Illustration of a winding road through mountains. Copyright Aurora Blue Inc. 2020.
Written by David Davenport – Contributing author Healing Arts Institute of South Florida

(This is Part 1 of a two-part series in defining your life vision)

If you feel like you are stuck without hope, joy, or any real aspirations in your life, it could be because you have not yet defined a vision for your life. Your life’s vision should be used as a roadmap to help you define who you want to be, what you want to do, and how you plan to get there.

It is an overall description of your IDEAL LIFE that is defined by your values and supported by high-level goals. For more on defining your values, read our article Defining a Meaningful Life.

Many people avoid creating a vision for their life. It may be emotionally difficult to confront areas in your life that you are not satisfied with. It requires a lot of deep thought and work, and it may seem impossible that any changes can be made. 

Let’s challenge some of those assumptions:

Is it emotionally difficult? Maybe.

Is it hard work? Absolutely.

Is it impossible to change my life? Of course not!

This week’s blog entry is inspired by an article written by Corbett Barr for Medium.com titled How to Create a Vision for Your Life. The most highlighted quote reads:

“Being able to change your life and having a vision for it is the yin and yang of living a great life”. – Corbett Barr

And that’s what we want to talk about today – learning how to live a GREAT life.

It all starts with one question

How do life changes happen?

Does your life change because you have a vision for it? Or do you have to change your life first to allow you to then make a vision for it?

The answer is that both are simultaneously true – they are interdependent and supportive of one another. The breakthrough mindset that will allow you to travel down this path of life fulfillment is to believe that change is possible. I will take it one step further and tell you that change is not only possible but highly likely.

Start by asking yourself two simple questions. What things can you identify in your life that give it purpose? Are you just passing time on this world, or do you have something to work towards?

Asking the Important Questions First is Key to Success

Before we can begin defining our vision, we must first define some important terms and ask ourselves a few questions.

Get a pen and paper handy (I told you there would be some work involved)!

Vision – This is a big picture perspective that will help to define your life. It will answer questions such as ‘who do you want to be’ and ‘what do you want to be known for?’ Your vision will become the overarching framework that helps to define and evaluate the goals you set for yourself.

Goals – These are the accomplishments, experiences, and individual actions that you strive toward. They should be measurable and well defined.

Now comes the fun part – and I hope you remembered that pen and paper…

Write down and answer the following questions to the best of your ability:

  1. What kind of life do you want to live at each stage of your life? (i.e. When you’re 20, 30, 40, 50, etc.) You may not know the answer to this right away, and that’s alright. Even if you think you know the answer right now, it could change as your life circumstances and values change. More on that later though. Just do the best you can – it’s not an easy question.
  2. What kind of people do you want to be surrounded by? Be honest with yourself. You don’t have to be ‘correct’ in your thinking. Remember, this is YOUR life – there is no right or wrong answer here. The only way you can get this wrong is by not being honest with yourself.
  3. What are the greatest things you think you could accomplish if you had the time and resources to do them? You can be as realistic or extravagant as you want. The idea is to explore your wants and desires out of life. If you are having trouble with this question, then start small. You can always change your answer to these questions later.
  4. What would you like to contribute to your community, family, or profession that would make you feel the most accomplished or proud? Again, you may not have the answer to this right away– that’s alright! Do your best and be honest with yourself.

Ok, that was a lot of work – time for a break!

We’ll pick up again next week with a four-step process to create your life vision once you have some answers to these questions – so sit down in a comfortable place with your favorite beverage and start jotting down your ideas…

Citations:

Corbett. “How to Create a Vision for Your Life.” Corbett Barr, 3 Jan. 2021, corbettbarr.com/how-to-create-a-vision-for-your-life.

Categories:

Tags:

2 Responses

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Find Us

E-mail

info@healingartssfl.org

Office Number

(954) 459-1473

Address

​4699 N. State Road 7 Suit B1
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33319
About This Site

This site belongs to Healing Arts Institute of South Florida.

© 2015-2021 Healing Arts Institute of South Florida​ International, Inc. a 501c3 non-profit organization