The power of setting intentions & creating your future!

As we head towards the New Year, there is always a lot of chat about goals and resolutions. Increasingly however, I have noticed a shift from unrealistic goal setting (we have all done it!) to setting intentions. 

What does “setting intentions” really mean? 

Living intentionally is about living on purpose - living in an intentional and deliberate way. Rather than just letting life happen to you, you choose how you want to show up in the world and what you want to bring into your life. It means that we start with who we want to be and then what we want to do.

An intention answers the questions: Who do you want to be in this moment? How do you want to show up in the world? 

It is a shift from the actions and the things on your to-do list to the feeling state behind the actions. 

It is about BE-ing before DO-ing. 

When was the last time you weren’t doing something? Or at least thinking about doing something, running around making a mental list of “when I’m done with _, I’ve got to do _’”

When you’re in DO-ing mode, you are in expectation of results and you’re disappointed when things go wrong.

Listen to the difference between:

“I want to get these 3 things done by noon today” (undertone - if I don’t I’ve failed. I’m lazy. I’m not doing enough. I’m completely attached to my list. Crikey.)

Versus

“My intention is to show up with curiosity today” (undertone - whatever happens in my day, I can show up with curiosity in any situation. My worth is not attached to getting certain things done. I still have things I would like to have accomplished.)

Setting intentions in your life has many benefits, one of which is letting go of self-worth attached to your to-do list.

Three other key benefits:

1. Greater clarity and contentment 

As mentioned earlier, an intentional life means choosing how you want to live and who you want to be - living on purpose. 

This means we are able to make sure our goals, our actions, are connected to a deeper or overarching purpose.

The actions are inspired by your intentions and that way you know the next right thing to do.

So still set goals, but before you do so, take a step back or behind the goal to consider how you want to be and show up in your life….then you can choose actions to support this intention. 

It is a mindset shift. 

There is a contentment that arises when we operate in this way. When we come from a place of clarity of intention that makes decision-making and action planning that much easier. 

2. Intentions are more positive and energising 

At this time of year you may be reflecting and perhaps thinking about resolutions for January.

Resolutions can feel loaded with expectation, heavy and punishing - “I need to lose weight”, “I must join a gym and go 3 times a week”

Whereas setting an intention (or several) around something you would like to see manifest in your life might look like “I am caring for my body” which then leads to: I wonder what kind of movement would make my body happier? I wonder how I can start? 

This has a greater sense of openness and possibility. It is something to lean into, to explore, without the punishing element. 

And you can do it any time of year! 

3. You get to lean in gently to making changes 

You are probably juggling lots of different things at once in your life and in this situation you can’t always make major changes quickly. It can be overwhelming to try and make radical changes overnight. 

Setting intentions for the year allows you to lean in gently to making changes and also gives you an anchor that you can keep returning to throughout the year. 

It is also more in line with the seasonal energy. Winter is a time for dreaming and also for lots of REST. So let this be the permission you need to take it easy in January! You can dream about the changes you want to make, the things you want to see blossom in your life, and start imagining how this may happen. But you don’t need to take action just yet :)

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What do you want to consciously bring into your life next year? 

And perhaps there is a word or phrase that captures some of what you would like to bring into your year, that you would like to lean into to guide you throughout the year? I would love to hear it! 

Wishing you a happy, healthy New Year…

Elle xo