One of my current life-coaching clients is a repeat client. After accomplishing most of what she set out to do the first time we worked together, she recently decided to take on a new set of goals to move her life forward. When we began our second coaching series, she shared with me how amazed she was that when she looked back at the vision she had created the first time, it was almost word for word an accurate picture of what she actually went on to achieve.

That is the power of the vision. Certainly vision boards have become a popular way of expressing our goals, but this particular client had used another tool I recommend to most -- the vision letter. The idea is to write a letter to yourself or a friend, but to imagine it’s one, five or 10 years from now and that all your goals have been achieved. What does a day in your life look like? What details can you describe? How do the various parts of your life intermingle?

As the aforementioned client can attest, the results are powerful. You become more invested in the outcome by putting pen to paper, so to speak, and the goals become more concrete and inspiring. I insist my clients do this, often despite vehement resistance, and ultimately they find it to be an uplifting exercise. The idea is to give genuine emotional and even soulful energy to an idea or wish.

That is why I was recently fascinated to see a whole new twist on the vision letter exercise. Prior to the 2008 presidential election, the Christian organization run by Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family, used it to paint a picture of what our country would look like under an Obama administration. It is the first time I’ve seen a vision letter used as an instrument of terror. Here I present just a snippet of what can be found in its 16 pages:

It begins with a scenario that leads to a far-left Supreme Court majority, one that includes Justice Antonin Scalia falling ill and being replaced by a liberal justice. What transpires from there in this projected vision is that same-sex marriage becomes constitutional and the law of the land in all 50 states, that the Boy Scouts must disband rather than allow homosexual scout leaders (thus equating homosexuality and pedophilia), that tens of thousands of Christian elementary school teachers are fired for refusing to promote a homosexual lifestyle, that violent inner-city crime goes up because private gun ownership is restricted, and that the waiting list for prostate cancer surgery is three years because of a nationalized health care system.

What a rousing vision.

An awful lot of energy was expended here to perpetuate a message that its writers hope will not happen. What it tells us is that while much of the nation -- and even the world -- seems to be calling for sweeping change and renewed hope, much of it is feeling resentful and fatalistic. It has gone way beyond the political.

In yet another visioning exercise, there has been an imaginary front page of The New York Times circulating the Internet, dated July 4, 2009. The headline reads, “Iraq War Ends” and the subhead says, “Troops to Return Immediately.”

Another rousing rendition of the future, for sure.

I suspect that keeping up with the variety of visions that are unfolding will start to feel like watching a tennis match. Back, forth, back, forth. A dream over here, a nightmare over there. Optimism, pessimism, peace, war, love, hate, hope, despair.

I am left with this:

Be careful what you wish for. It may just happen.

That, of course, is supposed to be the idea.

Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.