New Year Intentions

Routine and Fear of Change

Here we are the first day of 2014. I spent much of the day with my husband as we put together the furniture for my new home office. My desk faces the window out into our backyard filled with big trees 🙂

I am super excited to start a new career in 2014 and grateful that I can do it from home. But I admit that there are pieces of me that are fearful of leaving the corporate working environment that I am familiar with.

I think it natural to have apprehension of change. Routine feels good. I watched a recent episode of The Biggest Loser and one of the contestants said that she appreciates routine and order in her life because it makes her feel in control.

Totally relate to this (control issues creeping in again, Lol). But in reality, change is a good thing. Things don’t get better if they don’t change and soon enough I will have a new, hopefully more balanced routine.

Visualizing a New Reality

As I looked over my new office space I couldn’t help but smile. Who knew this was going to happen? A year ago I was miserable living in our small condo with an angry neighbor tormenting us, causing me all kinds of stress. And here I am in a beautiful house with a home office 🙂

I got to this place because of a powerful reason — I set an intention. At the dawn of 2013 I spoke aloud these words to my husband, “We are going to get a house this year. We are going to be moved in by the summertime.”

He laughed at me, because at the time this seemed a distant reality. As things stood in the current real estate market we were close to $20,000 upside down if we sold for what the units were going for. Where was this money going to come from?

Regardless of the outside situation, I stood by my intention to move into a home. I visualized what our lives would be like if we had a yard for our dogs and a place for me to grow a small garden. I imagined my life free from the angry neighbor below. I started browsing homes for sale online to better grasp images in my head of what our new home would look like.

As we approached midnight last night and the start to 2014, both my husband and I expressed our gratitude for being able to spend time with friends in our new home, without worries of an angry outburst from our neighbor. Our home was a reality. We moved in the summertime and things worked out just as I intended.

Power of Intention

My studies at IIN have really opened up my eyes to the power of intention. I’ve learned that by setting a clear goal or vision, talking it out, writing it out, visualizing it and believing it to be true that more often than not these intentions indeed come true.

This happened with my home last year and most recently happened with my job change. I wanted to break free from the gray walls of my cubicle, from the horrible headache inducing fluorescent lights and office temperature that was always freezing!

I set an intention to work from home. I visualized being able to cook three meals a day, not having to drive in the snow, being able to hang with my dogs and have my husband close by. I visualized being able to breaks and sit in the sunshine.

While I wasn’t sure how this would be a reality, lo and behold it is 🙂

I am reading a very interesting book right now called The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and Your World by by Lynne McTaggart.

In the book Lynne describes intention as “a purposeful plan to perform an action, which will lead to a desired outcome, unlike a desire, which means simply focusing on an outcome without a purposeful plan on how to achieve it.”

Her book includes lots of scientific studies done on the power of intention and its affect on physical matter or projected outcome. Very interesting stuff 🙂

She writes that, “Intention has already been employed in many quarters to cure illness, alter physical processes, and influence events. It is not a special gift but a learned skill, readily taught. Indeed we already use intention in many aspects of our daily lives.”

Actions Steps to Intentions

I bring this up today because it is the start to a new year and a time where it is common place to set resolutions, though I prefer using the term intention as it indicates action instead of just an end goal. 

Most things do not come into reality without action. We wouldn’t have sold our home if we didn’t clean it up, stage it…. etc. I wouldn’t have changed jobs had I not looked for a new job, put my resume out…. etc.

On the outset of setting an intention it may seem out there, but with the right moves you may be surprised how effective this practice is. The first step is to put it out there. Write it out and share….

My Intentions for 2014: 

• Self Publish My Book
• Attend the Endometriosis March in Washington DC
• Spread Peace With Endo and coach other women with endometriosis
• Continue to heal my body and the pain with my periods

I admit that at first glance this seems like a lot. I haven’t even finished a first draft on my book yet and I don’t have money right now to buy tickets to fly to DC and the time it takes to market a business…. whew. But I’ve put it out there, I believe it to be true and I visualize it to be true.

One intention that I set years ago was to heal my endometriosis. This intention has carried me to a place of much less pain 🙂 I’ve had success because of the intention and my true belief (and passion) behind it and because I’ve implemented action steps.

In order to make intentions a reality, I’ve found a helpful tip that I’ve implemented — which is coming up with two action steps each day. I think of these two steps in my morning shower. What are two things that I can get done today that work towards these intentions? 

It is also helpful to implement due dates for your intentions. When do you want this to become a reality?

On the Positive Side?

We don’t have to wait for a new year to set intentions. We can do this all the time as our lives and circumstances change. Having implemented intentions this past year I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how things manifested.

By putting our energy and attention out into the universe we can achieve and obtain pieces that make our lives more complete. We have the power to improve our situations by putting our mind to it, by setting intentions and making small steps to work towards them.

But we must believe. We must connect to the intention if it is to manifest. We must take action. 

What about you?  Have you experienced the power of setting intentions? What are your intentions for this new year? I’d love to hear from you….

Much love,
Aubree.