June 17, 2025 • 27 mins
Remember when you used to make vision boards with your girlfriends long ago?
Magazines spread all over the floor, and sifting through to try to find photos of things you wanted and girls you wanted to be like?
Vision Boarding is about to get so much more powerful.
This week, I am getting ready to host a virtual Zoom Vision Boarding Workshop for the women in my June Ready for Change Group, and I wanted to give you a sneak peek into how powerful a vision board can be in your life.
After listening, if you'd like to join me for the July Ready for Change Experience and attend a Vision Boarding Workshop, click below for all the details!
I'd like to invite you to schedule a complimentary consultation with me HERE to discuss the changes you'd like to make to your body and life. These consultations are fun, powerful, and can be a catalyst for uncovering what needs to change to create a more beautiful body and life. ~ Courtney
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:06):
Matt, welcome to modern body, modern life, the podcast
for women who want to loseweight permanently feel in
control around food and learnhow to stop obsessing about
their body and food a modern wayof thinking about your weight,
your body and your life includesmindset. I'm body and life
coach, Courtney Gray, and eachweek I'm going to teach you the
(00:29):
mindset tools that are necessaryfor changing the way you eat
forever. We will uncover whyyou're eating when you said you
were going to stop, what to dowhen you're really craving
something, and how important itis to decide what you want to
believe is possible for you, Ibelieve we can get in the best
shape of our lives at any age, amodern body, a modern life, all
(00:53):
starts in your mind, and whenyou learn how to manage that,
losing weight permanentlybecomes so much easier.
Welcome to the Podcast, episode83 the power of a vision board.
The week that this episode goeslive, I am hosting a vision
(01:15):
boarding workshop for all thewomen enrolled in my ready for
change group coachingexperience. So as I'm getting
ready for that workshop, Ithought, oh my gosh, I have to
share just, just the power of avision board. Because I know, if
you're like me, you kind ofthink of a vision board as
something to do over cocktailswith girlfriends and and just
(01:35):
like, Oh, yay. Let's do this,and let's share. And yes, when I
think back to how visionboarding worked for me, like in
my college days, that's when Ithink about the first time I
ever did a vision board. I thinkwas when I was in this, like,
the my junior year of college. Ibelieve it was so fun and just
kind of fun, but also kind oftrivial. Like, I think if I
(01:56):
remember back, I would create avision board, and I think it
would put words like awesome andlike travel, and I'm laughing. I
shouldn't be laughing, because Idon't want anyone if they have a
vision board that has the wordawesome on it, or travel,
there's nothing wrong with that,but the energy of it back then
was just really fun. And I thinkI made that board, and I don't
(02:19):
know that after that one nightof making it, I ever even looked
at it, and that's fine for me.
In that phase of my life, it wasfine, but I really now believe
in the power of a vision board.
That's why I've included it inthis month program. And so
before I dive into the power ofa vision board and sell you on
how this can be a tool to getyou what you want in your life,
(02:43):
to get you what moving in theright direction, to get you
taking action. I want to tellyou some exciting news. So I've
started this ready for changeprogram in June, and it was so
well received, and I'm hearingsuch great feedback already, and
we've only met once so far as agroup that I've actually decided
(03:03):
to run another group in July, soanother ready for change program
in July. And the cool thing withthis July group is I looked over
my calendar and they're going toactually get five group coaching
calls, as opposed to four thatwe got in June. So if you are
interested, if you listenedbefore and you didn't get a
chance to enroll in the Junegroup. Maybe it was too busy of
(03:25):
a month. Maybe you were thinkingabout it and didn't enroll in
time. There is an opportunity todo my ready for change program
in July. And there is a link inthe show notes, a link on the
website, of course, and onInstagram if you want to join
me, all the details, all thedates, the cost, all of the
things, what to expect, what thewhole point of the group is, is
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all there for you. So I'm goingto dive into this podcast. So I
guess I should tell the story ofhow I kind of got back into
vision boarding. So my sisterand I have a twin sister, if you
don't know, I have an identicaltwin sister. She's my BFF, and
she and I spend a lot of timetogether, but sometimes we like
to do more than just spendingtime together. We like to kind
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of create our own littlepowerful experience. We like, we
like to decide, like, Let's dolike a mastermind, or let's
let's talk about our businesses,or let's talk about our future,
or let's talk about, you know,specific things, as opposed to
just hanging out and justshooting the shit. And so about
a year ago, we decided to do avision boy, I keep laughing.
It's just so fun. We decided todo, like, a vision boarding day.
(04:33):
You know, when we were going tobe getting together for a long
weekend, we had not both. Hadnot created one in years. In
fact, we almost were like, howdo we do this? Like, do we do
this with magazines? Where do weeven buy magazines? Can we do it
better than magazines? So I toldher she was really busy that
week, and I told her, I go, youjust, you just relax and show
(04:55):
up. I'm going to make this a funthing for us to do. And so
first.
I i realized the best place toget magazines, if you don't know
like in person, is like a Barnesand Noble. But I'll tell you
something, they are not cheapthese days. They are not cheap.
And so I really just I as Istarted looking through these
magazines, like, which oneswould I buy? And I thought back
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to the last time I actually haddone a vision boarding exercise,
and I remembered it wasn'tnecessarily my junior year in
college, it was I went on thisgirls retreat, and we all were a
vision boarding exercise. Waspart of it, and I was so excited
for it. So we all broughtmagazines that we had laying
around the house. I rememberspecifically I had a bunch of
Architectural Digest, because Ilove Architectural Digest. So we
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brought all these old magazines.
Everyone brought magazines, andwe all sat there talking, and it
was so fun and going throughthese magazines. But if I'm
honest, I will remember that Iwas going through these
magazines trying to findpictures that inspired me.
That's what she said, just findpictures that inspire you. And
I'm looking through thesemagazines and I'm finding like,
you know, kitchen tables andwatches and colognes and Gucci
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purses and and I am juststruggling to be inspired. I
mean, yes, would I like thatpurse? I mean, sure, but is it
really inspiring me? I rememberjust searching, searching,
searching, like I wasn't findinginspiration. I would just I was
searching. So at the end, I didcome up with a board, of course,
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as we do, and then we all sharedour boards, and I found myself
thinking in my head like, thisisn't necessarily really what I
want for my future. This reallyisn't what's inspiring to me.
And I here's the here's theother thing is, if it really
was, would I share it with thisgroup? Would I want to put my
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true desires on this board andtell people what I want, people
that I don't know very well,people that maybe I don't fully
feel safe with, people that Imight question what I want. It
just so as fun as it was, ittotally was a fun day, but it
wasn't a powerful visionboarding experience. And so when
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I decided for my sister and I todo it, I was like, How can this
be powerful? How can this beamazing? How can we actually
create a board that we look atand it gets us juiced? Like,
let's go looking at this board,and then how can we actually use
this board to reduce ourselvesup for weeks and months to come?
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And so I ended up creating thisamazing experience with my
sister where we were able tocreate a bunch of images that
really spoke to our truedesires, and images that maybe
we wouldn't share with everyonein our lives, what we would very
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much share with each other andshare with images that when we
looked at them, we could feel areaction in our body like, yes,
that is What I want for myself,and that's one thing to know
about this vision boardingworkshop that I'm doing with the
girls in my ready for changegroup. You know they're not
going to be creating a visionboard and then showing everyone
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in the group. There issomething, I think, if you
really want to make thispowerful, there is something
very private about the boardthat you will create for
yourself. In fact, when I havetalked with some people that are
really individual into visionboarding, they will say that
they don't show anyone theirboard. I will talk to some
people, they'll say they onlyshow their partner, they only
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show certain friends. And so Ihave, right now my vision board
in my office, my husband, mykids, my sister, my closest
friends. I have no problem. I'mvery confident with what I want.
I'm very confident with thedirection of my life. I'm very
confident with sharing mydesires, and also with my
clients. Whenever my clientssay, Oh, I would love to see
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your vision board, I have noproblem showing them, but I
don't know that I would have iton my mantle for anyone in my
life to necessarily see if thatis something that you think
about. When you think aboutlike, don't let that be a block
for you when you think aboutcreating a board, a vision
board, and if you think like, Idon't want other people to see
it. I want to validate thatthat's totally normal and you
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can create a board that you canput in the back of your closet,
or that you can even just haveon Pinterest that you don't even
print out, that you look at,that really speaks to your true
desires and that you can juiceyourself up. And so I've just
had a few people that they'relike, I would create one, but I
don't want people to see it.
(09:39):
Don't let that stop you. Don'tlet that take away that the
power that this can have in yourlife. So I want to talk about
the power. Why is it sopowerful? It seems like such a
fluffy exercise in some in someways, Courtney, tell me. Tell
me, what is the power? Yes, letme tell you. The first thing is,
you really get clear on what youtruly.
(10:00):
Desire, and sometimes, most thetime, what we truly desire is a
feeling. When you think aboutwanting to go on that vacation,
we can put an image on ourvision board of that location.
Maybe it's the exact location.
Maybe it's a it's a locationwhere it's just a beach and it
(10:20):
symbolizes where you want to go.
Maybe you don't know the exactlocation of where you'd like to
go, but it's a feeling. In theend, you're looking for in the
end, what we are looking forfrom anything we want in our
life, whether it's to look acertain way in our body, to have
a certain thing, to have arelationship, all these things,
what we are looking for is afeeling. And so that's really
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important to know, is, how do Iwant to feel? And so sometimes,
when you are picking out imagesfor your vision board, sometimes
you see something and it willspeak to you, and you don't even
know why. And here's a greatstory I heard from Martha back I
heard her talking one time aboutcreating a vision board, and
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this was so powerful for me, soI hope it will be powerful for
you. She talked about how shewas creating a vision board. I
think she was doing it oldschool, with magazines, and she
saw a picture of a giraffe, andshe just thought, oh, it just
spoke to her. She she had avisceral reaction to this
picture of a giraffe, and sheeven, and this happens often, so
watch for this. She even hadthis like, so she saw this
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picture of a giraffe, she had avisceral reaction, like she felt
called, like that picture drewher in, but then she started,
like, negotiating with herself,and so beyond to yourself. If
this happens, if you startnegotiating with yourself and
you're like, what does that evenmean? A giraffe. Why is that
important? I mean, do I want toown a giraffe? Obviously not. Do
I want? And she started kind ofnegotiating and almost
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belittling her instinct towardsthis picture. So often we do
that we have a we have aresonance. We relate to
something. We are drawn tosomething, but then we talk
ourselves out of it. And soallow yourself to choose a
picture, and don't talk yourselfout of it. If there is something
that you look at and you go,yes, you don't have to know in
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that moment exactly. Why? Right?
We want to go, Well, wait aminute. What is it exactly about
this? What if it's okay that youdon't know there is something
about that picture that speaksto you. And so Martha Beck talks
about that picture and how sheput it on her vision board, and
a year later, or six monthslater, whatever, someone invited
her to go to Africa. And itwasn't until she was in Africa
on safari that she saw a giraffeand she thought, and she had
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that moment. You know, thatmoment, like even talking about
that moment, my body gets likeshivers, that moment of, oh my
god. This was that picture. Thiswas I wanted to create this, and
I didn't even know it at asubconscious level. There was
something about that that Iwanted, and I ended up drawing
it into my life by it being onmy vision board, one of the
pictures on my vision board thatI am using for my new vision
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board, because I'm also going tocreate a new vision board for
this workshop I'm doing with my,my ladies and my, my ready for
change group. One of the imagesis of a girl, and she is, she
looks like maybe she's six,seven years old, and she is
spreading her arms, and she's,it looks like she's almost
screaming or laughing, and it ispouring down rain, and she is
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just with so much pure joy andabandonment, screaming and
laughing. And when you think ofkids in the rain, like you think
of us as adults in the rain, andwe're like, oh my god, get the
umbrella. Don't get my hair wet.
Oh my god, this stupid rain. Getme out of here, right? And she
is just just so joyful and likeenjoying the rain like this is
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the most amazing thing. And Iremember seeing that picture for
the first time and being like,Yes, and I didn't know what it
was about that picture. And Ithink I know more now. I think
that as we become adults, welose the joy of just being in
the moment. We sometimes losethe joy of, oh my god, it's
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raining. And can I sit here andnot worry about my hair, and not
worry about my clothes and justenjoy that I'm alive and I am
standing and I can throw my armsopen and enjoy being in the
rain? When was the last time youdid that? I don't know when the
last time I did that was there'ssomething that draws me in about
that picture, and I saw it, andI said, Yes, so that picture is
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going on my vision board. Now,does it mean that I want next
time it rains, I'm gonna, like,go out in a sundress and do
that? No, no. But it means that,like, How can I live more of
that life? That's like, ait's a concept I want to bring
into my life. How can I just bemore in the moment and just
enjoy the moment? It's like lastnight, my son, Tyler, came over
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for dinner, and one of my otherboys, Ryan was supposed to join
us. Ryan didn't join us. It wasjust Tyler and I, and we had
planned on going swimming, andthen all of a sudden it was
like, getting late. I'm like, doyou want to swim? And he was I
do. And I was kind of.
Like I could take it or leaveit, and I thought, No,
my son wants to spend time withme in the pool. Can I just enjoy
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this moment? So that's what thispicture symbolizes to me, is
that someday, at the end of mylife, I'm going to be so glad I
spent an hour in the pool on arandom Tuesday night with my
son, when I could have easilysaid, now, let's just sit on the
couch, and then you can go andall watch Outlander, right? It's
like, can I just enjoy themoment when you are looking for
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images to put on your visionboard? Can you get clear on what
you want? Let those images helpyou get clear on what you want.
And sometimes it's just afeeling. A vision board is so
powerful because it helps youbuild your belief that something
bigger is possible for you. Sooften we see things it's maybe
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images that we want. Maybe it'simages of like, things that we
want to be like. Maybe it'swomen doing things we want to
do, a woman that looks reallyconfident, a woman that you know
embody something that you wantto embody, places you want to
go, partners you want to have,experiences you want to create.
And it builds our belief thatsomething bigger is possible for
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us. In order to believe thatsomething is possible for us, we
have to first have the desirefor it. And when we can find
images that that like caninspire us and go, Oh, wow, I
want that. Who knew Who knewthat I want that? And sometimes
we don't know we want it untilwe see it as an option. And so
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when you're looking for imagesto put on your vision board, can
you really be open to and reallysay, I'm going to have I'm going
to do this with an open heart,and I'm going to see what draws
me in,and if I see something that I
resonate with, can I start tobelieve that it's possible for
me? Now you don't have to 100%believe it's possible to put on
your vision board. That is thewhole point of a vision board.
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You go, Oh my gosh. I don't knowwhy, but that looks amazing. I
don't even know how I'd be ableto afford that. I don't even
know if I could ever do that.
But I'm putting it on my visionboard because every single day
you look at it and you go, Iwant to believe that's possible
for me. I want to believe that'spossible for me every single
day, and by you looking at itevery single day or once a week,
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or when, how often you decide tolook at your board, you start to
flood your life withpossibility. So the power of a
vision board is starting toflood your life with the belief
that something bigger ispossible for you. So often we
get stuck in our same town, oursame friends group, our same
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routines, our same same same andbecause of that, we don't
believe something as bigger aspossible for us, I can think
back to certain times in my lifewhen a woman would say something
and I would be like what I'vesaid many times before, of my
friend Sarah, we're not good,good, good friends. I love her
so much. I don't see her veryoften. I don't even think she
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listens podcasts, but her nameis Sarah, and she begot her and
we haven't even talked aboutthis. I just saw it on Facebook.
She got her pilot's license.
What is happening? What ishappening? I think it was about
a year ago. Again, I can't waitto see her, because I want to
talk to her and tell her what ishappening. I saw her husband.
I'm like, what is happening? Ican't believe she got that. I
It's just absolutely amazing.
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Now, I don't want to become apilot. That sounds terrifying,
but by her doing that, sheinspired something in me, that I
was like, we're, we're, we'reallowed to do that.
That's amazing. I remember whenI was I had my kids were really
young. I mean, the twins wereprobably a year old. I was
talking with one of mygirlfriends who I'd not seen in
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a while, and she said she waslike, training for a marathon.
And I remember being like, what,what? And because she had kids
the same age as me, and Iremember thinking, what? How is
this even possible? I didn'tbelieve that that would be
possible for myself. So therewas a moment of amazing
possibility there. Then therewas a moment of amazing
possibility with my friendgetting her pilot's license. And
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then I just talked one of myclients. I think she's like, I
think she's pretty much my sameage, and she's going back to
school to get her doctorate.
What amazing? And so if yousurround yourself with people
doing amazing things, that itcan be quite inspiring. But for
many people, they're kind ofliving their life on repeat, and
they're not surrounded by peopledoing amazing things. So first
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of all, maybe that's one of thethings you want to create. Is
you want to surround yourselfwith more women doing amazing
things, maybe you want to befirst. Maybe you want to be the
one doing amazing things andinspire other people. That's
fantastic, but one of the thingsyou can do is create a vision
board to show yourself there ispossibility outside of the norm,
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outside of what I'm exposed toevery single day.
Okay, and so that is the powerof you looking at these images
and deciding what is possible.
Creating a powerful vision boardhelps you manifest.
Manifestation is the practice ofidentifying clear and specific
goals and then visualizing thesegoals and visualizing achieving
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them while you're thinking abouthow exciting that will be, how
amazing it's going to feelgratitude ahead of time and
really like affirming that thisis possible for you. So you
probably know what manifestationis, but maybe you don't know if
you're good at it. Maybe youdon't know exactly the tangibles
on how to do it. One of thegreat tools for manifestation is
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creating a vision board, becausethen you can see something and
start believing it's possiblefor you, thinking about how fun
it would be if you were therealready feeling the gratitude,
feeling like the gratitude as ifyou are already there. One of
the images I have on my visionboard that I created with my
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sister over a year ago. I don'teven know where this place is.
It looks like it might be inPrague. I haven't been to
Prague, but when I think Pragueis one of the places I want to
go, and when I see images ofPrague, this image on my that I
put on my vision board remindsme of that. And it's this early
morning. It looks like a sunrisepicture. It's foggy. There's all
these beautiful, beautiful castI don't know if they're castles
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or churches or whatever, and itlooks like this image is taken
from a hilltop early in themorning. And when I look at that
image, I get this idea that I amlooking at this there,
specifically with my kids. So Ilook at this image on my vision
board, and I think someday, I'mgoing to be traveling, and I'm
going to be in a space where Isee something like this. I'm
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going to wake up early with myboys and I'm going to say, Hey,
there's this beautiful peakwhere we can look out over the
city. I want to wake up grabcoffee and go see this. We're
going to do it, and it is goingto be a magical experience. And
so when I look at that image onmy vision board. I am a grateful
already for that experience,even though that experience has
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not happened yet.
That's manifestation. That'smanifestation in process,
because it hasn't happened yet.
Someday, when I am there with mykids, looking out, that will be
the manifestation, because itwill be a complete full circle
moment. But the key here is withmanifestation, and the key with
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the power of a vision board isbeing able to look at your
vision board and being gratefuland being excited and feeling
the joy ahead of time you're notlooking at it going, well, I
don't know when I'm going to beable to fit that in. Oh yeah,
that's the tickets for that aregoing to be outrageous. No, no,
no, no, you're looking at itgoing, Hey, I'm not quite sure
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when I'm doing this. I'm notquite sure how I'm going to make
this happen, but it's happening,and I'm excited, feeling the
power of it now, feeling the joyof it now. That is the power of
a vision board. That is thepower of manifestation. That is
how we create in our lives bythinking. I want to think big
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things are possible. I want tobe grateful for them now and
feel the joy ahead of time,creating a powerful vision board
helps you make decisions. Andthis one specifically came from
my sister. When I was gettinggetting this workshop together
for my ready for change group, Isaid to her, I go tell me how
you're using your vision board.
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Like, where do you have it? Doyou look at it every day?
Because I look at my visionboard every single day. I will
meditate, and then I will spenda few moments just looking at it
and feeling excited for it andseeing how I'm already creating
some of these pictures that areon my vision board now. And she
says she doesn't look at hersnecessarily every single day,
but she says she goes to it whenshe wants to make a decision.
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And I'm like, oh my god,fantastic. Tell me all about
this. And she said, she said, Iwill go look at my vision board
when I I'm presented with anopportunity for work or for
life, and I will think, I don'tknow, like, do I want to do
this? And so I will go to myvision board and I think, Okay,
this vision board is a visualrepresentation of where I'm
going. Does this opportunityI've been presented with align
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with where I'm going. So if Isay yes to this decision, if I
say yes to this opportunity, ifI say yes to this person that's
asking something of me, is itgetting me closer to what I am
trying to create, which isrepresented from this vision
board? And I said, Oh, my God,Kelly, amazing, because I have
not, I had not been doing that.
She's brilliant. And so I said,Oh my god, I'm so glad you told
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me that. And so this is one ofthe powerful ways you can use
your vision board. Is okay? Doesthis align with the life I want?
Does this create the beautifullife I want for myself? And.
Oftentimes, because I'm now, I'musing it this way too.
Oftentimes, when you go to theboard, it very quickly tells you
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Yes, this is getting thisdecision. Saying yes to this
decision is getting me closer tothis life I want. Or it's not
that is the power of a visionboard. It helps us get clear on
what we want. Sometimes it'sjust a feeling. A lot of times
it's really a feeling. In theend, it helps us build our
belief that something bigger ispossible for us. That is our
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responsibility to believesomething is bigger is possible
for us. It helps us reallybecome more intuitive and follow
our instincts.
It helps us with manifestation.
It helps and to me, when I thinkof manifestation, it also means
creation. It helps us admit andfind evidence that we are a
creator, and it helps us makedecisions for our future. It
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helps us when people are askingus to do things, and people are
offering us jobs, and people aresaying, Would you like to do
this? You'd like to do that. Andwe can go to something visual
that represents where we'regoing. It helps us get clarity
on if that is helping us getcloser to the life that we truly
want for ourselves. So ladies,get ready. This vision boarding
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workshop is going to be amazingif you are inspired by listening
to this podcast and you arewanting to get to see me teach
this vision boarding workshoplive, and you want the step by
step how to tangibly create one,I invite you to join my ready
for change group in July, andyou will not only spend The
(26:38):
month with me, creating massivechange in your life. But you
will get to come to this liveworkshop where I teach the group
about how to create your ownvision board, where to get the
pictures, how to print them out,how big, how many, how to decide
what to put it on, all of it.
It's going to be a wonderfulmonth of July, creating a
massive change in your life.
Head to Courtney Graycoaching.com/work
(27:03):
with me, or you can click thelink in the show notes to learn
all about this. July, ready forchange coaching group, have a
great Tuesday. If you are readyto lose weight and keep it off
permanently and feel confidentand at peace around food, I
invite you to head to CourtneyGray coaching.com to learn about
how to work with me. I work withwomen privately, one on one, and
(27:25):
I also offer small groupcoaching. There is a link to my
website in the show notes. You.
Matt, welcome to modern body, modern life, the podcast
for women who want to loseweight permanently feel in
control around food and learnhow to stop obsessing about
their body and food a modern wayof thinking about your weight,
your body and your life includesmindset. I'm body and life
coach, Courtney Gray, and eachweek I'm going to teach you the
(00:29):
mindset tools that are necessaryfor changing the way you eat
forever. We will uncover whyyou're eating when you said you
were going to stop, what to dowhen you're really craving
something, and how important itis to decide what you want to
believe is possible for you, Ibelieve we can get in the best
shape of our lives at any age, amodern body, a modern life, all
(00:53):
starts in your mind, and whenyou learn how to manage that,
losing weight permanentlybecomes so much easier.
Welcome to the Podcast, episode83 the power of a vision board.
The week that this episode goeslive, I am hosting a vision
(01:15):
boarding workshop for all thewomen enrolled in my ready for
change group coachingexperience. So as I'm getting
ready for that workshop, Ithought, oh my gosh, I have to
share just, just the power of avision board. Because I know, if
you're like me, you kind ofthink of a vision board as
something to do over cocktailswith girlfriends and and just
(01:35):
like, Oh, yay. Let's do this,and let's share. And yes, when I
think back to how visionboarding worked for me, like in
my college days, that's when Ithink about the first time I
ever did a vision board. I thinkwas when I was in this, like,
the my junior year of college. Ibelieve it was so fun and just
kind of fun, but also kind oftrivial. Like, I think if I
(01:56):
remember back, I would create avision board, and I think it
would put words like awesome andlike travel, and I'm laughing. I
shouldn't be laughing, because Idon't want anyone if they have a
vision board that has the wordawesome on it, or travel,
there's nothing wrong with that,but the energy of it back then
was just really fun. And I thinkI made that board, and I don't
(02:19):
know that after that one nightof making it, I ever even looked
at it, and that's fine for me.
In that phase of my life, it wasfine, but I really now believe
in the power of a vision board.
That's why I've included it inthis month program. And so
before I dive into the power ofa vision board and sell you on
how this can be a tool to getyou what you want in your life,
(02:43):
to get you what moving in theright direction, to get you
taking action. I want to tellyou some exciting news. So I've
started this ready for changeprogram in June, and it was so
well received, and I'm hearingsuch great feedback already, and
we've only met once so far as agroup that I've actually decided
(03:03):
to run another group in July, soanother ready for change program
in July. And the cool thing withthis July group is I looked over
my calendar and they're going toactually get five group coaching
calls, as opposed to four thatwe got in June. So if you are
interested, if you listenedbefore and you didn't get a
chance to enroll in the Junegroup. Maybe it was too busy of
(03:25):
a month. Maybe you were thinkingabout it and didn't enroll in
time. There is an opportunity todo my ready for change program
in July. And there is a link inthe show notes, a link on the
website, of course, and onInstagram if you want to join
me, all the details, all thedates, the cost, all of the
things, what to expect, what thewhole point of the group is, is
(03:47):
all there for you. So I'm goingto dive into this podcast. So I
guess I should tell the story ofhow I kind of got back into
vision boarding. So my sisterand I have a twin sister, if you
don't know, I have an identicaltwin sister. She's my BFF, and
she and I spend a lot of timetogether, but sometimes we like
to do more than just spendingtime together. We like to kind
(04:08):
of create our own littlepowerful experience. We like, we
like to decide, like, Let's dolike a mastermind, or let's
let's talk about our businesses,or let's talk about our future,
or let's talk about, you know,specific things, as opposed to
just hanging out and justshooting the shit. And so about
a year ago, we decided to do avision boy, I keep laughing.
It's just so fun. We decided todo, like, a vision boarding day.
(04:33):
You know, when we were going tobe getting together for a long
weekend, we had not both. Hadnot created one in years. In
fact, we almost were like, howdo we do this? Like, do we do
this with magazines? Where do weeven buy magazines? Can we do it
better than magazines? So I toldher she was really busy that
week, and I told her, I go, youjust, you just relax and show
(04:55):
up. I'm going to make this a funthing for us to do. And so
first.
I i realized the best place toget magazines, if you don't know
like in person, is like a Barnesand Noble. But I'll tell you
something, they are not cheapthese days. They are not cheap.
And so I really just I as Istarted looking through these
magazines, like, which oneswould I buy? And I thought back
(05:15):
to the last time I actually haddone a vision boarding exercise,
and I remembered it wasn'tnecessarily my junior year in
college, it was I went on thisgirls retreat, and we all were a
vision boarding exercise. Waspart of it, and I was so excited
for it. So we all broughtmagazines that we had laying
around the house. I rememberspecifically I had a bunch of
Architectural Digest, because Ilove Architectural Digest. So we
(05:38):
brought all these old magazines.
Everyone brought magazines, andwe all sat there talking, and it
was so fun and going throughthese magazines. But if I'm
honest, I will remember that Iwas going through these
magazines trying to findpictures that inspired me.
That's what she said, just findpictures that inspire you. And
I'm looking through thesemagazines and I'm finding like,
you know, kitchen tables andwatches and colognes and Gucci
(05:58):
purses and and I am juststruggling to be inspired. I
mean, yes, would I like thatpurse? I mean, sure, but is it
really inspiring me? I rememberjust searching, searching,
searching, like I wasn't findinginspiration. I would just I was
searching. So at the end, I didcome up with a board, of course,
(06:20):
as we do, and then we all sharedour boards, and I found myself
thinking in my head like, thisisn't necessarily really what I
want for my future. This reallyisn't what's inspiring to me.
And I here's the here's theother thing is, if it really
was, would I share it with thisgroup? Would I want to put my
(06:43):
true desires on this board andtell people what I want, people
that I don't know very well,people that maybe I don't fully
feel safe with, people that Imight question what I want. It
just so as fun as it was, ittotally was a fun day, but it
wasn't a powerful visionboarding experience. And so when
(07:07):
I decided for my sister and I todo it, I was like, How can this
be powerful? How can this beamazing? How can we actually
create a board that we look atand it gets us juiced? Like,
let's go looking at this board,and then how can we actually use
this board to reduce ourselvesup for weeks and months to come?
(07:28):
And so I ended up creating thisamazing experience with my
sister where we were able tocreate a bunch of images that
really spoke to our truedesires, and images that maybe
we wouldn't share with everyonein our lives, what we would very
(07:48):
much share with each other andshare with images that when we
looked at them, we could feel areaction in our body like, yes,
that is What I want for myself,and that's one thing to know
about this vision boardingworkshop that I'm doing with the
girls in my ready for changegroup. You know they're not
going to be creating a visionboard and then showing everyone
(08:11):
in the group. There issomething, I think, if you
really want to make thispowerful, there is something
very private about the boardthat you will create for
yourself. In fact, when I havetalked with some people that are
really individual into visionboarding, they will say that
they don't show anyone theirboard. I will talk to some
people, they'll say they onlyshow their partner, they only
(08:34):
show certain friends. And so Ihave, right now my vision board
in my office, my husband, mykids, my sister, my closest
friends. I have no problem. I'mvery confident with what I want.
I'm very confident with thedirection of my life. I'm very
confident with sharing mydesires, and also with my
clients. Whenever my clientssay, Oh, I would love to see
(08:56):
your vision board, I have noproblem showing them, but I
don't know that I would have iton my mantle for anyone in my
life to necessarily see if thatis something that you think
about. When you think aboutlike, don't let that be a block
for you when you think aboutcreating a board, a vision
board, and if you think like, Idon't want other people to see
it. I want to validate thatthat's totally normal and you
(09:19):
can create a board that you canput in the back of your closet,
or that you can even just haveon Pinterest that you don't even
print out, that you look at,that really speaks to your true
desires and that you can juiceyourself up. And so I've just
had a few people that they'relike, I would create one, but I
don't want people to see it.
(09:39):
Don't let that stop you. Don'tlet that take away that the
power that this can have in yourlife. So I want to talk about
the power. Why is it sopowerful? It seems like such a
fluffy exercise in some in someways, Courtney, tell me. Tell
me, what is the power? Yes, letme tell you. The first thing is,
you really get clear on what youtruly.
(10:00):
Desire, and sometimes, most thetime, what we truly desire is a
feeling. When you think aboutwanting to go on that vacation,
we can put an image on ourvision board of that location.
Maybe it's the exact location.
Maybe it's a it's a locationwhere it's just a beach and it
(10:20):
symbolizes where you want to go.
Maybe you don't know the exactlocation of where you'd like to
go, but it's a feeling. In theend, you're looking for in the
end, what we are looking forfrom anything we want in our
life, whether it's to look acertain way in our body, to have
a certain thing, to have arelationship, all these things,
what we are looking for is afeeling. And so that's really
(10:43):
important to know, is, how do Iwant to feel? And so sometimes,
when you are picking out imagesfor your vision board, sometimes
you see something and it willspeak to you, and you don't even
know why. And here's a greatstory I heard from Martha back I
heard her talking one time aboutcreating a vision board, and
(11:03):
this was so powerful for me, soI hope it will be powerful for
you. She talked about how shewas creating a vision board. I
think she was doing it oldschool, with magazines, and she
saw a picture of a giraffe, andshe just thought, oh, it just
spoke to her. She she had avisceral reaction to this
picture of a giraffe, and sheeven, and this happens often, so
watch for this. She even hadthis like, so she saw this
(11:25):
picture of a giraffe, she had avisceral reaction, like she felt
called, like that picture drewher in, but then she started,
like, negotiating with herself,and so beyond to yourself. If
this happens, if you startnegotiating with yourself and
you're like, what does that evenmean? A giraffe. Why is that
important? I mean, do I want toown a giraffe? Obviously not. Do
I want? And she started kind ofnegotiating and almost
(11:48):
belittling her instinct towardsthis picture. So often we do
that we have a we have aresonance. We relate to
something. We are drawn tosomething, but then we talk
ourselves out of it. And soallow yourself to choose a
picture, and don't talk yourselfout of it. If there is something
that you look at and you go,yes, you don't have to know in
(12:10):
that moment exactly. Why? Right?
We want to go, Well, wait aminute. What is it exactly about
this? What if it's okay that youdon't know there is something
about that picture that speaksto you. And so Martha Beck talks
about that picture and how sheput it on her vision board, and
a year later, or six monthslater, whatever, someone invited
her to go to Africa. And itwasn't until she was in Africa
on safari that she saw a giraffeand she thought, and she had
(12:33):
that moment. You know, thatmoment, like even talking about
that moment, my body gets likeshivers, that moment of, oh my
god. This was that picture. Thiswas I wanted to create this, and
I didn't even know it at asubconscious level. There was
something about that that Iwanted, and I ended up drawing
it into my life by it being onmy vision board, one of the
pictures on my vision board thatI am using for my new vision
(12:57):
board, because I'm also going tocreate a new vision board for
this workshop I'm doing with my,my ladies and my, my ready for
change group. One of the imagesis of a girl, and she is, she
looks like maybe she's six,seven years old, and she is
spreading her arms, and she's,it looks like she's almost
screaming or laughing, and it ispouring down rain, and she is
(13:19):
just with so much pure joy andabandonment, screaming and
laughing. And when you think ofkids in the rain, like you think
of us as adults in the rain, andwe're like, oh my god, get the
umbrella. Don't get my hair wet.
Oh my god, this stupid rain. Getme out of here, right? And she
is just just so joyful and likeenjoying the rain like this is
(13:40):
the most amazing thing. And Iremember seeing that picture for
the first time and being like,Yes, and I didn't know what it
was about that picture. And Ithink I know more now. I think
that as we become adults, welose the joy of just being in
the moment. We sometimes losethe joy of, oh my god, it's
(14:01):
raining. And can I sit here andnot worry about my hair, and not
worry about my clothes and justenjoy that I'm alive and I am
standing and I can throw my armsopen and enjoy being in the
rain? When was the last time youdid that? I don't know when the
last time I did that was there'ssomething that draws me in about
that picture, and I saw it, andI said, Yes, so that picture is
(14:23):
going on my vision board. Now,does it mean that I want next
time it rains, I'm gonna, like,go out in a sundress and do
that? No, no. But it means that,like, How can I live more of
that life? That's like, ait's a concept I want to bring
into my life. How can I just bemore in the moment and just
enjoy the moment? It's like lastnight, my son, Tyler, came over
(14:46):
for dinner, and one of my otherboys, Ryan was supposed to join
us. Ryan didn't join us. It wasjust Tyler and I, and we had
planned on going swimming, andthen all of a sudden it was
like, getting late. I'm like, doyou want to swim? And he was I
do. And I was kind of.
Like I could take it or leaveit, and I thought, No,
my son wants to spend time withme in the pool. Can I just enjoy
(15:10):
this moment? So that's what thispicture symbolizes to me, is
that someday, at the end of mylife, I'm going to be so glad I
spent an hour in the pool on arandom Tuesday night with my
son, when I could have easilysaid, now, let's just sit on the
couch, and then you can go andall watch Outlander, right? It's
like, can I just enjoy themoment when you are looking for
(15:34):
images to put on your visionboard? Can you get clear on what
you want? Let those images helpyou get clear on what you want.
And sometimes it's just afeeling. A vision board is so
powerful because it helps youbuild your belief that something
bigger is possible for you. Sooften we see things it's maybe
(15:59):
images that we want. Maybe it'simages of like, things that we
want to be like. Maybe it'swomen doing things we want to
do, a woman that looks reallyconfident, a woman that you know
embody something that you wantto embody, places you want to
go, partners you want to have,experiences you want to create.
And it builds our belief thatsomething bigger is possible for
(16:22):
us. In order to believe thatsomething is possible for us, we
have to first have the desirefor it. And when we can find
images that that like caninspire us and go, Oh, wow, I
want that. Who knew Who knewthat I want that? And sometimes
we don't know we want it untilwe see it as an option. And so
(16:42):
when you're looking for imagesto put on your vision board, can
you really be open to and reallysay, I'm going to have I'm going
to do this with an open heart,and I'm going to see what draws
me in,and if I see something that I
resonate with, can I start tobelieve that it's possible for
me? Now you don't have to 100%believe it's possible to put on
your vision board. That is thewhole point of a vision board.
(17:04):
You go, Oh my gosh. I don't knowwhy, but that looks amazing. I
don't even know how I'd be ableto afford that. I don't even
know if I could ever do that.
But I'm putting it on my visionboard because every single day
you look at it and you go, Iwant to believe that's possible
for me. I want to believe that'spossible for me every single
day, and by you looking at itevery single day or once a week,
(17:26):
or when, how often you decide tolook at your board, you start to
flood your life withpossibility. So the power of a
vision board is starting toflood your life with the belief
that something bigger ispossible for you. So often we
get stuck in our same town, oursame friends group, our same
(17:47):
routines, our same same same andbecause of that, we don't
believe something as bigger aspossible for us, I can think
back to certain times in my lifewhen a woman would say something
and I would be like what I'vesaid many times before, of my
friend Sarah, we're not good,good, good friends. I love her
so much. I don't see her veryoften. I don't even think she
(18:08):
listens podcasts, but her nameis Sarah, and she begot her and
we haven't even talked aboutthis. I just saw it on Facebook.
She got her pilot's license.
What is happening? What ishappening? I think it was about
a year ago. Again, I can't waitto see her, because I want to
talk to her and tell her what ishappening. I saw her husband.
I'm like, what is happening? Ican't believe she got that. I
It's just absolutely amazing.
(18:30):
Now, I don't want to become apilot. That sounds terrifying,
but by her doing that, sheinspired something in me, that I
was like, we're, we're, we'reallowed to do that.
That's amazing. I remember whenI was I had my kids were really
young. I mean, the twins wereprobably a year old. I was
talking with one of mygirlfriends who I'd not seen in
(18:52):
a while, and she said she waslike, training for a marathon.
And I remember being like, what,what? And because she had kids
the same age as me, and Iremember thinking, what? How is
this even possible? I didn'tbelieve that that would be
possible for myself. So therewas a moment of amazing
possibility there. Then therewas a moment of amazing
possibility with my friendgetting her pilot's license. And
(19:12):
then I just talked one of myclients. I think she's like, I
think she's pretty much my sameage, and she's going back to
school to get her doctorate.
What amazing? And so if yousurround yourself with people
doing amazing things, that itcan be quite inspiring. But for
many people, they're kind ofliving their life on repeat, and
they're not surrounded by peopledoing amazing things. So first
(19:33):
of all, maybe that's one of thethings you want to create. Is
you want to surround yourselfwith more women doing amazing
things, maybe you want to befirst. Maybe you want to be the
one doing amazing things andinspire other people. That's
fantastic, but one of the thingsyou can do is create a vision
board to show yourself there ispossibility outside of the norm,
(19:54):
outside of what I'm exposed toevery single day.
Okay, and so that is the powerof you looking at these images
and deciding what is possible.
Creating a powerful vision boardhelps you manifest.
Manifestation is the practice ofidentifying clear and specific
goals and then visualizing thesegoals and visualizing achieving
(20:17):
them while you're thinking abouthow exciting that will be, how
amazing it's going to feelgratitude ahead of time and
really like affirming that thisis possible for you. So you
probably know what manifestationis, but maybe you don't know if
you're good at it. Maybe youdon't know exactly the tangibles
on how to do it. One of thegreat tools for manifestation is
(20:39):
creating a vision board, becausethen you can see something and
start believing it's possiblefor you, thinking about how fun
it would be if you were therealready feeling the gratitude,
feeling like the gratitude as ifyou are already there. One of
the images I have on my visionboard that I created with my
(21:00):
sister over a year ago. I don'teven know where this place is.
It looks like it might be inPrague. I haven't been to
Prague, but when I think Pragueis one of the places I want to
go, and when I see images ofPrague, this image on my that I
put on my vision board remindsme of that. And it's this early
morning. It looks like a sunrisepicture. It's foggy. There's all
these beautiful, beautiful castI don't know if they're castles
(21:23):
or churches or whatever, and itlooks like this image is taken
from a hilltop early in themorning. And when I look at that
image, I get this idea that I amlooking at this there,
specifically with my kids. So Ilook at this image on my vision
board, and I think someday, I'mgoing to be traveling, and I'm
going to be in a space where Isee something like this. I'm
(21:46):
going to wake up early with myboys and I'm going to say, Hey,
there's this beautiful peakwhere we can look out over the
city. I want to wake up grabcoffee and go see this. We're
going to do it, and it is goingto be a magical experience. And
so when I look at that image onmy vision board. I am a grateful
already for that experience,even though that experience has
(22:06):
not happened yet.
That's manifestation. That'smanifestation in process,
because it hasn't happened yet.
Someday, when I am there with mykids, looking out, that will be
the manifestation, because itwill be a complete full circle
moment. But the key here is withmanifestation, and the key with
(22:27):
the power of a vision board isbeing able to look at your
vision board and being gratefuland being excited and feeling
the joy ahead of time you're notlooking at it going, well, I
don't know when I'm going to beable to fit that in. Oh yeah,
that's the tickets for that aregoing to be outrageous. No, no,
no, no, you're looking at itgoing, Hey, I'm not quite sure
(22:49):
when I'm doing this. I'm notquite sure how I'm going to make
this happen, but it's happening,and I'm excited, feeling the
power of it now, feeling the joyof it now. That is the power of
a vision board. That is thepower of manifestation. That is
how we create in our lives bythinking. I want to think big
(23:13):
things are possible. I want tobe grateful for them now and
feel the joy ahead of time,creating a powerful vision board
helps you make decisions. Andthis one specifically came from
my sister. When I was gettinggetting this workshop together
for my ready for change group, Isaid to her, I go tell me how
you're using your vision board.
(23:36):
Like, where do you have it? Doyou look at it every day?
Because I look at my visionboard every single day. I will
meditate, and then I will spenda few moments just looking at it
and feeling excited for it andseeing how I'm already creating
some of these pictures that areon my vision board now. And she
says she doesn't look at hersnecessarily every single day,
but she says she goes to it whenshe wants to make a decision.
(23:58):
And I'm like, oh my god,fantastic. Tell me all about
this. And she said, she said, Iwill go look at my vision board
when I I'm presented with anopportunity for work or for
life, and I will think, I don'tknow, like, do I want to do
this? And so I will go to myvision board and I think, Okay,
this vision board is a visualrepresentation of where I'm
going. Does this opportunityI've been presented with align
(24:23):
with where I'm going. So if Isay yes to this decision, if I
say yes to this opportunity, ifI say yes to this person that's
asking something of me, is itgetting me closer to what I am
trying to create, which isrepresented from this vision
board? And I said, Oh, my God,Kelly, amazing, because I have
not, I had not been doing that.
She's brilliant. And so I said,Oh my god, I'm so glad you told
(24:44):
me that. And so this is one ofthe powerful ways you can use
your vision board. Is okay? Doesthis align with the life I want?
Does this create the beautifullife I want for myself? And.
Oftentimes, because I'm now, I'musing it this way too.
Oftentimes, when you go to theboard, it very quickly tells you
(25:08):
Yes, this is getting thisdecision. Saying yes to this
decision is getting me closer tothis life I want. Or it's not
that is the power of a visionboard. It helps us get clear on
what we want. Sometimes it'sjust a feeling. A lot of times
it's really a feeling. In theend, it helps us build our
belief that something bigger ispossible for us. That is our
(25:31):
responsibility to believesomething is bigger is possible
for us. It helps us reallybecome more intuitive and follow
our instincts.
It helps us with manifestation.
It helps and to me, when I thinkof manifestation, it also means
creation. It helps us admit andfind evidence that we are a
creator, and it helps us makedecisions for our future. It
(25:55):
helps us when people are askingus to do things, and people are
offering us jobs, and people aresaying, Would you like to do
this? You'd like to do that. Andwe can go to something visual
that represents where we'regoing. It helps us get clarity
on if that is helping us getcloser to the life that we truly
want for ourselves. So ladies,get ready. This vision boarding
(26:16):
workshop is going to be amazingif you are inspired by listening
to this podcast and you arewanting to get to see me teach
this vision boarding workshoplive, and you want the step by
step how to tangibly create one,I invite you to join my ready
for change group in July, andyou will not only spend The
(26:38):
month with me, creating massivechange in your life. But you
will get to come to this liveworkshop where I teach the group
about how to create your ownvision board, where to get the
pictures, how to print them out,how big, how many, how to decide
what to put it on, all of it.
It's going to be a wonderfulmonth of July, creating a
massive change in your life.
Head to Courtney Graycoaching.com/work
(27:03):
with me, or you can click thelink in the show notes to learn
all about this. July, ready forchange coaching group, have a
great Tuesday. If you are readyto lose weight and keep it off
permanently and feel confidentand at peace around food, I
invite you to head to CourtneyGray coaching.com to learn about
how to work with me. I work withwomen privately, one on one, and
(27:25):
I also offer small groupcoaching. There is a link to my
website in the show notes. You.
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