Make Picture Stories

Make Picture Stories

20 Ways to Change Your Story

7. Make Picture Stories

A picture, it’s said, is worth a thousand words, so you can imagine the immense story power a picture holds.

Why do you think Vision Boards have become so popular?

Images capture our emotions and imagination in ways that mere words cannot. Even with the most skillful writing, a story captures our imagination most powerfully when the words cause our minds to make mental images.

road-trip-1044982_1920Anyone at all familiar with the Law of Attraction is probably familiar with the idea of Vision Boards or Dream Books. You decide you want a new car, for instance, so you find pictures of the exact car you want – make, model, color, every detail – and you glue them down in a journal or on a piece of poster board. Maybe you even cut out a picture of your own smiling face and place it behind the steering wheel. You might add a picture of the open road unfolding before you and your brand new shiny car.

This is great. And it works. Especially if you take time every day to look at your Picture Story, to dream your way into it, and to imagine yourself living it and feeling the joy of it.

What can be even more powerful is to let your heart and soul do the dreaming for you.

This is the Visioning® method I learned in my Creative Journal Expressive Arts (CJEA) training with Lucia Capacchione. Her trademarked ten-step Visioning® process is a profoundly life-changing (and story changing!) practice. You can read more about this method in her book, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams.

Instead of deciding in your head what you want, get quiet and invite your heart and soul to speak to you through images. Pose a specific question, if you like, such as, “what is my perfect work?” or “who is my soul mate?” or “where is my perfect home and what does it look like?” Or, you can be a bit more general and begin with a broader focus phrase like, “the year ahead” or “my soul-centered life”.

Now give yourself 20 minutes or so to browse through magazines, not looking for any specific images, simply allowing images to show up and grab you. Which images speak to you? Cut those out. You don’t need to understand what they mean. Glue them down. Spend some time with them and listen to what they have to say. Listen to their stories for they will soon become your stories.

It may happen quickly or it may take some time. It will require action on your part in addition to dreaming.

I just realized an amazing story manifestation in my own life today.

paintingFBOnce upon a time, many years ago, I painted this picture as a gift for my husband. I gave it to him – for a birthday or anniversary – and I told him, “I’d like to live here with you someday.”

The painting was not based on any “real” place that I had seen. It came out of my heart’s imagination.

That painting has stood on the mantle of my fireplace for the past 30 years. I see it every day, without really “seeing” it anymore as it has become such an ever-present thread in the fabric of my life and surroundings. An ingrained, subconscious part of my reality.

Recently, we decided to buy a piece of land on which to build our retirement home, the home in which we intend to spend the rest of our lives. We looked at a lot of properties. A LOT. The moment I walked onto the land we eventually purchased, I was drawn to the beautiful pine that stood, alone, in the center of a cleared area. I stood under the tree and heard the wind sigh through her and I experienced an instantaneous and heart-centered feeling of homecoming.

DSC_0350_Crop_Adjust-SmallerAs I sit on that property today, admiring the view, a powerful flash of deja vu reminds me of the painting I created so many years ago.

It occurs to me that the dream of my heart has become real. That picture I painted, of no “real” place, bears a striking resemblance to the view I’m now enjoying as we plan together, my husband and I, just where our new house will sit.

More than 30 years ago, my heart showed me its dream, and through a long and winding road, it has led me to it.

I still want to live here with my love. And someday has become today. I can just picture it.

 

~~~~~

This is the 8th post in a 21-post series sparked by Chapter 9 of Fallen, The Adventures of a Deep Water Leaf, in which Lizard suggests that Alora change her story.

#20WaysIn20Days, #ChangeYourStory, #Fallen

Dream: Clearing the Way

DreamClearingTheWay

Dream Collage created on Polyvore.com – view here: Dream: Clearing the Way

4/23/14 (morning) Dream: Arbor Paths

I am being guided down a number of paths. One of these is an arbor path that is very overgrown, making it hard to push through, and leaving us scratched by the branches and twigs when we do.

I wake from the dream thinking of Robert Moss’ dream circle opener: “May our doors and gates and paths be open, and the doors and gates and paths between the worlds, and may the doors and gates and paths of any who wish to do us or those we love any harm be closed.”

With that thought, I find myself most drawn to that brambly, overgrown arbor path. Why was it blocked? Where does it lead? I feel like I want to open it up and clear the way to make passage through it easy. I determine to re-enter the dream with the intention of cutting away the overgrowth and clearing the path through the arbor.

4/23/14 (day) Waking life

We learn that Mom has FINALLY been approved for AZ Long Term Care after a 3 1/2 month wait. That’s good news, as her financial circumstances leave her unable to afford her current Assisted Living facility any longer. The bad news? We now have to find her a place to live that accepts ALTCS within 7 days or lose her chance at coverage. This is quite challenging, given that most Assisted Living facilities in the area (including her current home) do not accept ALTCS. Of the few that do, not all will allow an upgrade to a private room. Of those, most do not have immediate availability. My sister makes a series of calls and finds 3 possible places to look at. One has a short waiting list. One is a bit farther away than we’d like. The third is not one we’ve heard of before. We decide we’ll look at them tomorrow.

4/23/14 (night) Dream Re-entry: Clearing the Way

I have not yet made any connection between the day’s waking experience and last night’s dream. But I am still determined to do the dream re-entry and clear that overgrown path.

I use Robert Moss’ drumming CD to guide my journey. I find myself at the blocked path and I begin nipping at it with my garden shears. Very soon I determine the job’s too big and this will never do. I need my big loppers. I retrieve the loppers and start to cut, but again realize the job is much too big for hand tools. I need my power hedge trimmer. I rev the engine of the trimmer and begin to easily open up the path, clearing away the overgrown brush.

I return from this journey feeling satisfied, even though I don’t really know where this path leads.

4/24/14 (morning) My sister and I head out to look at the Assisted Living facilities she’s found. A quick look at the place we hadn’t heard of leaves us feeling pretty good – it has a lovely, homelike feel and the people are very nice. This place would meet Mom’s needs, has immediate availability, allows an upgrade to a private room, and fits the budget. We decide to go to look at the other one as well, even though it’s a little farther than we’d like. It feels a little icky. Institutional. Very smarmy, salesy approach from the manager. We decide not to even look at the one with the waiting list. It seems clear that the first one we looked at is the right place for Mom.

I begin to relate the dream and dream re-entry to this search and feel as if the way has been cleared in the dream realm, making the path clearer and easier to navigate – making the right path obvious.

It doesn’t dawn on me until the next day, though, just how on target this dream is. The name of the place we chose for Mom? ARBOR Rose. The arbor path that I cleared in the dream re-entry.

There may still be some challenges before we complete this move for Mom. However, I feel confident that the way has been cleared and as long as we keep moving forward, all will be well.
~~~

(with great thanks to my sister for taking on the majority of the legwork in the waking world ~ the dream world can assist us greatly in waking life, but it still requires ACTION in the waking world to make our biggest and best dreams come true)