I retrieved my vision boards from their portfolio cases this week – all 18 of them. It was a shock to see I had so many.
I decided to log them in date order, where I was living at the time and outline what was afoot in my life at the time of making. Photographing each came next.
For the first time I have the space to display all 18 A1-size Intuitive Vision Boards (IVBs). The long, continuous corridor that runs the length of our loft apartment has just enough room to create a consecutive display of them.
Later that evening, as the day quietened down, I could feel the sheer volume of emotion this exercise has stirred in me, tracking as they do my life journey over the past 18 years.
A journey that began in 2000 – a single-parent, my daughter aged 4. And culminating this far in 2024 with the return of the native to Devon and my belonging by the sea, with my now-husband, and my daughter age 28 living in London – and spanning each of the 14 house moves I negotiated during those years.
My vision board ‘addiction’ started before my return to University as a mature student.
When it began I had not the slightest notion that IVBs would become my thing. I simply enjoyed collaging, sat cosily together at the kitchen table in front of the Aga with my daughter, each making our own board. We displayed our creations on the wall afterwards and most mornings over breakfast, I’d ask her: “Which image are you drawn to today, Celine, and how does it speak to you?” And she would do the same for me.
A few years later I did return to University to do a PGCE in Dance (Collaborative Art).
At the University of Chichester, we explored the role of dance-movement as an expressive art form. With my company ‘Dancing for Joy’, I taught at my daughter’s school by day and adults in the village hall in the evening. There was still no visible sign of IVBs although and our larder had become a well-equipped store for arts and crafts materials.
Wonderously a new pathway appeared at the University of Chichester – an MA in Somatics Arts Psychotherapy.
I knew immediately it was the next right thing for me – tracking, articulating and recording through various creative and expressive art forms, the workings of the unconscious, sub-conscious and super-conscious mind.
It took me a few years to complete. I needed to take employment in-between whiles to finance it and keep us afloat. Plus child care was sporadic but very welcome from an Auntie and a good friend. However I loved every minute of my academic studies. My board meanwhile kept me focused on what needed to be done to achieve it.
When I was near completion of my degree, I hit upon the design for the Intuitive Vision Board. I wanted a system that would encapsulate the principles of somatic arts but be easier and more versatile to administer. I also wanted to make it available to people who were not ‘in therapy’ but personal development. It shows how to gain a higher, intuitive perspective through the intelligent field of the whole body (the Soma).
Out walking the dog one day in the woods pondering this, the IVB method came to me in a flash. In 2008, I made my first formal IVB and ran my first workshop.
Since then my annual vision board creation has been my constant companion
The vision board is a steady visual anchor for when I need inspiration and direction. It encourages me through the ups and downs of life. It draws my attention to the potentials and pitfalls of the path ahead. It prompts me to act in situations that had never occurred to me before but prove to be to my advantage.
The 18 carriages in my ‘vision board train’ also document:
The beginning and ending of an 8-year relationship. It left me on my knees financially but was the rudest and best awakening I could ever wish for. To be fair, I definitely did not appreciate this at the time.
The death of my two closest relatives. The aftermaths – the good and the not so good – of both their passings. One legacy enabled me to train with leading dance-movement and somatic arts pioneer, Anna Halprin, in San Franscisco. Sadly the rest of this inheritance was invested in the relationship that went down the pan. The other passing was of my father. My brother and I were excluded from an inheritance that included 30 properties and which was to pass in its entirety to my step-family.
Better luck came when I made a Love Board on Valentines Day in February 2013. Unusually I’d accompanied this with a 25-point cosmic order to the universe. I had to wait 8 years for Sam to materialise but, when he did, miraculously, he ticked all 25 boxes. Such specific manifestation is not my norm. I prefer to leave it to spirit, trusting it will know better than I. On this occasion, spirit and I appeared to be in accord.
The writing and publishing of my book Awaken Your Intuitive Vision, The inspiration for the design and layout of my book I drew from my vision board. Three weeks holiday in Cuba (also visioned on the same vision board) was to celebrate its completion.
When my daughter finally left home, the experience of loss that accompanies an empty-nest. Followed by the 2-year house sitting adventure I embarked upon (somewhat restricted by Covid) and during which time I re-discovered a new freedom and an updated version of me.
My Intuitive Vision Boards hold the narrative, the whole truth.
In spite of all the changes, shifts and transformation that have occurred, the essence of Mary is consistently present in all my boards and that is reassuring. The first thing Sam said when he looked at them all was: “I can see you in all of these.”
On reflection I notice that some boards have been more significant, more active, more transformative, than others.
Or maybe, it was my attitude towards them that made them so. Some years I managed to stay closer to the board in question, more watchful and attentive to its unfolding. Other times, I was more distracted, caught up in moving house so many times that time for introspection was limited.
It’s only now as I contemplate the full IVB journey I recognise where I started from and what I’ve achieved. And it moves me. It’s said a truer measure of success is not how far you’ve got but how far you’ve travelled. I take comfort from this.
I notice as the years pass and I continue to work with and coach others through the process, I have increasing respect – awe even – for the content of each IVB.
The IVB is a sacred offering. But it’s only so because of our willingness to participate wholeheartedly in its creation because that’s when these spiritual downloads occur. Today I stay close to my current vision board throughout the year, noting and documenting regularly what I notice as the mystery of life unfolds through the imagery.
I have learnt to be patient, both with myself and with my clients. The IVB is not an instant fix. These boards narrate the path to self-actualisation, as and when we are ready to make further progress along it.
Any questions please email me.
For a private, one-2-one Intuitive Vision Board workshop please enquire HERE. Online or in-person.
The next in-person Intuitive Vision Board workshops are HERE.
My book – Awaken Your Intuitive Vision – is available on Amazon, from other online book stores, and UK bookshops.
About me
I am a teacher, blogger and empowerment coach – and author of Awaken Your Intuitive Vision. I believe in the wisdom of the heart and the intelligence of intuition to lead us to the truth that lies within.
My background is in Depth Psychology & Spirituality, Dance-movement & the Somatic Arts, Feng Shui & Reiki Healing. I weave together the seen & the unseen, cognition & intuition, mindfulness & embodiment to evoke Life Change Alchemy.
Since 2010 the Intuitive Vision Board, has helped thousands of people re-imagine their life and create new, inspiring narratives.
Since 1996 I have employed Feng Shui practice to design environments aligned with the change they want to see. While the Soul Alive Retreats provide reflective timeout so nothing obstructs the empowerment of women to live their personal magic.
I have a BA in Anthropology, a PGCE in Dance, and MA in Somatic Arts Psychotherapy. With a deep respect for the qualities of the divine feminine, the natural world, and a love of the sea.