How to Set Intentions That Will Really Happen This Year
You’ve done it again. Or worse: you didn’t… your New Year’s resolutions are in danger of failing.
Maybe you haven’t thought about them for days in a row now.
Or maybe you didn’t make any resolutions at all this time around because you’re so disillusioned from losing motivation in the past and seeing your lofty goals plunge down a month or less into the new year.
Perhaps you’ve tried to ditch resolutions and switch to intentions, only to find out that intentions turned out to be washed-out versions of your resolutions, freed up of the expectation of having to work to make them real.
But what does “setting an intention” actually mean?
In the yogic path, the ritual of setting an intention is called Sankalpa and it’s the preamble of each practice.
An intention is set in the present tense because this is the only time we can actually experience. This helps the manifestation process, as one of the main reasons we fail to go through with our “resolutions” is the difficulty of staying motivated when the reward is far out in the future. On the contrary, the reward of an intention is here and now, and when it’s pure, it does not fade because it is related to your higher purpose and your deep, core values.
So, is our intention just a lofty ideal replacing a lofty goal? Not at all: although it might be spiritual in nature, this does not mean that an intention can’t also be followed by a specific, pragmatic course of action leading to the realization of a practical goal in real life, which matches the values lying at its core.
Because your intention is spiritual in nature, it renews itself day after day. This is what keeps it actually moving along the timeline.
So how does this New Year magic happen?
The start of a New Year is a wonderful opportunity to make a fresh start and plant the seeds for the changes you want to see in your life.
Nature teaches this process to us every winter when the seeds of spring and summer are germinating in the cool, dark womb of the earth.
Just like in the planted seed, dormant, lies the beauty and lush of the full-grown plant, in the same way, our dreams gestate in the womb of our imagination and are turned into reality through a process that begins with envisioning.
Once sprouted, the seeds of our imagination need action to grow and thrive; these are the everyday, practical steps that we put into action to bring the changes to life. This is where we often get lost: we put a lot into the envisioning process but then have a hard time carrying our dreams down to the earth and grounding them into the day-to-day reality.
Other times instead, we start strong on the action plane but soon realize that we have bitten off more than we could chew: we then decide that our goals are not worth the trouble after all.
In either case, we miss out on that incredible opportunity to start anew, to realize that longtime dream, or to make a much-needed change that would make a difference in our health and wellness.
What happened, exactly…? Your goals might have been too lofty, but most times, our goals are too small for us, too mundane to be worth the trouble. In other words, there either was an intention not followed by an effective course of action, or a resolution that was not fertilized daily by the power of a higher intention.
The perfect blend of the two is what makes the magic happen.
So, what are some examples of goals that we’re actually going to want to work for, that is to say, goals that are tangible yet nourished with intention?
We might not all agree on spiritual views, but most of us hold health and wellness as one of our core values, and making them a priority in one’s life is among the highest aspirations. When we are feeling at our best, all our dreams are suddenly within reach.
Here is a list of meaningful, purpose-driven life changes that you can make this year:
1. Change your Diet and Eating Habits
Whether your motivation is losing weight, improving your gut health and nutrition, detoxifying the system, boosting your energy, or an overall healthier you, a cleaner, more balanced diet change is often the answer. A tangible side-effect is… looking better than ever!
2. Start a Smart Exercise Routine that actually works for you
What type of movement do you really enjoy? Take on walking, swimming, or a home yoga practice and tailor to your individual needs, this way it will be sustainable and feel great so you will stick with it past the 21 Day new habit timeline and actually enjoy the results.
3. Level up your Self-Care
Include practices such as mindfulness, restorative yoga, breath work, and more in your daily routine, or join a group or individual stress management program. Studies show that reducing stress promotes physical health, along with mental and emotional balance.
4. Improve your Sleep (once and for all)
Did you know that our body’s lymphatic – and glymphatic systems detoxify during sleep time? In addition to the rest of the body, our brain also flushes out old, broken synapses to make space for fresh, new neural pathways to form. Missing out on precious hours of sleep negatively affects our health, so learning sleep hygiene practices allows us to not only wake up feeling refreshed and improve daytime productivity but also boost our overall health. It’s a win-win!
5. Do a whole-person Wellness Reboot
Get started on a holistic lifestyle approach that allows you to work on any or all of the goals above or implement any other life change that is important to you.
And Finally… Make it Happen!
You can choose to focus on any one of these purposeful changes and make that your intention for the new year, all work on one intention at a time throughout the year, creating for each a sustainable plan of action that fits into your everyday life. By breaking each goal into small, actionable chunks, you will work your way step by step toward achieving your vision. So smooth, that you might even slip and call it a resolution!
Find out how to reach your goals and manifest your dreams even faster by working directly with me through one of my transformational wellness programs.
