There’s a whole lot of spiritual blah-blah out there about the power of setting intentions and how intention has the power to change your life and make you awesome ‘n shit.
Deepak Chopra says, “Intention is the starting point of every dream. It is the creative power that fulfills all of our needs, whether for money, relationships, spiritual awakening, or love.
“Everything that happens in the universe begins with intention. When I decide to buy a birthday present, wiggle my toes, or call a friend, it all starts with intention.”
Here’s what I think. In all the business of our lives, with our acres of to-lists and productivity apps beeping at us, sometimes it’s good to just have ONE THING for your day on which to focus. When life is overwhelming (pretty much all the time) and you feel like you have a pack of 98 monkeys kung-foo fighting in your brain, sometimes you just need something to keep you grounded. I do that by setting my intention on a daily basis. I have a to-do list that I also get through but my intention is my anchor in the daily shite-storm.
I heart my daily intention
My daily intention is aligned with what I need right now, what I need today. It is a way to help me connect with my heart and soothe my spirit. My intention is connected to how I operate internally. For me it’s less about having another thing to tick off a list, but rather something helpful to gently bring me back to a mindful state. So it’s something more for the heart and less for the head, a way that I can show myself soothing kindness.
I prefer to use positive language, rather than negative (but I am a sensitive flower!), so for me that means something I will do, rather than something I want to stop myself from doing.
These are some of my recent intentions:
- make compassionate choices
- observe my feelings with curiosity
- allow interruptions
- be grateful.
For others, an intention is something more practical. A task they want to achieve or an item to be ticked off the list that really needs to be done. It provides a single-minded focus to the day.
When we talked about setting daily intentions in our Champagne Women facebook group, we had an interesting mix of both, for example:
- be productive
- write 100 words
- not hate my husband
- be a patient parent and not swear
- get out of bed and continue to fight the good fight
- not be an asshole
- kindness today, inspired by this gorgeous video
Accountability
Carolyn and I have been in the habit recently of sharing our intention with each other in the morning and then checking in on how each other is going. Having an accountability partner is a great way to bring you back to your intention and not have it disappear in the melee of your day.
I also write down my daily intention. I used to write it on a few post it notes that I would scatter about the place, but in the interests of efficiency I’ve developed a little template that I can print and write my intention on.
Give it a go!
I’d love to hear what you think about intention setting and whether it would be a help or a hindrance for you. Here’s a downloadable template, the first page is blank and the second has some filled in already in case you are stuck for ideas.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE_ setting intention
