day one ~ intentions

Let’s start at the very beginning: intentions.

Every single thing that you have in your life is the result of an intention you have set. When you decide what to wear in the morning, when you buy a cup of coffee, when you make a phone call…none of that can happen without a thought to make it so.

The great news is that you are already a master at setting intentions because everything you do, everything that happens starts with an intention. What we’re talking about today is being purposeful and mindful in our intentions.

Why??

Imagine yourself sitting in the backseat of a car that someone else is driving. The road is rough and bumpy and you are getting tossed around the back. You’re sliding all over the place and you can’t get a good grip on anything solid because the path is so rugged. You are basically at the mercy of the driver and you have very little hope of making it out unharmed.

So, I like to imagine the steering wheel is my intentions. If I’ve moved into the driver’s seat of the car and grabbed the wheel I have much more control over the situation. And while the road is still unpredictable and, yes, I”ll get jostled around a bit, I have decided how I’m going to react to this situation. In the end, I may still be at the mercy of the terrain, but I feel much safer with my hands on the wheel.

It’s the same with life. Life is rough. It’s unpredictable and I have NO idea what is headed my way at any given moment. It can toss you around, THAT is for sure. But when I set my intention, when I tell myself and the universe, sorry, honey…I am driving this car…I take control of my happiness. I take back the power.

So today, our first new habit on our path to rewiring our brain is grabbing the steering wheel.

Setting an intention is simply deciding how you want to be in the now. How you want to feel instead of letting life decide for you. Setting intentions aligns you with who you want to BE.

This practice alone is capable of completely transforming your life. Since thoughts become things, by being mindful of your thoughts you are creating a new reality.

How to set intentions:

Ask yourself how you feel. I do this before I get out of bed. If it’s going to be a crazy day, I ask myself how I want to feel. Do I want to feel rushed? Frantic? Probably not. That always leads to me snapping at everyone, feeling out of control and going to bed feeling bad about how I handled my day. SO then I ask myself… How would I rather feel? Well, in order for this day to work, I need to be focused so I get done what needs to get done. I also want to do it smoothly so that I’m not yelling at my kids or getting mad at my husband for stupid things. So, my intention would be….”Today I choose to feel focused and calm.”

Write it down. Write it somewhere that you’re going to see it. During our 21 days, write it on our page.

Tell someone. Speak it out loud or pray for it. I’m a big believer in telling the Universe/asking God for what we want. There’s some accountability in that.

Check in throughout the day. A lot. When you start feeling yourself getting swept away in the backseat, start over at step one again. How am I feeling? How would I rather feel? What do I need to do differently/let go of in order to realign with my intention. Hint: While you are creating this new neural pathway, give yourself a reminder…set an alarm for every 30 minutes, draw a heart on your hand

Take inspired action. If you aren’t feeling aligned, simply close your eyes and imagine yourself feeling that way. Our brains don’t know the difference between real and imagined, so we can easily re-align with our intentions by imagining the way we want to feel.

We’ll be talking much more about intentions over the next 3 weeks. Don’t overthink intentions. If it feels good, it’s right.

Homework:
1. Write your daily intention
2. Share it with us!! Begin posting your intentions on our Facebook page.
3. Brain dump prompt: If nothing was standing in my way, I would _______________.)