Treasure-mapping is simply the process of visualizing exactly what you want. The clearer you can see it as a reality, the sooner it manifests. The magical part about treasure-mapping is that you don't have to know where the desired object or opportunity will come from. Gifts, contest prizes, sudden opportunities are typical outcomes.

The actual process is simple: tear out color pictures in magazines or catalogs and rubber cement them to half a sheet of poster board.

Currently I use a sketch book that I constantly add to page after page. Sometimes I am not even sure what I am searching for, but in the process of looking, I get clearer when an image seems to call to me.

Here are some of the things I have successfully treasure-mapped:
New house (complete with gazebo)
New job, change in career, and career opportunities
Vacations (including white-water rafting and a hot air balloon ride
Clients and audiences
Lifestyle, romance, jewelry and clothes
Art, dishes, collectibles, cars, etc. (This is the easy stuff)
My husband!
Family relationships

Variations, tips, and ideas:

1) Each New Year, treasure-map what you want the year to look like. Focus on opportunities, desired lifestyle changes, etc.

This is a tradition for our whole family. I do the half page treasure-map at this time. I might add that children end up cutting out pictures of cute animals; they have a hard time with future goal setting. More on that later.

2) Relationships: To treasure map a spouse or special companion, concentrate on finding pictures that represent what you want the relationship to look like: how you want to be treated, what you will do together, what values you would share, etc. Avoid treasure-mapping a specific physical body (after all, they are just models in the pictures and they spend incredible amounts of time in the gym.)

3) Physical changes: If you want to treasure-map an ideal body for yourself, concentrate on the active, healthy lifestyle that your body would need to have. I've even pasted my own face on the body of a woman doing aerobics. It was so believable to me that it melted the resistance I was feeling at the time.

4) Words: Include your own name, cut out of type, and a phrase or two also in type, that motivate you. Beware of too many words, however, as it is the visual image that your mind finds so powerful.

5) When the treasure map is finished, bless it. Some people like to add a picture that represents God as their source for everything. I write a little prayer on the back: "Thanks you, God, for this or something better for my highest good."

6) Invite friends to bring their scissors, glue, and magazines for a treasure map party! Treasure-map with your spouse, and your children.

Children age 10 and up can treasure-map their short term goals. You can make suggestions, such as cutting out pictures of Scout badges they would like to earn, or a place for a family vacation that summer, or a pet they would like to take care of, or a specific item for Christmas. (Caution: a kid with a toy catalog goes beserk!)

Challenge a teenager to treasure map his or her in life in ten years. That gives them a grounded sense of thinking strategies toward preparation (what courses to take, etc.)