Serenity Boards

Serenity Boards are not a new idea. They are a take off on the Vision Boards where you cut out pictures and words that match your desires and goals and then paste them on a large piece of poster board. You then hang up the board and look at it daily to remind you of your intention. Great idea.

Last year at New Year's we were invited to make one of these Vision Boards for the year with a group of friends. We all brought magazines and went through to find the pictures that matched what we wanted for the year. I found that as I was cutting out pictures and words, I had no desire to find goal driven images, but kept cutting out words like "serenity", "peace", "solitude", and "harmony", "compassion", "Oneness with nature", etc. As I put the pictures that appealed to me on my poster board, what I came up with was something that caused me to feel a momentary calm and inner peace, and when I brought it home and put it up on my bedroom wall so it would be the first and last thing I looked at daily, I realized that I had created a Serrnity Board. For a year and a half I have seen it every day, and every day it makes me feel close to nature and a sense of graciousness amidst an otherwise busy life. This gave me the idea to cut out more clippings from magazines - words and pictures - and to save them for more Serenity Boards.

I realized that a person could take whatever is their bliss and cut out the pictures and words that reinforce what they want to feel. House remodeling? Plenty of great magazines with pictures to reinforce the look you are trying to create. Love to travel? Great! Just imagine the trips you can take daily by creating a Board that is your ticket to the world. And think about having a Garden Board if you are someone who cannot have a garden of your own. Or a Pet Board if you aren't allowed to have animals. You can create and craft whatever your mind can conceive on one or more of these inexpensive poster boards. You can even gather friends for an afternoon or evening of sharing magazines, company, and putting together Boards that have meaning for each of you in whatever way you choose.

Hmmm....a recipe Board...or my favorite colors in a collage of design...so many different possibilities. Got any ideas? Go to it!

Comments

[Marletta]

Great idea Kathleen. I found that while collecting images and words for a vision board, that I had also collected a bunch of stuff that was indeed the components of a Serenity Board even though I wasn't consciously looking for them.

Reading your post help me focus on the significance of those images and gave me the missing context.

Many thanks.

PS: I live in a small apartment and hunger for a bigger space, aka a house. Since that isn't financially possible, I've created many boards with my dream house and it's dream rooms, including all the decorative details (floor plan, colors, furniture, placement, etc.). Not quite the same thing as having one's own house, but...it helps one to enjoy the desire without being torn by it!

I do the same thing with boards for things I'd like to have...but wouldn't necessarily buy, even if I had the money.

The process of focusing on these things, taking the time to collect the examples, is very soothing. And often, in the process, many A-Ha moments occur. (It's very interesting to step back and observe what shows up on the visual and verbal end.)

I think children should be taught how to make these (perhaps "taught" isn't the correct word) and encouraged to create different boards.

I'm a big believer in collages and these are an extension of them.