EnVisioning Your Optimal Future and Self

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

We must dream about or envision what we want in life in order to have it. If we can’t see beyond our current circumstances, the future as we’d like to see it will never arrive.

Karma Brown (yes, that’s her real name) said, “You have a right to change your present if it doesn’t fit with the future you envision.”  No one I know would say they have a perfect life, especially because the human condition throws so many challenges our way.  However, we all tend to long and hope for something better, regardless of how good or bad we might judge our lives to be.  That is what keeps us going. It is when we see no future ahead that we often feel stuck, stale or sidetracked. But when we begin to see and believe in what our lives can hold, we take the action necessary to enjoy what is ours to receive.

The guiding force within you—your soul—nudges you to create a more appealing and fulfilling life by stirring something to make things happen. Sometimes this is presented through an inspiration or insight and sometimes through the discomfort that asks us to change something that isn’t working. In this way, our excitement to create a new tomorrow can be just as motivating as our unease that causes us to regroup and plan a new future. The projected result—the vision of where we’d like to be in life—is the anchor that allows us to reach our desired outcome.

Often I ask clients where they would like to see themselves in a year—what changes they want to make, how they want to feel and what they do or don’t want in their life. It is only when we look ahead that we leave the past behind enough to evolve.  As author Jeremy Aldana says, “To envision the future, you must forget the past and make the present a memory.” You must let go of what holds you in place to imagine and claim a new tomorrow.

I often use the Soul Health Model to help clients imagine a bright and renewed future. Where your tree of life was once wilted and wounded, you can rebalance your tree but only when you can see beyond what is getting in the way of your radiance—your well-being and “soul health”. When you realign the branches of your human condition to better suite your soul’s needs and desires, you set in motion the actions necessary to create a better life. Simply stated, “Envisioning the end is enough to put means in motion.” (Actress, Brande Roderick).  As you work to improve even one branch on your tree of life, you will notice how this positively impacts other branches as well.  The clarity you receive in the process will provide the motivation and inspiration to continue moving forward.

The E.V.O.L.V.E. acronym stands for Examine, Vision (Envision), Observe, Learn, Venture and Elevate. It provides a step-by-step process in attaining and claiming your optimal future. You must first examine your life to determine what is and isn’t working. Then you must envision how you would like it to look and feel better in the future. Without a clear vision of what you would like to create, you will only receive a muddled and vaguely defined result. It is when you become clear in what your soul wants and needs that you can take steps to receive your desired effect.

I want to mention the difference between hope and faith as an essential understanding of why certain results never come to be. You see, hope, although revered by many, is based on fear—you hold a hope that something will happen all the while fearing it never will. However, faith—a much more robust word—indicates that we are confident our vision and dream will actually come to fruition—if and when it is supposed to. When we have confidence that our lives will contain what they are supposed to, there is no disappointment if what we had hoped for doesn’t appear. The brain creates hope—a fearful aspiration—while our soul rests on the faith that things will go as will serve our highest good.

By envisioning what we want as aligned with our soul, we can more assuredly create and receive the object of our vision. When fear is involved, we often fail to manifest what we think we want. This is an important distinction in creating a vision that is viable for our overall soul health.

What do you envision your life to look like by the end of this year? What vision do you hold for your future? Is this based of fear or faith?

The Dalai Lama said, “In order to carry positive action you must carry a vision.” Without one, your life will remain misaligned.