Start the New Year with Powerful Intentions
I always love New Year’s Eve and New Years Day. It is the end of the old and the beginning of a new year. Also given that my birthday is on Dec 31, it is a new beginning for me as I move into a new year and celebrate the number of years I have been alive. I take time to reflect on my life and what I have experienced over the last year and set intentions for the coming year.
This last year has been very powerful for me. Though I have been rebuilding my own health for many years, in the last few years I have been reaching out to support others wanting to do the same. I feel a calling to share what I have learned and experienced with others with similar challenges that I have overcome. I want something good to come out of my years of pain and suffering and to help others rebuild their health in a shorter time frame.
“Coming out” has been a challenge for me in that it triggered all of my self-doubt. Yet my inner intention and my commitment to my path has led me forward . . . so here I am.
As I look back at 2022, I am very grateful that I listened to the inner voice that drew me past my fears and self-doubt. I feel so grateful to be connecting with those of you on my mailing list and who are following me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Instagram. My heart feels so full when I see your comments and likes and know that I am contributing to your ever-unfolding wholeness.
The Power of Intentions
I would like to share with you the power of Intentions. Too many times at the end of the year we create resolutions. We make a commitment to lose weight, exercise more, clean up our diet and more. But too often these resolutions fall by the wayside and we end up beating ourselves up for “failing” once again. And maybe we have even given up making resolutions. In seeing this pattern in myself, I made the switch to creating Intentions instead of Resolutions.
An intention is like putting your deepest heart felt desires into a balloon and then sending that balloon into the heavens knowing that your prayers will be answered. Resolutions have the feeling that I have to do it. I have to make it happen.
What is the difference between Intentions and Resolutions?
Resolutions. In my thinking, a Resolution is a goal created from the mind and enforced by will power. It is a decision to do something to achieve a specific external result. Underlying this is the desire to feel a certain way. The resolutions are often fueled from our dislike of our self or our situation. And yet the feeling part is often unconscious and/or accompanied with other unconscious desires to maintain status quo. It is aligned with the do/have/be paradigm. The paradigm that says, If I do this, then I will have this result and then I will be happy, peaceful, fulfilled, etc.
Intentions. Intentions are more aligned with the be/do/have paradigm. When we create intentions, we connect within and identify what we want to feel, to be. We create our intention around that. From committing to our beingness, our true self, the actions of what we need to do flow from within and have the support of our higher self. We feel inspired to take action because our actions are coming from a place of love and purpose.
Examples of Intentions
Here are two of my Intentions for 2023 and how they work for me to inspire me, rather than to try to “whip” me into shape.
I am home. I have come home to my Self. I am peaceful, harmonious, and present. I am love, I am powerful, I am confident, I am fully alive.
When I read this, I feel inspired. I look forward to being this more consistently in my life. It reminds me of who I truly am. I feel inspired to take time to sit quietly with myself, to reconnect with myself, to be with myself. Or to simply take moments during the day to take a deep breath and reconnect to my inner Self.
I could have created a resolution saying that I am going to sit and meditate every day. But that may or may not happen. But starting with the intention, I will draw to me the actions and resources that will bring me closer to my desired state of being.
I am enjoying ever increasing dynamic health. I lovingly care for my body, heart, mind and spirit. My body, heart, mind and spirit are harmonious with each other and in alignment with my highest good.
When I read this, I relax. It reminds me that, yes, I want dynamic health. Yet, I want to be loving with myself and honor all aspects of myself. I want my body, my heart (emotional body) my mind, and my soul to work together for my highest good rather than to be at war with each other.
For those of us living with fibromyalgia or other chronic health challenges, we can create disharmony with our body. We can sometimes think the body is the enemy. We forget that our body is suffering too. Our body wants to be healthy.
A guide to creating your own Intentions
Begin with some self-introspection. Identify where you are in your life, what is working for you and what you would like to change. As you consider your intentions, work through the following questions:
- Think about where you are in your life. What are your greatest challenges that you would like to move beyond? What are the external changes that you would like to create?
- Why do you want to achieve this new experience? What is your motivation behind this new creation? What are you feeling that you want to change? These are often negative emotions.
- What do you want to feel when you have achieved your goal? This is the most important question. Do you want to feel happy, peaceful, confident, free?
- Take some time to connect to the feeling that you want to experience. Visualize yourself in that feeling. What might your life look like? What are you doing? What do you need to do to move toward that state of being?
Take the information from these introspection and create I statements. “I am” is the most powerful statement. It calls into being whatever follows that statement. It also calls the experience into the present moment rather than putting it into the future.
As you work with creating the “I am” statement, listen to your body and heart to see how they feel when you say the statement. If you feel uplifted and encouraged, it is a good statement. If your feeling drops, play with the statement until you feel uplifted. You might want to say, “I am moving toward improve health” rather than “I am healthy”
Let your heart be your guide. Your heart knows what is in your highest and best good.
