Make a Treasure Map

Visualize your way to success

A treasure map is a visualization of your goals that will help you achieve whatever you want. It can be a scrapbook, a cardboard or even a file on your computer.

The other day I came across an old diary and treasure map and was reminded how powerful visualization can be. In the diary, which was from 1999, I had clued in pictures of different things I desired and dreamed of. Like the view from my dream home: Soft hills with olive trees and the sea far below. I had written: I need an open view, a wide open sky. And what did I get? Yes, exactly that!

The picture of the view that I had clued into the notebook is so close to what I look out at every day that it’s almost scary. But that wasn’t the only wish that had come through: I got the car, clothes and even shoes that I dreamed of back then.

Some people have a great ability to visualize. They create a clear, exact picture in their mind. Whether it’s to create a garden from a field or turn an old basement into a sauna and shower room, they don’t need plans or schemes, but can go ahead and just do it. These are often creative people that in addition to have the ability to visualize how earth can be turned into gold, also easily visualize themselves reaching new goals – whether it’s to settle in a happy relationship, write a book or drive along the French Riviera in a cabriolet. They don’t need pictures to help them moving towards their life targets.

But most of us will do. You might find pictures in magazines and newspapers, but remember you can also look at the internet at for instance Yahoo images and download the picture to your own computer by right clicking on it. Then you can either print it out or keep it in a special treasure map folder on your computer. If you know how to use Photoshop or another picture editing program you can also manipulate pictures. Have found your dream home, but don’t like the color? Paint it! Not pleased with the garden? Add an old apple tree and some wonderful flowers.

Whether you’re in or out of a relationship you might want to add an image of a happy couple. Or you and the man in your life in your most happy moment. Want to travel more with your husband? Get a picture of a man and a woman packing a suitcase together. Add some photos of the hotels where you’d love to stay, the French café where you’ll have breakfast or that museum you’ve always dreamed of visiting.

There might be charities you’d like to work for or a good cause you’d like to get more involved with, whether it’s beating breast cancer or fighting against pollution. Add a picture of that pink bow and a healthy green forest – whatever symbolizes the.

And don’t forget words! There might be just a short phrase that you find attractive, like “joie de vivre’ or “the good life”. Or it might be a poem that creates a certain feeling of happiness in you or the lyrics of a song. Anything, that helps you visualizing, to create, a picture in your head or a feeling in your heart of something you desire belongs in your treasure map.

Don’t forget pictures of inspirational people! Many of us have issues that hold us back from achieving our dreams. You might want to take a Sabbatical to sail around the globe, but thinking that a person “like you” can’t do something like that. Get a picture, or several, of people “like you” who did just that – I know you’ll find someone! Or you’re 40 and want to go back to school, feeling too old. Well, you’re not the first one who gets an education at that age, so find a photo of a man or woman who fulfilled that dream – and that reminds you that you can do it, too. One of my favorite cuttings is a magazine interview with a British woman who moved to Egypt to become a professional belly dancer. I have no dreams about becoming a belly dancer or moving to Egypt, but I think the story is so incredibly inspirational. It shows that you can do anything. And then I mean anything.

You need to keep your treasure map somewhere you can easily take it out, look at it, daydream and add new pictures. And don't despair if a dream has expired before you realized it. We change, life itself means change, and so dreams change, too. Glue a new picture on top!

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