Envisioning your future: Finding a path to where you want to be

By Leah Geller
Published in the Ottawa Citizen January 3rd, 2004

It was last summer, returning from our annual bike trip in the Laurentians. We were zooming along the highway at 120 clicks, straight back to Montreal to my brother’s. I was slumped in the passenger seat, eyelids heavy, physically exhausted, but utterly content. The two of us had just spent the last few days cycling a trail weaving through lakes, hills and forests.
 
I giggled to myself , remembering the way the black flies feasted on my brother’s neck. I smiled, pleased that we had completed the trip despite the humidity, heat and tough hills.

Just as I was about to settle into a well-earned, post-expedition nap, my brother, eyes focused on the road ahead, asked me, “Leah, where do you want to be in five years?”

Five years? I knew that in the next five hours I’d like to be soaking in a bath. And in the next five days I’d like to be back home in Ottawa. But the next five years? I was stumped. Really stumped.

Although I can tell you clearly my opinion on everything from home decorating to American foreign policy, I’m at a complete loss when it comes to figuring out what I want, deciphering my very own future. Like a traveler without a map, an explorer without a compass, I never really know where I’m headed. 

According to Linda Vanderlee, coach and founder of the Rendezvous Rupert retreat, I’m not alone. “Almost everyone struggles with figuring out how they want to live their life,” Vanderlee explains.

Using the skills and insight she has gained as coach, teacher and facilitator, Vanderlee helps people with the challenging task of figuring out what they want. She has joined forces with Helen Patterson, a consultant specializing in experiential learning to create a series of “visioning workshops.” Their first workshop takes place early next month, a perfectly timed antidote to the dreaded, and notoriously unsuccessful, New Year’s resolutions.

“Traditionally, the New Year is a time when we set goals based on what we lack. We might decide to lose weight, exercise more, or quit smoking. Instead, our Visioning Workshop builds on people’s strengths and positive experiences to reflect on what kind of a life they want to create for themselves,” explains Vanderlee.

“For example, we ask participants the question ‘what were the moments of the last year where you really felt energized? Who was around, what was around and what was going on?’ We also ask ‘what do you want more of?’ This approach implies that participants already have what they want; they just need to find ways to expand it.

“By acknowledging and 'seeing' what it is you want more of you are more apt to seize the appropriate opportunities as they come by. You’re more likely to find ways to work through the inevitable obstacles that get in the way, and more likely to recognize the resources and support that abound when you know where you're headed.”

Vanderlee speaks from experience. Years ago, she envisioned a home in the country with a barn that could be used as a learning and retreat centre. Now she has it. Her retreat is in a warm and rustic, renovated 100-year-old barn, surrounded by open skies and fields, trees and hills of the beautiful Gatineau hills. And she’s accomplishing her dream of helping people live their “best” lives through the technique of Visioning.

“Visioning can be expansive and exhilarating, especially when you speak from your heart what it is that you want out of your life, not letting any socially conditioned ideas or messages curtail you,” says Vanderlee.

Distinct from goal setting, which is more of a rational left-brain activity, Visioning is a right-brain, creative endeavour. “A lot of the Visioning Workshop focuses on getting out of our heads and getting in touch with our bodies and our hearts. A number of body-centred and right brain activities help with this process. Later we’ll have questions and exercises that help clarify your vision and make it plausible to your more rational side,” explains workshop co-facilitator Helen Patterson.

 “We hope that participants leave with a clearer idea of where they want to move their life: what they want more of, what is important to them — not their parents, partner or friends,” she adds.

Visioning doesn't manifest itself overnight, but it does gives us a bearing, a point to head for. Less like cruising down a crowded four-lane highway. More like riding your own bumpy dirt trail to a deep, fresh water lake.

Published in the Ottawa Citizen January 3rd, 2004