For so long, our culture has placed a heavy emphasis on New Years Resolutions. This idea is really wonderful, but it is often rooted in eliminating things and highlighting our flaws. I find it much more helpful when moving into a new phase to set intentions. This is a moment to think about what you do want from your life, rather than what you want to cut out. By focusing on your heart and what you value, you are able to create clarity and space for self-discovery!
It is never to late to set intentions!
Intention setting is all about focusing on what you want to achieve and experience from the months and year, and considering the actions you might take in order to do so! Intention setting is not just about things you want to ‘accomplish’ it is also about ways that you would like to feel and creating simple and granular moments that promote that feeling or get you a little closer towards your goals. This more gentle approach allows for more ease, less stress, and freedom to find new habits that actually work for you. With intention-setting, we are figuring out what we want to cultivate more of in our lives, and we are more likely to create long-term habits.
You are the creator of your life!
Don’t forget, we are the at the center of our lives, the only ones in control of what does and doesn’t happen for us, and there’s something so empowering about feeling motivated, centered and in charge of yourself and what you create around you! Do your best to stay in the realm of empowerment, focusing on what is possible! When we slip into the victimhood mentality that life is happening to us, we close ourselves off from our personal power! Life is happening FOR you!
How To Set an Intention
1. To start setting your intentions for this next trip around the sun, make a list of what’s truly important to you. What are your values in life? What in your life do you want to look different? What in your life do you want to cultivate more of? When we get clear with ourselves about what truly matters to us, we can then set healthy intentions that align with those core values.
2. Get even more clear about your visions by understanding why you are striving to reach certain goals or feelings. Ask yourself; What is the root cause of these desires? How will reaching these goals make us feel? Will accomplishing them really make us feel fulfilled? Are we doing them for the right reasons? With this clarity, we can be sure our list of intentions is truly for ourselves and our highest goods.
Some examples of New Year’s intentions include:
* I intend to focus on my mental health this year.
* I want to spend more time in nature.
* I will dedicate more time towards personal growth
* I intend to cultivate a career that aligns with my purpose
We can also use the present tense to bring our intentions closer to our realities by attempting to feel like we are already accomplishing them. For example:
* I am focusing on my mental health this year.
* I am spending more time in nature.
* I am dedicating more of my time towards my personal growth
* I am cultivating a career that aligns with my purpose.
3. Keep things open! Create a word or a short phrase that sums up your intentions. Try to think of a theme you want your year to embody, and carry this word at the forefront of all your actions. To help focus on your theme for the year even more, write your word or phrase down on a piece of paper or somewhere you will look at every day. Then, every single time you see this word, you will be reminded of what truly matters to you and what you are working toward throughout the year. Allow these words to become your mantra to stay open and expand your vision. They will help you to stay open and follow your heart, especially when fear and doubt creep in.
4. Start Small : When working toward our intentions, we start with smaller, reachable goals first. Make a list of actionable steps you can take that bring you toward those intentions. This list is intended as options– not things you must accomplish. For example, if one of your intentions for the new year is focusing on mental health, some possible actions you can take to work toward that are:
* Creating a morning routine that starts your day off right.
* Scheduling a therapy appointment.
* Practicing self care.
* Adding more movement into your day.
* Doing more of what you love.
Intentions are broad and allow room for error – they are much easier to stick with in the long term. With intentions, even completing one of these small actions means you’ve successfully worked toward that goal! There’s no added weight of fear of failure, just small steps of heading in the right direction and making positive changes.
5. Once you’ve integrated, let it go! You’ve planted the seeds into your awareness. Try to allow it to bloom versus control or attach and grip. Awareness is a spacious feeling and creates energy for our heart’s desires to flow to you. Intention is much more powerful when it comes from a place of contentment rather than if it arises from a sense of lack or need. Your higher self knows that everything is alright and will be all right, even without knowing the timing or the details of what will happen. If you force the outcome, it may not be as good for you as the one that comes naturally. You have released your intentions into the fertile ground of pure potentiality, and it will bloom when the season is right. Stick with your mantras, return to your intentions, make small little steps and TRUST that all is coming to you.
Much love my friends <3 I hope you meet all your intentions with grace, and as always if you need guidance or stepping onto the path of Ayurveda falls in alignment with your goals, I will happily walk that path with you!