So what is a vision board? A visual representation of what goals you have and what you want and need to do in your life, and for yourself. A friend and I plan to take poster board and a variety of magazines, glue, markers and other art supplies, to create these. It might sound hokey, or lame, but it is good to cement what you want, and refer back to your goals when you need to clarify, or need focus.

Writing a personal mission statement might appeal to the writers of the group, where you can structure exactly what it is you plan to do with your life, and why. As one great speaker said to me recently “It’s like riding in a car. If you don’t know where you are going, how are you going to get there? And you have to decide, are you the driver, or the passenger? If you are the passenger, then you are simply along for the ride that is life. If you are the driver, you should know where you are going, and you will take yourself there.”

Made perfect sense to me.

I think my vision board will contain things like yoga symbols, plants, pens and paper, trees, sunshine…

Wow, that picture is already shaping up to show me that I likely do not want to be a powerful CEO after I achieve my master’s in business…Good to know.

I will share what comes out later this week when I sit with my most inspiring friend, and we shall see where we want to take our lives. After all, if we don’t know where we want to go, how will we get there?

It made me realize two things:

1) People, even when fighting against it, are judgmental. Being mean is not the goal, nor is thinking we are better than another.   Wired into our dialogue, both internally and externally, is this negative and judging attitude. Not one person chastised me for saying something judgmental, I had to berate myself for negative thoughts.

2) This exercise made me see exactly how much I think negative thoughts about others, and myself, and how often I verbalize them! My partner started counting his remarks and thoughts as well, and it wasn’t pretty.

This experience could either make me feel ashamed and judge myself through my internal dialogue, or I can use it to hold myself accountable. It can instead encourage me to be nicer to myself and others, all of the time. I think the quote “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” applies here, and I am going to start viewing the world through rose-colored lenses that mar others’ imperfections as well as my own.

I was offered a challenge by my favorite health consultant and nutritionist to send my baggage packing, and make a 10 commitment to judgment-free living. The rules are simple:

• 10 days without judgment
• If I catch myself judging, make a note of it. I will carry a little note pad around for just this purpose.
• Judgment on myself counts
• Declaring something as judgmental doesn’t make it okay, or excuse it. I will still have to mark down instances of judgment.

The hope is that by doing this exercise and sacrificing my daily judgments, it will create more self-awareness, and lead me down a better path. I am all for self improvement, so I accepted the challenge, and look forward to the days ahead, judgment free with self growth at the heart.

It will involve health, food, and creativity.

See you soon!