I’ve Decided to Set My New Year Intentions
Happy 2024! We are well on our way, and I am already feeling the days slipping by too fast. How about you? Did you set any New Year resolutions? How are you doing? Already blown that diet? Rain or snow forced you to rethink the daily workout you promised yourself? Finding it difficult to fit meditation or yoga in with family demands? You are not alone! No matter my resolve, my New Year resolutions rarely make it past January.
Intention Instead of Resolution
A friend recently sent me an article suggesting that instead of setting New Year resolutions, we should go for New Year intentions. What’s the difference? Intentions, the article explained, “are broader and encompass multiple areas of life”.
For example, instead of resolving to walk 10,000 steps every day, set the intention to live a healthier life. That might include exercise, but it certainly could also include eating habits, time with family and friends, and meditation or whatever you do to recharge.
An intention to advance your career might start with an evaluation of what excites you about your job. What do you value about what you do? Then you might decide to find a mentor or expand your network, attend seminars to broaden your knowledge, or volunteer to lead a project. On the other hand, you might decide it is time to make a career change.
How to Set Intentions
Since intentions may be a new concept, the article suggests a good place to start is to make a list of your top five values and five things you enjoy. For example, these are five things I value:
- Family and friends
- Spirituality
- Health
- Helping people
- Nature
Five things I enjoy:
- Getting together with family and friends
- Spending time in nature
- Expanding my knowledge
- Listening to music
- Writing!
Now think of ways that you can combine your lists. The article suggests that you write a few sentences using the present tense as if you’re already doing these things. For example:
- I am sharing time in nature with friends/family.
- I am finding new ways to stimulate my mind.
- I am taking time to recharge.
Before I retired, I would have focused on ways to value “helping people” through activities for and with my clients. Now I write blogs and promote my book, A Beginner’s Guide To Investing. I combine helping people with my passion for writing.
Keep your lists in a place where you can see them regularly and remind yourself of your intentions for 2024. I really like the idea that intentions help to “guide actions from a gentle, compassionate place – instead of a place of enforcement.”
Let’s Have a Conversation:
How do you feel about setting intentions? What are some of your values? Things you enjoy? How would you combine them in an intention for 2024?
Tags Inspiration
This is a good idea.I set daily goals even if they are small so I can attain them.I also find I get more done when I get the one daily goal accomplished i also make my bed daily.
When I set my New Year Intentions, I try to focus on the important ones first. That is why I like to use lists. I prioritize my intentions and go from there.
My journaling practice includes six areas that I focus on each month. Six boxes that include my faith, physical health, mental health, financial, creative goals, connection and what I ask of myself that month (intentions) in each area. I can change the names of the boxes I make as I change/shift my focus. I’ve been doing this two years now and I enjoy going back and looking at where I have seen personal growth.
Another good idea for motivation in keeping intentions is to create a “vision board” that contains pictures from magazines, photos, or other objects that you can view on a regular basis. Keep it where you will see it often and visualize how your life will be changed by doing certain things.
A visual picture reinforces the intent. Great idea!
Bev
Trouble is I’m full of good intentions but finding it hard to acutely start doing something about them 😂🫤
One small step is a beginning. Reward yourself when you take that step! Good luck!!