The Power of Intention
Follow Your Bliss...
I recently transferred the blog posts from my old website onto my computer so I could save them before shutting ye old Wordpress site down and moving over here to my new shiny site. While I was doing that, I came across the post below. It resonated with me so strongly, it was like I was reading someone else's words. I felt like I needed to share them with the world all over again. I would love to hear about what the power of intention means to you. Comment below!
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This is the time of year when all you hear about is the importance of goal setting… making monumental changes for a new and improved you! This is THE year! You have a list of resolutions a mile long and the motivation from the masses to make it happen! Everyone is on board! We’re in this together! This type of foundation for change is shaky at best. It’s often fickle and short lived. Resolutions are great! Goals are excellent! However, they are often not enough. They rarely become more than a wish list on a piece of scrap paper in January. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Dig deeper this year and really plant the seeds for some actual change. This can (and should) be done outside of January, by the way. When we set an INTENTION, we are making a promise to ourselves. We actually intend to do this thing and figure out what it will take to make it happen. An intention is not a wish. It’s a hard fast decision to make something happen. It’s a commitment. It’s moving beyond the “what” into the “why” and “how”. Why is this so important to us? How will it improve our life? Why is it worth our focus and effort?
Often yoga teachers will ask their students to set their intention for class before it starts. This simply asks the student to reflect on their reasons for coming to class and decide what they want from it. Each student will have their own reasons and will therefore have their own approach for the practice that day. This is no different than how we should handle life off of the mat. We each have our own path and our own special reasons for traveling it. Sometimes, though, we wander; we lose sight of our path and suddenly realize we are on someone else’s or seemingly even on no path at all. We feel lost. This is when it becomes time to bring our visions back into focus and get ourselves back on our own track.
By choosing to commit to making real, meaningful changes in our life, we are telling ourselves that we are IMPORTANT. We make ourselves a priority in our own life, which often, sadly, is not the case. Everything and everyone else tend to come first for many of us. Our happiness and health should be our first priorities. We are better people for it which, in turn, makes us better parents, friends, partners and people of the world. How awesome and inspiring is it to be around someone who is truly turned on by their life?? You can tell that they know who they are and what they want and somehow those things seem to happen for them. This isn’t by accident. We can all be that person and how amazing would the world be if more of us were?
We have not only the right, but the duty, to stand up for the life that we want for ourselves and we all have within us the tools to make it happen. We all deserve the chance to live a happy, fulfilling, magical life. That sort of life looks different to everyone, which is the beautiful part of it all. What does that look like for you? How is it different from the life you are currently living? Hopefully, it’s not far off, but if it is, NOW is the time.
Take the time to write down what it is that you really want. This is where those resolution lists come in handy. They are a great first step. I urge you, however, to move beyond it and break it all down so that you can figure out how to make it all happen. Think it all through. Even if the answers aren’t clear to you and you don’t see how it could be possible, believe that it can happen anyway. Now is the time to call on the power within yourself and set your intention. Tell yourself what you want, why you want it and commit by doing whatever it takes every single day to make it happen. Afraid of losing motivation? Write yourself a letter when you’re all fired up with the idea of a better life. Pull them out when you feel like the task is just too much. That list of goals is your map and that letter is your compass. Every traveler needs these tools to stay on course.
There is real power within each of us and we have the ability to make extraordinary things possible. Trust the process and most importantly, trust in yourself. That’s where the real magic lives. No one knows what we need more than we do. Experience the joy that comes along with this type of journey. You are the captain of this ship. You get to decide where it is going! How exciting and liberating is that!? I intend to make this next year of my life SPECTACULAR. Will you join me?