Imagine your life together. Are you living in a deluxe apartment in the city, or a house in the country? Are you partying in a Hells Angels clubhouse or on your way to Burning Man in a motor home? Are you enjoying sun-drenched resorts or snow-packed mountains? Are there children, a surrogate mother? How many cats? Can your mother-in-law find you?

 

Once you've decided on the pictures that best represent your soul mate and your happily-ever-after, arrange the images on a piece of poster-board. When you have them sorted in an aesthetically pleasing manner, start gluing.

 

Blogger/musician/women's retreat coordinator Christine Kane suggests putting a picture of your smiling, happy self smack dab in the middle, though this might mean moving Tricia Helfer to the sidelines.

 

After completion, sit back and admire your handiwork. Congratulations! You've just spent an afternoon avoiding housework.

 

But more than that, you might be on your way to meeting the man or woman of your dreams.

 

Place your dating vision board somewhere you'll be reminded of your goals daily, like a workspace. (Though probably not the office, unless you want your co-workers to know about your desire to appear on Dancing with the Stars). Hopefully you've chosen pictures that bring you a relaxed, happy feeling rather than those that would stress you out, or make you feel like an underachieving loser.

 

You should feel, looking at the board, that you're ready to go to your high school reunion, not like you've thrown away your early promise. Oh yeah, and don't forget to thank the universe, er, Universe, in advance, as though you already have what you desire.

 

Apparently this will smooth the transition so you're ready when the publisher of The Secret pulls up in a truck and starts dumping cash onto your lawn.

 

Yeah, the whole thing sounds a little flakey, even to us (and we believe Anderson Cooper is an emissary from the future). It also sounds almost criminally self-absorbed. After all, it's easy for us, living in a part of the world where we don't have to worry about falling bombs or blood-thirsty dictators, to cut and paste pictures of homes in Malibu and a reserved table at the French Laundry.

 

But, like chicken soup, it probably can't hurt. And might it not also be used to make us contribute more to society? That is, once we've snagged our versions of Chris Martin and Katee Sackhoff.