Create a Life Map
A Life Map helps you discover what you want for yourself and your life. Follow the steps below to create your own Life Map.
Step One:
Gather magazines and catalogues.
Step Two:
Go through the magazines and catalogues and pull out images, words and phrases that speak to you or evoke feelings.
Step Three:
Cut out these images and words.
Step Four:
Place your words and images on a large board in an way that feels right to you.
Step Five:
Paste the images on the board.
Step Six:
Review your Life Map and ask yourself the following questions:
- What have I learned about myself from looking at my Life Map?
- Do I see any patterns?
- Does anything on my Life Map surprise me?
- If I knew that all of the images and this Life Map would come in to my life, would I be OK with that?
- Who do I need to become in order to fulfill the intentions on my Life Map?
- Based on my Life Map, what quality will I commit to developing this year?
Find support for changing your life. Share your findings with a friend. You can even create Life Maps together.
Life coach Cheryl Richardson helped four women through the Life Map-making process. Each made surprising discoveries about themselves.
Four women worked with life coach Cheryl Richardson to create their Life Maps. After completing the maps, Cheryl sat down with each woman to discover what the words and images on their Life Maps really meant.
The Discoveries
Gaye Lynn minimized the things most important to her. "I'm looking at this board and realizing that all of the things that are me...That I want to be are over here or down at the bottom, they're all scrunched up... The one thing that really surprised me was that I created my image of being second best." — Gaye Lynn
Sherry had said she no idea what it would take to make her happy, and included images of close relationships. "I don't think there is enough closeness in my life. I have a lot of relationships but—I still have an overwhelming sense of loneliness." — Sherry
Shella not only learned something about herself, the exercise gave her newfound motivation. "What I really learned about myself is that I really want to make room for my dreams and I think that's why...there's a lot of space [on my board.] " — Shella
For Shannon, making the Map was a healing exercise. "This exercise gave me an enormous amount of clarity, because I didn't over-think anything—it came from my heart." — Shannon
The Discoveries
Gaye Lynn minimized the things most important to her. "I'm looking at this board and realizing that all of the things that are me...That I want to be are over here or down at the bottom, they're all scrunched up... The one thing that really surprised me was that I created my image of being second best." — Gaye Lynn
Sherry had said she no idea what it would take to make her happy, and included images of close relationships. "I don't think there is enough closeness in my life. I have a lot of relationships but—I still have an overwhelming sense of loneliness." — Sherry
Shella not only learned something about herself, the exercise gave her newfound motivation. "What I really learned about myself is that I really want to make room for my dreams and I think that's why...there's a lot of space [on my board.] " — Shella
For Shannon, making the Map was a healing exercise. "This exercise gave me an enormous amount of clarity, because I didn't over-think anything—it came from my heart." — Shannon