Vision

VISION

Written by Thomasina R. Legend
Art by MariaLaura Fedi

The ‘mind’ is said to be “the element of a person that enables them to be aware of the world and their experiences, to think, and to feel; the faculty of consciousness and thought, for example, ‘a lot of thoughts ran through my mind’ ". It is also defined as “a person's ability to think and reason; the intellect”. Thoughts are also defined to be “an idea or opinion produced by thinking, or occurring suddenly in the mind” or “the action or process of thinking”. Our minds are occupied and processing constantly. It drums up ideas, worries about the unknown, strategises and problem solves.

Some research indicates that the individual mind processes over 70,000 thoughts per day. Is that possible? What are we are all thinking about? I will come back to the topic of our ‘minds and thoughts’ in a moment. 

We must know what we want and just how do we go about doing that? What is vision? Why is it important to the growth of our life, career and achievements? It’s defined as “the faculty or state of being able to see”, as in being able to see things around you. Vision is also defined as ‘the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom”, the latter of which is the focus for this issue. 

So, in order for us to think about or plan our present and future, we have to engage our minds. This vision is not what your outer eyes can see but rather what our inner ‘mind’s eye’ can see, imagine and create into mental pictures. Now if we as individuals are said to think well over 70,000 thoughts in a day, how many of those thoughts are dedicated to thinking, planning, imagining and creating the life of our dreams? How many of those thoughts are really visualising something utterly profound that would in due season offset the reality of our lives and change the course and direction of the normality of our everyday existence into what we have envisioned? 

It is said that having a clear mental picture of who you want to be, become or the future you want to have helps chasing that mental image clearer and makes it easier to achieve and manifest into reality. If you don’t know what you want or what you would like to be in future or the life you want to live, you become swayed by anything that is thrown at you. You then believe that the mediocre life and reality you live is the norm, which ends up breaking the spirit and soul. 

Creating a mental image, a vision catapults you into planning the means and ways to make it come into fruition and those plans tend to stand the test of time when obstacles come calling. You hold on to the vision no matter what is thrown at you because you have to believe against all reasonable doubt that it will manifest because if you do not believe it will then why would you waste your time in planning and going after it? 

Belief is very important. Believing in your vision gives it life and anything that has life has to grow like a seed planted, it has to be watered, stand the test of weathers and storms and shoot out of the ground germinating and in due time bearing fruit.  Having a well defined and planned vision keeps you focus in the pursuit of that mental image, picture or idea. When you don’t have a vision, you end up being distracted by everything and anything that everyone both around you and in your social sphere is doing and your social sphere includes your social media contacts and their contacts because that is all visible to you. What others are doing will work for them because that is their vision but when you try to copy or follow in those steps because you believe they are doing so well financially and splashing their success on social media, it will not work for you or come together for you because it is not your vision. We have a generation of talented individuals trolling social media trying to be like others when they can be their own very creative selves and make something amazing happen for them.

We need to start thinking deeply and putting those 70000 plus thoughts that race through our minds each day to visualising our lives to create unique businesses and pathways that will be of great benefit not just to us but to the world because it is in giving back that we are truly alive and live in purpose. Creating a strong and current vision keeps you connected to your greatest passions and brings out your skills and potentials that you probably didn’t know you had. As you develop these skills and potentials working on your vision, you find an inner sense of peace, you feel more valuable as a person as you see your vision come to life and be of service to others sometimes reaching people all over the world. 

As I have worked on and inherently developed my vision over the years, I have come to realise that having a vision must include finding out who you are at the point of creating your vision and who you want to be. If you don’t know who you are at that point, how would you know who you want to be? The vision you are creating should include a vision of you at your best to be able to withstand the storms that come along the journey of crafting and developing your vision into manifestation. It takes character, discipline and strong will to succeed at anything worth having and its important that your habits, attitudes, points of views are all in sync with the vision you are creating. You can’t be lazy and have a vision that stands to change things, be it financially or otherwise. In creating your vision, make sure to take note of the emotional, spiritual, intellectual, mental and physical aspects of your wellbeing because they all come into play during the journey on the pursuit of manifesting your vision.

When it comes to creating a vision for the life you want or whatever it is you need that vision to do, believe me it should not be anything so complicated that will frighten you from creating. Creating a vision is not rocket science. It’s completely free and very inexpensive. Creating a vision equates to dreaming of the things you want. Those thoughts you have when you sit on your own or even in a crowded environment and just get lost in your own world mentally. You dream about what could be, be it with a boy/girl that you fancy (winks, yes we have all done that growing up) until it actually happens and you start dating for real, or if growing up with a lot of lack was the norm, you envision a life of abundance that would help you and your family in ways that you can’t comprehend. So creating a vision is very easy. 

Knowing what you want is the very first step in creating a vision. For most, your life experience or lack of tends to inform your wants and needs and that echoes into their vision and there is nothing wrong with that. If you suffered or grew up in deprivation, your vision will be in the line of wanting a more successful life. So many musicians and some of the most famous people in the world grew up in such poverty, suffering and lack that all they could envision was having a better life for themselves and loved ones and they set out determined to make it happen and we know the outcome of those that have succeeded. They suffered in their quest to make their visions manifest but they did not give up. So in creating and building your vision, know exactly what you want, from good health, wealth, business etc. be very specific in creating your mental pictures of exactly what you want and when you vision, do not be afraid to vision big.  Stop playing small because small is not going to take you anywhere. Vision big, dream big and build big. 

When we create powerful and successful visions, our passions resonate and we push full force to make it happen. The gap between dreaming and vision is working to make it all happen. Having a dream and a vision and doing nothing to make that vision a reality equals daydreaming. Be prepared to put in the work, work hard, sometimes deny yourself some luxuries, treats and eliminate unnecessary things that will stand in the way of bringing your vision to life. 

Building a vision can also be a lonely stage from the grassroots especially when your vision is so overwhelmingly great that you are the only one that believes in that vision. Your vision will create you enemies from families to close friends and at times no one will believe in it. Those are the lonely times and you need to be prepared as stated above mentally, emotionally and intellectually to be able to go through the toughest times and that is the time of unbelief from family to even your best friend. If you are strong enough mentally and emotionally to go through that phase and still be standing, your vision will bring you in contact with strangers that will believe in it and help sphere you towards your destination.

There will be people that will come and go as you journey on this vision, I have learnt that you never hold grudges or feel abandoned in anyway because they were there to be of help at a particular time when you needed them the most and they have done what they were destined to do and moved on. Always remember this and you will go very far. Not everyone is destined for the end goal. Some are there for a specific time, for a specific need/job to be fulfilled and then move on. When we loose sight of this and try to force people to stay or hold grudges for their leaving, you take away the focus and energy needed to infuse into the continuous building of your vision and every time wasted causes you more damage than you will ever imagine. (Look out for ‘Your Pillars and Vision’, an article that explains the different types of people you will encounter on your journey). 

In conclusion, a vision is the ability to see further beyond your current life situation/reality and being able to create/reinvent those things that do not exist at the moment. Visions are very important to every aspects of your life; the mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, financial and even corporately. Creating a vision is easy and must begin by first knowing exactly what you want or foresee for yourself in the future. The most vital aspects to remember when mapping out your vision is to 

• Know who you are at the point of creating your vision to be able to know who you want to be, become

• Stop using the 70,000 plus thoughts you think each day, most of which are worries about the current state of your life and channel those thoughts into thinking, brainstorming, imagining and dreaming about the things you want to happen 

• Remember to focus on those things that give your life meaning, purpose and sets your heart and soul on fire

• Never ever put limits on this thing called dreaming and your VISION. DREAM BIG. VISION BIG.

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