Do you ever feel like time is getting away from you? You begin on the first of each month, and before you know it it’s the 15th, or the 31st, or (gasp) the next month.
Today’s Little Ritual, Setting Intentions, will help slow the flow of time so you can experience your days with less anxiety and more ease. Intentions help you honor your core values, by making sure they get practiced on a regular basis — which in turn brings more satisfaction and meaning to your life.
Every week in the Flock our Little Ritual is to gather round the key board to set our weekly Intentions with one another. We also try to check in with each other mid-week to see how our Intentions are serving us, and to tweak them as needed. And on Fridays we take a moment to honor the work of our hands and our heart, much of which is connected to the Intentions we set at the top of the week. Here are a few (paraphrased) examples from the Flock over the past few months:
“I’d like to have a happier summer, so this week I intend to make a few special warm-weather plans.”
“I intend to feel the little criticisms my family sends me, and then to release them so I can enjoy all the bright big good things, and not get bogged down in the small stuff.”
“I intend to write 3 blog posts and finish the novel I started last week.”
“I intend to say nice things to myself.” (This one is a perennial favorite!)
Sometimes — say, in yoga class — the idea of setting an Intention can get a little esoteric. Receive from the universe this. Open this chakra or that. Assume a posture of XYZ. If that language is a little to distant for you, try this on for size. A simple definition of intention is: “to have in mind a purpose or plan, to direct the mind, to aim.” (Yum! A simple definition. Small is powerful.)
It can also be easy to equate Intentions with goals. Goals are things to check off a list. Specific to-do’s that keep the business of life rolling along. Goals are task masters — as soon as one is done, you typically skip the celebrating and move right on to the next one. If goals are your boss, Intentions are your withmate.
Intentions are statements that gently guide you, pointing your life in the direction of your choosing.
Here are 4 tips that will make your intentions even more powerful:
- Write a clear intention. “I intend to read more this week” is good. “I intend to read during my lunch hour” is more likely to get done because it is specific and distinct.
- Write an authentic intention. Intentions should be about what you value most, not what you think you should value. (Don’t be a “good” girl. Be a true-to-you girl!)
- Write a realistic intention. I’ve noticed that our intentions can get pretty ambitious and complex! Keep it do-able, friend. (You are already enough.)
- Write a positive intention. “I intend to eat fresh fruit for dessert” is ever-so-much better than “I intend to not eat sugar.”
Did you notice that each of these started with “write”? That’s because writing down your intention is a powerful tool to making it so. Write your intention down and share it with others, and you are well on your way! Writing and sharing our Intentions is an ongoing part of our life-together in the Flock. If you’d like to join us in this Little Ritual, click here to subscribe. We’d love to welcome you to our cozy nest.
My blessing by bubble for you today, Magpie, is this:
May your life unfold before you
in the way your soul intended.
And may all the things you value most
be every at your fingertips.
(Amen? Amen.)
Much Warmth,
Rachelle
*your magpie girl
***
What about you Magpie? What is it you intend to do today with your “one wild, precious life?”
***
Little Rituals are simple, repeated actions that happen in your every day. They ground you as you move through your day, and connect you to your most important values. To see all the Little Rituals practices by some of my favorite Magpies, just click here. May your find your right-fit rite amongst them today.
Spiritual but not religious? Recovering Evangelical? Jill of all faiths? You might be relig-ish. Browse the posts to learn more, or click here to watch a video about our relig-ish community.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
i hadn’t thought of intentions in quite this way and i must say i’m really digging it. i can see how i’ve set intentions that are too vague, and generally too big to get momentum behind it. i intend to be specific with my intentions. ;)
Woz recently posted..keep walking, fatty!