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Do you notice your thoughts and the stories they tell? Are your thoughts often negative or positive in origin? Do you notice a connection between the thoughts you are thinking and the emotions you are feeling?
Here is the thing, our thoughts feed our emotions and our emotions feed our thoughts, it is a cycle. We as humans have the ability to control the thoughts we think and in turn, influence the emotions we feel. Life is all about the lens we choose to look through, only we have truly the power to create the life we experience. Daily intention setting is a tool we can use to help to consciously shift our thoughts, allowing us to live a happier and more fulfilled life.
If our thoughts are rooted in love, gratitude, joy, and peace, then we tend to feel more positive emotions. If we are feeling good and happy, we are more motivated to be productive and we feel more connected to ourselves. When we are in a place of connection, our thoughts are clearer and we make decisions that are more aligned with our truth. When we have thoughts of worry, fear, and anger, this usually leads us to have negative emotions. When we are stuck in a place of negativity, we may feel sluggish, have low mood, feel less motivated, have cyclic and cloudy thoughts, and it is difficult to connect with our higher selves in this state. Emotions can act as a warning system, they can teach us what is going on in our internal world, so we can then make adjustments needed to restore balance.
Life is filled with so much beauty and joy, but you need to be in a place of positivity to see and feel it. Many of us are wrapped in the vortex of the busy 9-5 life, annoyed with our jobs, feeling unfilled, tired, constantly filling up our time with “doing” and are simply burned out. Many of us are stuck in the negative thought-emotion cycle, just looping around and around like a hamster on a wheel. Life doesn’t have to be like this.
We have been in this place, several times in fact, sulking and drowning in the dark abyss… but let us tell you, life is way more fun when you are not looking through the lens of tinted glasses.
What is an Intention?
An intention is an idea or a plan. Intention setting is the guiding principle for how you want to be, live, and show up in the world. Intention setting is like planting a new seed that you would like to grow in your garden. Maybe you want to plant seeds of productivity, abundance, calmness, peace, or self-love. Intentions are the driving forces behind our goals and visions for ourselves.
Every action, every step we take, every dream, starts with intention. As simple as eating a banana, you had the intention of wanting it and then took the action to pick it up, peel it and eat it. Or what about your current job? Well, there was a point where you said: “I want this BLANK job.” This was the intention, then you followed through with action via submitting an application, interview, and so on. However, it all started with a simple inventive thought.
Thoughts do not happen to us, although it may feel like it, we actually have control over the thoughts we choose. This is important to understand, in order to step into our power and take control of our lives. First, we need to build awareness of what is going on in our head, identify what thoughts are leading us to our suffering, and then we can choose an intention to create a shift. We are not our thoughts but the observer of our thoughts.
Examples
If you are struggling with anxiety, you may want to set “I am to calm and centered”
*Tip: Feel into your intention, don’t just think about it… what and where makes you calm?
Ex. Beach Setting- feel into this (what does it smell like, what do you hear, what do you feel, what do you taste), once you have created the environment then make the intention
If you are feeling overwhelmed with your daily tasks, a good one is “I can easily handle whatever comes my way”
If you are feeling stuck with your creative process, maybe you choose to focus on “I am filled with creative energy”
If you are feeling angry at a boss or colleague a great way to shift focus is “I choose kindness and compassion”
How to Move Forward
We like to pick one intention per week and cultivate it daily.
Fostering a daily practice of intention setting can help to train and strengthen our mind in positivity. Nicole will never forget a comment spoken by a monk she once met. The monk said, “your mind is like an untrained puppy, you need to show up daily to train and reinforce the positive behaviour”. This is exactly what intention setting is doing, training the mind.
Research has shown what you do within the first hour of waking sets your tone for the day. So set your tone in a positive one so the rest of the day follows suit. Your thoughts will become your reality. Take a few moments in the morning to think about what you want to feel that day and either journal it, write it, or say it very clearly in your mind.
Showing up and setting yourself up for success each day is the key to leading a happier life.
Only you have the true power to change your life.
You got this!
Let us now in the comment section, intentions you would like to cultivate for yourself.