Then move on.  Move on the next things that takes your breath away.

It has been a long time since I made anything that resembled a vision board, and I think the last time there was a picture of the Like a Virgin Madonna and Corey Haim, may he rest in peace.  I might shake things up a bit this time.  Maybe not.

Because this does it for me, gives me the "Ohhh!"'s and the "Ahhh!"'s:




And because I am still putting myself out there.