We are setting intention in every moment of our lives. We might not be aware of it but our actions, feelings, and thoughts are all creating a collective energy field around us. Mindfully tending to that energy field can help us manifest intentions that transform our future.

Setting an intention is not the same thing as setting a goal. A goal is an endpoint, which uses a plan broken down into steps to get there. That process is intellectual and linear. An intention is a dream or aspiration. Manifesting it is an art, a spatial and spiritual process that brings pieces together into a whole. It’s done with our heart and soul.

One way to manifest an intention is through the use of a vision story board. A vision story board is a collection of images which hold the energy vibration of an intention. Making a vision story board is an intuitive journey that honors our inner being and our soul path. It’s like creating a future memory. You can make a vision story board. All you need is an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper or poster board, some old magazines, scissors, and glue.

Start your process in a quiet place, with a meditation or some deep breathing to relax and center. Choose an area of your life that you’d like to change or improve. What could use a little more support? Your intention might involve a relationship or a living arrangement, work direction, something you’re holding from your past, a skill you’re developing, a health area. It might be something more general: abundance, anxiety, attachment, anything. What on your own path would you like to transform?

Using your intention as an energy backdrop, begin cutting images out of the magazines. Use images and/or words that call to you. You don’t need any reason or explanation for your choices. They don’t need to make “sense.” In fact, it’s best if you let go of thinking and just allow the process. Take about 15-20 minutes to collect your images. Allowing too much time can invite the critical mind to reject messages from our inner being.

Once you have collected some images, ask them how they would like to be arranged. Again, don’t think too much. This is not a project for show and tell. It’s for you and your path. Glue the images onto the paper or poster board. Be accepting that what you’ve created is just what you need. (If you have access, lamination is a good way to keep you from fiddling with your creation later and disturbing the vibration.)

After you’ve made a vibrational representation of your intention, it’s important to feed it with your attention. Regularly re-visit your story board. What is it telling you? What images do you like? Which ones are disturbing or confusing? Why? How does it all fit together? You might not understand what you end up with right away.

Carry the story board’s vibration into your life: prop it on your desk, in your car, on your altar, or at your kitchen table. Listen for the messages it sends you. When we regularly revisit the vision we have created, we are practicing feeling its vibration. Later, when an opportunity crosses our path that moves with that vibration, we will recognize it and can act on it.

Think of it like a spider’s web. The spider creates a beautiful pattern which is barely visible to the naked eye. Then the spider sits at the edge of this creation and pays attention. When something lands in the net and vibrates it, the spider goes out to receive nourishment. Everything else just passes by.

The manifestation of our intention, it’s arrival in our life, rarely looks like we thought it would or comes on the timeline we imagined. But it will contain the vibration of the energy that we created with our intention.
Universal Wisdom:  Believing in the intention and letting it find its own path adds to the flow. Being able to feel the current is important, because resonance with the intention’s path will help you to recognize when choices are being made that harmonize with the path….It seems as though the desired outcome suddenly appears, but the path has been there all along.”*
 

* Traveling Light, p.116.