At a standstill what next? Don't let COVID stop you.
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When outward circumstances are beyond your control, it may not be obvious what to do next or to feel motivated beyond accusing others of breaking the rules or the government for getting it wrong.
When Covid restrictions appear to be blocking you from achieving all that you could take solace from this. It’s during times of greatest frustration and despair, when life reduces you to a pulp that can curiously turn out to be significant turning points. So in between the broken night’s sleep and the days drifting on empty know that big changes are afoot. Irrespective of the pandemic, the best of us can arrive in no-man’s land without warning and find ourselves becalmed there for a while. After the initial panic there is little point wasting further mental-emotional energy thrashing around trying to understand a moving target. Better to reign your attention in and focus on what you can do something about. Ponder this Why is this extended pause happening to you when others around you are busier than ever? What could be the benevolent outcome? Maybe there is an opportunity you’ve missed, something you’ve pushed to one side waiting for retirement or redundancy. Or perhaps there is a missing piece about to fall into your lap when you stop anticipating what that could be. This could be the ideal moment to reframe your entire life scenario and locate an enlightened way through the frustrating mess. The perfect storm Once upon a time the foundations of my life collapsed around me like a pack of cards over a 3-month period without even a pandemic to blame. When my relationship ended I had to give up my home and leave most of my belongings behind. I’m sure a few of you will have experienced that one already. But then the enterprise we'd created folded because my business partner was also my life partner and my income came to an abrupt halt. The car chose this moment to die on me also. I was cheated out of a 6-figure loan I’d made to a friend in distress, which was never repaid and wiped out my savings. My SIP (pension) disappeared in the hands of a cowboy. And to top it all my father died leaving the entirety of his substantial inheritance to my step family. There were few words to describe the utter devastation and isolation I felt although the tiny bedroom I now slept in, with its high windowsill overlooked by a towering brick wall, summed it up perfectly. I had no idea where to begin or what to do to outmanoeuvre this massive road block. I was no longer a young woman with boundless energy and years unfolding ahead of me. I still had a teenager who was financially dependent on me and the love for her kept me going. And despite it all I eventually came through the crisis smiling. I’m sharing what I did in case it’s useful to you. I make no bones about using my own toolkit for the reformation but quite honestly before I found myself in dire straits I had no idea how powerful a method it was. Reinventing yourself A few months into my ordeal it dawned on me that it was 12 months since I made my last vision board - and I like to make one every year. It wasn’t any old vision board but the intuitive vision board (IVB) I made, the creative process I’d originated while doing a Master’s degree in Somatic Arts Psychotherapy. Having created it, not only did it get me over being unable to do much beyond prepare a hot meal and walk the dog each day, it propelled me out of the hole. It was a god-send that leap-frogged me over the graveyard of doubts, the loss of trust and the precariousness of my financially situation into pastures new. A traditional vision board is a collage of words and pictures, displaying the hopes and dreams of the maker to encourage them to manifest these. The IVB is similar but with one huge difference. The images on the board are chosen exclusively by using the intuition and not the intellect. It’s the difference between a right-brain and a left-brain approach to problem-solving - and more like a creative meditation and less like a goal-setting exercise. On my IVB it came to pass I had constellated the perfect solution to the perfect storm in a way I would never have thought up in a million years using my left-brain. How did I know this? Because I had chosen images that I cognitively knew nothing about or hitherto had any association with. These images made no cognitive sense to me at the time because my intuition had selected them but they turned out to be turning points in my destiny. In the meantime I loved my vision board. I felt renewed and uplifted by it. Radical outcome Nine months later the intervening months of synchronicity had changed the course of my life. It began when I attended a Tango workshop and was paired with a complete stranger. I found myself asking him if he knew of anyone who required part-time work. He didn’t. However he had an international business serving the well-being industry and was happy to try me out. It suited me down to the ground to be selling his market-leading floatation rooms that previously I’d never heard of but had been prophesised on the IVB I’d made months earlier. My vision board contained images of a woman floating on her back in a state of bliss with three further photos of the ocean around her. No kidding, the company I went to work for was called Ocean Float Rooms. For the next three years I was employed part-time until I was able to work full-time at my own business - teaching others how to create intuition vision boards of course. I published a book about it too – Awaken Your Intuitive Vision. Life-line When you’re at a standstill or knee-deep in adversity, making an IVB can put a stop to the incessant thinking and flood of emotions that can enslave you and direct you towards positive and progressive alternatives. The IVB is a process that quietens the conscious mind to allow your deeper unconscious self to receive guidance from a source greater than individual intelligence alone – whether you think of that source as God, the collective unconscious, universal intelligence, grace, pure potentiality or by any another name. You do not need to be artistic to create an IVB. Anyone who can use a pair of scissors and glue can make a board and be thrilled with their creation. All that’s required of you is a willingness to follow the process that precedes the making of it. Then to let go of deciding in advance what the board should contain to receive the visual broadcast that can be such a breath of fresh air at this time.
There is a peak moment in the workshop when everyone is absorbed in making their IVB and the creative energy is at its most intense. The space feels vast and alive while paradoxically a profound stillness descends too. It’s at moments like these big ideas are being seeded that can change the course of lives for ever. Grateful am I for being called to facilitate this exploration and to witness its magic. No-one will leave without a stirring of hope in their heart having enjoyed the connection to their deeper self that making an IVB brings. The ancient Greeks would describe this as a soulful encounter – a meeting with the Daemon – in which it gently imparts its wisdom and genius to the listener. The choice is always yours - to receive the Daemon’s guidance and act upon it - or to refuse its calling.
Patience Those aha! moments when everything falls into place rarely occur the same day as making the IVB. Hasten slowly. If you are too quick to jump to conclusions about what the images could mean this can crush the embedded wisdom in the bud. You have to be patient - it could be weeks, months even, before you can appreciate the prophecy that was bestowed on you on the day you made it. However, the very act of making that IVB will already have set in motion the people, places and activities to serve your new purpose, even though you won’t be aware of this while it is happening. It can take longer for intuitive ideas to take form versus the alternative, which is to will something into existence using the power of thought. But, believe me, your patience will be worth it.
Villa Francini For Katherine in the pause between making her IVB and relocating to Tuscany from the UK, she bought a villa and painstakingly restored this splendid building with original foundations dating back to the 12th century. Three years later while packing her bags to emigrate to Italy for ever, Katherine spotted the intuitive vision board she’d made and had forgotten about. It was a very unusual board and I can still recall how it looked all these years later. While the board itself was large (2’ x 3’) it only contained four pictures – and one of these stood out. It was the entrance to a country estate marked by two 12th century Romanesque pillars and a driveway winding through Mediterranean countryside to the villa beyond. It couldn’t be anywhere other than Italy and its resemblance to the Villa Francini she’d since purchased was most uncanny.
When you find yourself getting stressed about outward events that have brought you to a halt, try deploying your anxiety into awakening the creative genius instead. It can help you to find a way around the impasse and channel your energy into something creative and constructive.
In making an IVB you’ll expand the field of possibilities and untold life experiences or be directed towards an alternative life-scape waiting quietly in the wings. The guidance you receive could be a bolt from the blue. It could be the answer to your prayers. It could be the game-changer. Either way you won’t be at a standstill anymore wondering what next.
More about Intuitive Vision Boards …
The Intuitive Vision Board programme includes a group workshop and in-depth 1-2-1 coaching to unlock the most from this creative, intuitive process - Book Here For more information on Intuitive Vision Board Workshops or to contact Mary visit her website Here
Mary Nondé has pioneered the intuitive vision board since 2010.. She is the author of ‘Awaken Your Intuitive Vision – unlocking possibilities you never knew existed available from amazon or from your local bookstore.
Mary’s formula works well for people who are procrastinating or have hit the wall and are wondering what to do next. The Intuitive Vision Board can help to get you moving again by envisioning possibilities you never knew existed.
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