Are you ready to set NEW intentions for 2022?- by Vicky Westra

As 2021 ends, it's a good time to reflect on what's happened in the past year and use it to gain more clarity about what we want to create for ourselves in the New Year.  Many call this setting New Year's resolutions or intentions.

There is a lot of power in setting intentions.  They can provide us insight into our values, aspirations, and purpose, and we can remain in the present moment while still aspiring to new achievements or a new way of being. 

For many of us, 2021 probably brought many challenges that have resulted in some contrast or resistance.  As a global community, we experienced a pandemic that continued far longer than expected, affecting many areas of our lives including personally, within our families, in our jobs and within our community. 

What were your biggest challenges in 2022?  Please take a moment now to write them down.  There is power in putting them on paper, as it lets us identify our current mental state.  Some examples of common challenges can include the following:

1. Health – did you have some physical health challenges this year?
2. Career/Work – did you have some challenges in your work environment, or were you unable to work based on your circumstance?
3. Relationships – did you experience strain with any of your relationships?
4. Financial – did you experience economic challenges?
5. Mental/Emotional – did you experience any challenges that affected your emotional and mental well-being?

However, we don't want to stop there.  Once we have our list written, we need to ask ourselves what desires experiencing these challenges created within us?  Typically, it's the opposite of what we've experienced.  Here are some positive statements that identify what the above challenges are calling us toward.

1. Health – I am enjoying excellent physical health.
2. Career/Work – I am delighted with the work I'm doing or in my career.
3. Relationships – I am experiencing healthy and satisfying relationships.
4. Financial – I have created abundance in my life.
5. Mental/Emotional – I am experiencing mental and emotional well-being.

Notice that the statements we wrote down are in the present tense.  The reason is when we use a future tense such as "I want physical health," things might seem out of reach for us.  However, when we start affirming what we want as if we already had it, we can engage our power of intention to create it for ourselves. 

Once your top three intentions are written down, you can start identifying the small changes you can make to start moving in the direction of our intention.  Often, people might shoot too high and make their goals unattainable.  An example of this might be to get into good physical health.  Instead of stating that I will work out at the gym five days a week for an hour, a more realistic goal might be to commit to doing 15 – 20 minutes of some form of exercise 3 times a week.  If we start small and can sustain that goal, we create a habit that can be expanded if we desire. 

Intentions use the power of a focused mind, so the more we focus on the things we want to create, the more we will see them manifesting in our lives.  A mind is a potent tool if we use it correctly.

Experiencing contrast can provide us with the gift of achieving greater clarity.  So today, let's take some time to use our minds constructively to create a new reality for ourselves. 

With Love and Joy,

Vicky Westra