Personal Visions, Emotional Processing, and Human Development

The Basics of Visions: Part 1 of 6 (or 7)

I’ve been inspired to write about the under appreciated role of visions in our lives. Specifically I have in mind to write about:

1) Living a meaningful life
2) Postmodernism and a Lack of Meaningful Visions
3) Dark nights of the soul
4) Finding a purpose
5) Visions and  happiness

But before looking at visions in these various contexts, I want to first overview a series of reflections that I will refer to as the Basics of Visions.  This will give us a solid understanding and common language for discussing Visions and how they are intrinsic to understanding these deeper issues in life.

The Basics of Visions

1. What Do We Mean by "Vision"

2. Visions are the Organizing Structure of the Emotional System

3. Visions Provide The Context for our Feelings and Emotions

4. Visions and Time Frames

5. Visions are Dynamic and Change in Predictable Ways

6. Are Visions Really Hierarchical?

So, lets start with the first topic!

What do we mean by "Vision"?

If I ask you to close your eyes and imagine what your life will look like in 10 years, what do you see?   Do you have a clear set of images and ideas? "I’ll live in this city, in this end of town, with this career?"

Are you married?  Are there children, and if so, what is your relationship to them like?  How will you spend your leisure time, vacation time? What level of income will you have?

If you can “see” your imagined future with this level of detail, you have a “Vision” for your future. And if you have this level of detail in your vision you likely have a 1 year, 5 year and 10 year vision.  I'm curious: did you have to work at it, or did it come naturally to you? 

So to have a vision for our life literally means “to see” our future. And Visions are intrinsically about our future because our life unfolds over time. Its how we want our live to look in the future.

We can refer to these people as the “planners”.

~

In stark contrast to this, many people do not have this kind of precise vision for their future and yet they are also doing quite well creating the life and the future they want to live. They seem to take advantage of whatever opportunities present themselves and “go with the flow”. Their life seems to just blossom over time, in a good and aligned way, spontaneously, without them planning or having an explicit visions for it.

How is that possible, without an explicit vision?

When I’ve looked more closely at their lives, and asked some questions, these people do seem to have some generic vision or values guiding them at each step of the way.  They know what kind(s) of work they are interested in doing and the quality of life and values they embrace. These perspectives guide which opportunities they pursue and which they do not. Their lives seem to unfold or emerge naturally and often easily, as they are quite adaptive, going with the flow and the opportunities… as long as it aligns with their interests and values.

I call these people the “Blossomers”.

~

It seems, though, that there is a 3rd group. Those people who seem focused on the immediate needs of their day or simply satisfying their physical and emotional impulses for the next moment, week, or months: "I want to travel so I save money and go on a trip; I don’t like this job so I quit and find another one; I don’t like what I am doing but I need money so I took this job; I like this hobby so I spend time with it," etc.  Their life is a mosaic of short-term interests and gratification. 

Often, these people wake up at some point and realize their life does not seem to be progressing in any particular way and that focus on impulse gratification and short-term interests is not that satisfying nor fulfilling in the longer term.  

I call this group the “Drifters” or “Meanderers”.

This 3rd group of people, whether it’s earlier or later, would do well to consciously emulate the “Planners” or the “Blossomers” or perhaps some hybrid of the two. My suspicion is that “Drifters” would find it easier to identify their values, skills, and interests and become Blossomers as opposed to full fledged Planners, its just too much of a leap from where they are. Once you identify your the interests you want to pursue and the value with which and in which you want to pursue them you are much more likely to find yourself living the kind of life you you would like to be living, in the near term and far off future.

Corporations really got the importance of Visions (and missions and values) down pat years ago, as did the entrepreneurial world. These concepts are pretty standard in these industries, and important to their success, as a quick Google search will reveal. 

So to leave this short overview of Visions on a pragmatic note (and points we will explore in much more detail in the future): Their is a myriad of articles, blog posts and podcasts that all agree that explicitly stating and imagining your vision (and values) daily keeps them alive and keeps you on track for obtaining them over time It makes sense; each day you check and see if the future you are (consciously) yearning for is moving closer to reality. If not, you determine what you need to do to make it more likely, and do it. Simple enough… for now.