Have you ever heard of a vision board?  It’s like a collage – a visual representation of what you’d like to have happen in the future.  It’s a fun way to articulate your goals or dreams, and strangely, once you put it out there in words and pictures, circumstances begin to align to allow your dreams to actually happen!

Some people might call it magic, or harnessing the energy of the universe or angels – but it’s really quite practical.   It’s just like when you learn a new vocabulary word – one you never even knew existed, and then you see it everywhere.  You won’t notice something until you put your attention toward it.

I like to play with vision boards.  I like thinking about what I want and then finding the words and images to go with my vision.  So about six months ago, I made a vision board about my business.  And one of the images I put on it was Madonna.  She was in dark glasses and red lipstick.  She looked confident and composed.  She’s Madonna, after all!  I put her on the board because I wanted to channel Madonna’s fearless energy, her willingness to push boundaries, her total comfort in her own skin.  Madonna is a badass.  And I admire her for that.

A couple of days after I made the vision board I read somewhere that Madonna was coming to New Orleans in October.  And I thought, “Huh.  Maybe I can manifest some Madonna tickets too.  Wouldn’t that be cool if I end up at the Madonna concert in October?  Then I’ll really believe in this vision boarding stuff!”  And then I looked up the prices and thought, “No way.”  And I forgot about it for the summer.

October came.  And nothing.  Oh well.  Then the night before the concert, I was having cocktails with a dear friend and she mentioned a friend of hers was trying to get rid of Madonna tickets. My ears perked right up – Madonna tickets?  Say more!  Did my friend want to ask about them?  Did she want to go?  Yes and yes.  So she texted and asked if the tickets were still available.  We continued to sip cocktails and snack and chat while we waited about 45 minutes to hear back.

Yes – they were ours!  I thought, “Why not?”  I never, ever, ever buy big arena concert tickets – the last arena show I saw was the Grateful Dead in 1990 or so and before that maybe Peter Gabriel in 1987.  Seemed it was time to go ahead and go for it.  I told my friend my cool vision boarding story.  How I’d manifested Madonna.

She said, “That’s not manifesting.  You still have to pay for the tickets!”  And I said, “Hmm, that’s true.”  And then I checked my phone.  And about ten minutes after she had asked for the tickets from her friend, I’d received a PayPal payment for a class that had already begun the night before, from someone I’d never heard of – exactly enough to cover the tickets and a drink and food too!  This felt like free money because the class was already going, new person or not .  I thought, “Wow – the universe really is sending me a wink!”

It gets crazier.  Unusual circumstances led to my friend not being able to go to the concert.  So now – should I go alone?  Hmmm.  I went ahead and went.  And I ended up sitting next to an old friend who I hadn’t seen ages! What are the chances of our tickets being near each other? And because Madonna didn’t come on stage until about 10:30 p.m. when the tickets said 8 p.m., it was good that my original friend wasn’t able to come – she would not have been happy waiting around for 2.5 hours!  Somehow we heard through the grapevine that Madonna would be coming on very late, so we just settled in, relaxed, and people-watched.

Then, finally, Madonna.  She still has it.  She’s still pushing the envelope.  We sometimes forget when we’re recalling the lace and the perky songs about stars and holidays that she’s always done some pretty edgy stuff and stretched her audiences past their comfort zone.  This show was no exception.   There was so much to see, so much to process – it was quite a spectacle! She’s definitely still a badass.

You can call this whole set of circumstances coincidence or luck or whatever.  I know that.  But I love this story, and I love my vision board, and I love that I manifested Madonna!  And I love that I can be open to great fun and amazing possibilities every day.

How about you?  What do you dream of?  Let me know what’s on your vision board, and if you have a great “manifesting” story, please share it in the comments! And enjoy the slide show of the concert and the fabulous outfits people wore to celebrate!