“Intentionality”, technically I’m not sure that is a word but yesterday a client said this word popped into her head during our session.  So, it’s a word now.

Since the previous client I had spoken with just an hour earlier sparked a huge discussion on intention, hearing this excited me.  And it often goes this way…a rush of clients that are all bringing up the same themes and ideas – and that always causes me to take notice!

So I thought today I would continue the discussion here with you, because apparently it is a trending topic now. (wink)

What are your intentions?  Right now?  And why am I asking?

I’m asking because everything starts with intention.  We literally create our whole world with our intentions – consciously or otherwise, and I SO would rather be creating consciously. Our intentions are the invisible seeds that grow into the garden of our experiences.

A few years ago I was teaching a workshop, and I always start a workshop with an exercise in setting intention.  Very simply, I ask my participants to write across the top of the page “My intention for this workshop is: _______.” A week or so after this particular workshop had ended I got a wonderful testimony from one of the participants who told me that the simple exercise of setting that intention was a powerful idea for her daily life and that since then she was setting an intention for all kinds of activities.  She reported all sorts of amazing shifts that were happening for her because of this one practice.

The world is busy, our lives are busy, it is easy to rush through much of a day on auto-pilot, sometimes day after day. My Handsome Sweetheart calls this “later, rinse, repeat”. We can easily miss the opportunities we have every moment to be mindful by setting an intention for any given thing, really, anything.

For instance, the discussion with my client yesterday was centered on self-care.

Just like everything else, your self-care starts with intention.  Here is an area where intention setting can be a powerful practice for you.  You don’t have to run out and get a massage or an expensive pedicure to be participating in self-care.  But when you drink your next glass of water, or put your make-up on, or wash your hair, or brush your teeth (I’m choosing these things because I am making the assumption that you do them fairly often *wink*)…do it with intention.

Do these simple things with the mindfulness that you are caring for yourself, loving yourself, nurturing yourself.

When you begin to do these everyday acts with the intention of self-love, of self-care, you automatically begin to increase your self-respect and your self-worth.

When our self-respect and self-worth are strong, the world around us begins to treat us with respect too.  The Universe seems to show up differently for us when we care for and respect our self.  We feel better.  We experience more opportunities.  We have more fun.  We have less stress.

And it all starts with intention.  With mindfulness.

You can begin the practice of intention setting in any area you like.  Setting an intention for each day is a wonderful practice.  “I intend to be productive”, or “I intend to have fun”, or “I intend to learn something new today.”  The possibilities are huge.

What about setting an intention for the next conversation you have, the next time you go errand running, or the next date you go on?

You are a powerful, creative being, and the experience you create begins with intention.

What are your intentions for today?

Love & Magic,

P.S. Speaking of good intentions…I’m intending on knocking 2014 out of the park! I’ve already started planning a year covered in awesome sauce…and this is the planner I’m using to do it.  Click on the image to your left and go grab yourself a copy right now!