Bring Your Vision into Focus for the New Year

Many of us consider the stroke of midnight into the new year to be some sort of magical reset button that comes with snow flurries and a kiss. I happen to be one of them. However, turning that magical moment into everyday life usually takes a little more than fairy dust, like a bold decision, courage, perseverance and a pathologically unshakeable belief that what you want is not only possible, it is inevitable, and it is already here.

Clean Up That Lens

It’s hard to have great vision when your lens is blurry, so now’s the time to get crystal clear about what you want to accomplish. In her book, “What Self-Made Millionaires Do That Most People Don’t,” author Ann Marie Sabath says successful people know they have to believe “It” to see “It.”

If it’s hard for you to believe something you can’t see, create a visual and keep it in front of you. Some people make a vision board. Or how about building yourself a business card with the professional title you wish you had. Maybe wait to hand it out, but keep it on your desk, look at it every day and let it sink in. I’ve known authors who keep a self-drawn book cover in front of them until they finish the book or even put an outline together. And, there’s a wonderful meeting facilitation instructor in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, who writes her own horoscope every day!

Another powerful action item to consider is identifying those who have already achieved what you want to do. Hang out with them and/or study how they did it. With role models in sight, you know that what you want to do is humanly possible. As astronaut Sally Ride said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.”

No matter how outrageous your idea, you have got to see it, want it and feel it deep down in your eye sockets. Don’t hide it like that secret bar my friend, Vicki, sets up in her laundry room when the in-laws are coming over.

Pry Open That Third Eye

Visionaries meditate, and without getting into chakras, energy points, vortexes or other mystical things I don’t understand, many successful people vow that meditation opens us up to insights and seeing the possibilities that our other two eyes just simply can’t.

I can feel the eye-rolling already from those who know me best. I don’t call myself a meditator for the same reason I don’t call myself a tennis player. I practice both and try really hard. My meditation gurus, audiologists Drs. Karon Lynn and Debbie Kelly, can attest to this, as can my 5.0 tennis friends.

Nonetheless, I believe meditation is important because really smart high achievers, like New York Times bestselling author Jen Sincero, say it is. In her book, “You are a Badass,” she says meditation helps set your intention. Among other benefits, she says it relaxes us, relieves stress and strengthens our ability to focus and hear our inner voice. “Your thoughts and beliefs dictate your reality,” she says. “You have to change your thinking first, and then the evidence appears.”

Meditation can help us change our thinking by calming down the skepticism in our brains long enough for a new reality to move in and take up residence. If you don’t know where to begin, there are free guided meditation sessions available on the internet. Books, like “Inner Peace, The Soul Self Remembered,” by Dr. Karon Lobrovich, can help open your mind. 

By Bonnie Stevens, FBN

Go ahead. Close your eyes, get still, breathe. FBN

Bonnie Stevens is the editor of FBN. She is a career journalist and public relations consultant. She can be reached at bonnie.stevens@gmail.com.