This year I have really tried to slow down and take more time for myself. I quit my full time job last year to figure out in what direction I wanted my life to go. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, I just knew that the restaurant industry wasn’t doing it for me anymore.
I came across the concept of intention setting through exploring InstaGram. I became obsessed with trying to figure out how other people found the courage to chase after their own dreams. I didn’t really care what their dreams were exactly. I wanted to find out HOW they did it. What action steps did they take?
I started recognizing patterns in people’s behaviors. The people that feel truly wealthy within their lives told themselves that they deserved it. They told themselves that they could do it. The story they told themselves was one of success.
Conclusion: I had to tell myself the same thing. There are a myriad of ways that you can do this. I chose intention setting.
Intentions
The simplest definition that I could find was that intentions are simply an aim or a plan. They give you clarity of your purpose. Lee Tilghman of Lee from America speaks of them being less hard-and-fast rules or goals, and more like gentle nudges. It just feels less complicated and less stressful when you say it like that.
You are what your deepest desire is. As your desire is, so is your intention. As your intention is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.
Upanishads, Classic Vedic text
The intention (Ha! Pun intended) that I had when adopting this practice was to learn more about myself and to pull myself out of my comfort zone. My plan of action was to have five intentions every month, but they couldn’t be just about anything. They had to focus on the areas of my life that I either wanted to improve or explore more.
My plan each month was to create a set of intentions that would reflect one of the three pillars well-being:
- 1. Love/intimacy
- 2. Career/purpose
- 3. Tribe/community
I added 4. Self-care and 5. Something to remind myself.
After doing all five for three months, I have come up with a few conclusions about myself. I hate telling myself that I can’t have something (like No Dairy March). I would rather just go with the flow and just see how my body feels.
I also learned that I very much dislike painting. Between painting a room in our house and trying out my hands at watercolor, I prefer to write. This is my medium.
Mantras
Looking back at my three months of intention setting, the thing I really got out of it was the “something to remind myself” part. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that fifth pillar was the one that really worked for me.
January was “Emotions are not truth.” February was “One thing at a time.” March was “Life is with you not against you.” Everyday for a month I was retraining my brain and redrawing the neural pathways. (See this post for more on that). This means that everyday for a month I was changing the way that I talk to myself. I was being gentle with myself, and reminding myself that it’s okay. It’s okay to mess up because you are still learning.
This number five spot became extremely powerful for me. I wrote them daily in my journal as reminders. I started stacking them onto each other, as each month went on. In January I just wrote Emotions are not truth on the bottom of the page when I was done writing. February I wrote Emotions are not truth and One thing at a time, and so on with March.
People will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold – but so does a hard boiled egg.
Maya Angelou
In sanskrit the word “mantra” means “sacred utterance.” We, as human beings, have the innate ability to keep out the bad and bring in more of the good. It all depends on what story you choose to tell yourself everyday.
Mantras, as from the Veda, were chanted or sung as an incantation or prayer. They are simply a word or formula for how you wish to live your life. Mantras have become the streamlined version of my original idea of intentions. Short, sweet, and to the point.
No matter whether you prefer intentions, mantras, or affirmations (See this post for more about those.) the mind does what you tell it to do. So tell it to do something nice like telling yourself you are okay, instead of the normal negative self-talk that you may be used to saying. It truly is more powerful than you think.
We are now in the midst of April and I did not write any intentions. I realize now that I don’t need the beginning of a month to start. Every morning I listen to my body and my heart to see what I need for that day. I choose a few words that are easy to remember, then I reuse and recycle them as often as I need to.
My current mantra is I Trust. That’s it. Two small words with major power. I trust that I am moving in the right direction. I trust my intuition, or my gut feeling. I trust that the universe has my back. Peace.
XOXO – Jenna
