I was reading through old journals of mine -- all my journalers out there, have you ever done this? Gone back over journals from YEARS ago? It's a pretty mind blowing experience. If you haven't ever taken the time to do it, have a little fun and take a look. It's a pretty enlightening (and weird!) experience. OK, there I go again, getting off track like always. Let's try this again.
I was reading through old journals of mine...and I realized that I used to have this habit of every year, on my birthday, writing down a List (a Bucket list if you will) on what I wanted to accomplish that year of my life. Well, it's been about a month since I turned 25, and I realized that for the first time of my adult life, I didn't make a list.
If you read my post on New Years Resolutions, you already know that I'm a recovering Goal Setter // List Maker. For the past few months, I've been focusing on making Intentions based on how I want to FEEL and I guess that without realizing it, it's become a part of me.
Turns out that when we actively incorporate things into our daily lives, they become HABITS.
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And so, in the spirit of me being a quarter century old, I am going to resurrect my List making skills, but put my new spin on it -- instead of a list of 25 Goals, here are my 25 Intentions based on me wanting to feel: Joyful, Vibrant, Strong, Grounded & Free.
1. Be Courageously Authentic.
2. Read something every day that fuels my mind.
3. Be in the best shape of my life.
4. Spend more time doing the things that light me up, with the people that make me laugh.
5. Fill my surroundings at home with comfort, beauty, and love, physically and energetically.
6. Allow myself to express myself creatively in a myriad of fun and enjoyable ways, including knitting, writing and painting.
7. Adventure somewhere new.
8. Up my weights for my workouts.
9. Dare to dream, and always remain open to new possibilities.
10. Spend every single day practicing gratitude.
11. See the humor in every situation & try not to take myself too seriously!
12. Teach LIVE fitness classes.
13. Make "me" time and every day priority.
14. Approach every situation with grace & kindness. Shout out to ma girl Amy E. Smith from The Joy Junkie for this one.
15. Do Yoga, at least once a week.
16. Drink Shakeology every single day.
17. Climb trees, often
18. Feel real self love for myself, and inspire others to feel loving towards themselves
19. Transition over to all natural skincare / bath products.
20. Grow my Business to a full time salary.
21. Spend at least 20 minutes of connected time with my Hubby.
22. Live a balanced life, giving quality and attention to the most important things in my life.
23. Spend more time in Nature.
24. Be patient with myself and the world around me when things don't go "according to plan"
25. Express my true, authentic self -- always living in alignment with my values and vision.
So there ya have it. My 25 Intentions for my 25th year.
It's amazing how different I feel even just writing these out compared to my previous list of goals -- I always felt that there was no way I could actually achieve the goals I set out for myself because, more often than not, they would be things that I felt like I was "supposed" to be doing or trying, instead of things that would actually bring me the feelings I so crave in life. And so often, I would come back to my goal list a year later and feel like a failure because half of what I'd set out to do, I hadn't accomplished.
This list. These intentions. When I look at them, I experience excitement, not anxiety. These are things that light me up inside & make me feel amazing.
Are you a Goal setter or Intention maker?
If you're a Goal setter like I've been my whole life, try making your list this way and see if that shifts things for you --if when you truly listen to how you want to FEEL and you base your intentions on that, you put things on that list that you would have never thought to before. Nothing is too small or seemingly unimportant to add if it brings you what you crave in life.
Try it, I Dare ya.
And let me know how you feel afterwards. This is something new I'm trying and would love to know your thoughts too!
Xo Amanda