Have you ever had a dream, thought about it for hours on end, thought about it from every angle, contemplated every detail, even knowing what it would feel like when the dream came true?

If you have, you understand the powerful process of manifestation. If you haven’t, you’re in for a big treat because I’m going to show you a really fun way to dream your life into being.

Now manifestation isn’t a mystical thing with magic wands and potions and fairy dust. It is simply the process that is used to call something forward; taking it from a thought to reality.

Manifestation is powerful because if you learn it early, your life seems fairy-tale like. I know. Mine has. For some reason, I understood early on that whatever I could think up and think about, to great enough detail, I could create. I started to notice this in my late 20s and now in my early 50s, it’s more powerful than ever.

When you learn to use the process of manifestation with volition, i.e., on purpose, there’s rarely anything you can not do, be, have or create in your life. ESPECIALLY if what you want to do, be, have or create involves doing good. For some reason, and I can’t explain it, adding the ‘doing good’ part amplifies the power of it and hence, speeds up the manifestation part. Don’t ask me. Try it for yourself.

It’s a New Year! Aren’t We Supposed to Set Some Goals?

Sure. Now is as good a time as ever. And I’d like to give you some tips on how to not only make your goals turn into reality for you easily but how to have some fun doing it. How does that sound? Great.

Do you know the one thing successful people do that unsuccessful people don’t do? They write their goals down and they do it in a very specific way. They do it on a regular basis. And the reason writing goals down on a regular basis makes them more successful (at whatever they want to succeed at) is simply because writing their goals down often keeps them thinking and pondering and planning and acting. You do that much thinking, pondering, planning and acting and I guarantee YOUR goals will come true, too!

Goal People vs. Process People

Before I share with you the fun activity of building Dream Boards, let’s explore the two basic ways most human beings approach life.

Some people are goal-oriented, meaning that they set goals, plan, act, evaluate, re-plan, act, evaluate, etc. Goal oriented people generally accomplish their goals, if they learned the planning, action and evaluating steps. And goal-oriented people often forget anything else exists in life.

The rest of us (me included) are process-oriented people. Process people generally despise setting goals because it takes away from the spontaneity of life. Setting goals doesn’t allow for changing one’s mind, changing the course of one’s life at a whim, just going with the flow and really enjoying the process along the way. Process people are often care-free, happy individuals who get lost in the forest or would prefer to spend hours each day doing things and not caring at all what they get done that day. Process people set goals sometimes but end up feeling guilty or ashamed because they rarely reach those goals. They may even eventually conclude that setting goals is a waste of their time.

Is one approach right and one wrong? Heavens no! You just have to know which one you tend toward and accept it with open arms. I once found a great book called, Goal Free Living by Stephen Shapiro. What a relief for me to know that my approach was not only OK but explained why I was always happy. I decided then and there that I COULD be happy setting goals, I’d just have to do it MY way!

Dreams Board for the Entire Family

My way fed my primary learning styles: visual and kinesthetic (click here for more info on learning styles). I learned that I was successful and WAS setting goals; I was just doing it visually and kinesthetically (with movement and emotion).

Regardless of which learning style you learn through, creating Dream Boards is not only a powerful process, it’s fun. And it’s a great activity for the entire family.

Often when adults/parents do their own goal setting processes for the new year, they tend to leave their kids out of the equation. I suggest you set goals as a whole family. Do individual and family goals on January first (today!) and really set an intention for the day to be the start of a great new year, as well as a time to refresh existing goals with energy and purpose.

Dream Boards are a fun and simple process but it will take some thought and you’ll want to ponder the proverbial question: What do I want in life?

Before you begin actually building your the dream board, write this question on the top of a piece of paper and just sit quietly and answer it. Have each child that is creating a board with you do this as well. Kids generally love this part!

My 2008 DreamBoard.
My 2009 one is very different. It has one word on it: Simplify!

Here’s what you and your kids will need to build their new dream boards.

1. Two to three hours of uninterrupted time to relax and create. Some great music to create by is wonderful also.
2. Poster board. Half sheets work best but if you want to use full sheets, by all means, have at it. Note: poster board generally has a shiny side and a matte side. If you’re going to be using markers, use the matte side as the shiny side smears (ask me how I know).
3. Lots of magazines filled with great photos, sayings, headlines, letters for ransom note like cut out words, etc. Magazines of your favorite hobbies and interests are great. Thrift stores often have lots of inexpensive magazines if you don’t have a ready stock on hand.
4. Tape, glue, scissors, markers, other art supplies for cutting out and attaching images to your poster board.

That’s it. Just assemble the things you need, set aside the time for your whole family to create the next year of their lives (or more) just the way everyone wants it and have a great time.

HINT: After everyone in the family has created their own board and put it on the door or wall of their choice, create a Family Dream Board for 2009 and put it on the fridge because refrigerators have magical powers. Oh, you don’t know about that? Maybe I’ll explain that one later.

Now go plan 2009! You’ll be surprised at how much fun it is. And when things start coming true and showing up for you and your kids, you’ll be even more excited about creating one for next year.