Setting clear intentions for your best year yet
See ya later, 2017. You were strange in your own exquisite way. We thank you for your lessons and your opportunities for growth and all your beauty and challenges along the way. 2018, we welcome you with open eyes and open hearts. Zero hesitation as we dance forward manifesting our dreams. With the start of a new year, a new chapter, many of us are hard at work reflecting on the last 365 days and setting intentions for creating the life we so desire.
Hey, dreamer! Ya, you. I see you. I honor you. Manifesting your dreams is big, big work.
Have you set your intentions for the year ahead? If not, what are you waiting for? Setting intentions is powerful. I’m currently sitting at The Center in SF, my home away from home, refining mine and have been now for a few days. I take intention setting very seriously because I know its power. My partner thinks I’m kooky for all my woowoo rituals, but this is one even he commits to.
Why?
Setting intentions creates the blueprint for building the life, the moments, the dreams we want to create. It’s the law of attraction married with thoughtful action.
If you’re ready to feel clear, purposeful, and aligned to your highest TRUTH, get ready to make intentions your friend.
Not sure where to begin? I’m here to help.
Now, I like to set BIG intentions. The kind of intentions that are transformational and wake me up to my heart’s deepest desires. Rather than choose something surface and stringent like ”no chocolate for one year” (GASP!!), I set intentions by reflecting on the year before and combining those reflections with my dreams for the year ahead.
I like to look at lessons that are still showing up in my life reminding me that, yes, I still have work to do, as well as the dreams I’m desiring to create.
Ready to get started? First step, grab a journal, go somewhere inspiring and let’s do this.
Begin by reflecting on 2017. Write down the most magical and most memorable moments. Why were these moments so magical? What energies showed up during these times? Underscore these. These are areas you’ll want to revisit to expand or recreate for 2018.
Reflecting back, some of the moments that make me super proud and smile were moving to San Francisco and traveling a ton–exploring Costa Rica, Tulum, Maine, Montreal, the PNW, and getting whisked away on the most magical surprise birthday trip everrrr to Hawaii. Take me back!
These moments really stand out for me because they combine two of my favorite things –exploration and my favorite people. Other moments that stand out for me are the relationships I built with my coworkers and friends, remaining to have an open heart in a city full of intense energy and emotions, dedicating time and energy and finances to personal development, and saying yes to things that scared the crap out of me. So, exploration, relationships, wellness/personal development. These are things I’ll want to re-focus on for 2018.
Next, reflect on areas that didn’t go so well for you. Overall, if you could give the year a feeling, what would it be? What color would you give it?
Ask yourself where are the same lessons still showing up and what are you being asked to learn. Which behaviors will you leave in 2017?
Some of the lessons I’m still learning include saying yes to things that scare me, slowing down, and adding structure and form to my ideas to help ground me. That last one will probably be my eternal lesson, yay.
Some of the behaviors that I’m committing to leave in 2017 include having expectations (more to come on this in a future post!), comparing myself to others and feeling less than, eating out because I’m too lazy to cook even though I enjoy cooking, feeling guilty for spending money on healing treatments/things that help me feel sane (self care is everything!), and lastly, this is a biggie, inaction because I’m letting fear steer the ship. Nope, fear, you are not coming with me in 2017. At least not in the same way I let you show up in 2017.
Ok. Once you’ve outlined your magical moments and your lessons that keep showing up, start meditating on the feelings you’d like to experience more of in the year ahead.
How do you want to feel in your body? In your mind? How do you want to show up for yourself and walk through this world? Write those words down.
My words center around feeling powerful, calm, clear, purposeful, open, creative, decisive, and grounded.
After you’ve detailed out your words, start pulling it all together. How do the magical moments from the previous year, the lessons, and the feelings you want to experience in 2018 melt together? Are there big projects involved? Are you looking to make a big career change? What’s most important to you during this time? And where have you been holding back and hiding?
For me, I acknowledged that there are HUGE dreams that have been lying dormant behind a cloak of fear and inaction. Dreams that have been calling my name since I was 10 years old. 10 years old! It’s time for me to step forth and create these dreams. I made this my #1 intention. The feeling aligned with this intention is power. I also assigned an element that symbolizes each intention. This element is fire. When I start to feel stuck, I embody the qualities of this element. Heat, movement, power, light, liberation.
Next, I looked at all my desires and created 3 main categories that encompassed my most important desires — life purpose/personal development, wellness, and exploration. These areas are most important for me in 2018. For each intention, I created mini purpose statements or mantras to help structure the actions necessary to make these desires realities. For example, for wellness, one of my intentions is to create more space for healing. My Northstar mantra is “I take the time to create space for my mental healing.”
Once you have your categories and mantras for your intentions, start committing to actions.
Intentions come to life and are made reality through skillful action. You can’t meditate your way to transformation. Meditation is only one piece of the puzzle.
Be purposeful when writing down your actions. Make sure you are excited about them and are willing to commit to them. If you’re not excited, you won’t be committed. Think of your intentions and your actions as a contract you are making with yourself. You can do it!
For my example above about mental healing, the actions I’m committing to are attending Monday night EFT sessions, journaling for 10 minutes every morning, meditating for 10 minutes every morning, cleaning up the house every night before bed, and committing to a detailed to-do list and budgeting app. All of these things are relatively simple, but together they add up to a more grounded and more peaceful me.
After you have all of your intentions and actions written down, give yourself a day or two to meditate on them. Sit with them. Come back to your list and see what still needs refining, where you’ve overcommitted yourself, or what you’re not really that excited about anymore. Refine, refine, refine!
Remember, this is a contract to yourself. Feel confident that you’re signing up emphatically and wholeheartedly.
Once your intentions feel super solid, bring them to life. Share your intentions with your partner or someone close to you. Sharing your intentions creates a vibration of commitment and a deep well of confidence in yourself. Write them down and post them somewhere special.
That’s it! I’m excited for you. You can do this. You deserve to feel powerful and intentional and purposeful. It’s time to step into your truth.
I can’t wait to hear what you create.
Want to chat? Drop me a note. I love meeting new people. ❤
