Setting Intentions

I have signed up at a variety of places over the years for emails and thus I get a ton of emails every day. Wading through my inbox the other day, I came across an email talking about setting intentions. Now, I’m most familiar with this term in the context of yoga, where we set intentions or sending thoughts/feelings to others, but this email was talking about setting intentions in the context of daily life. Took me a second to think that through.

I liked this article and how it laid out this concept, but here’s my take on the whole thing as a goal oriented person … intentions are the how behind accomplishing the goals for the day or they can be the actual goal.

Mushy enough for you?

If you’ve read very much of my writing, you probably are already aware that I’m much more comfortable with concrete explanations, concrete tasks. I’m drawn to the list of to-dos or the list of appointments for the day rather than thinking about how I want the day to go.

But here’s what I have learned — if we don’t put our minds to how we want the day to go, then we’re stuck with circumstances affecting us rather than the other way around. I see this especially with my kids; I can influence their mood or how their day is going or they can affect mine. Sometimes we have no choice in the matter, however, we can choose what to focus on.

Setting intentions or sending energy during a yoga class is still a little esoteric for me; I’d far rather send a car or a text or call someone to let them know that I’m thinking of them or hoping for good things for them. At the same time, I find that focusing my energy on someone helps me to get into the gratitude mindset generally and specifically. If I’m focused on thinking of good things for someone, then I’m far more likely to actually take a step towards them and others.

Same with setting intentions about a day or experience. I find a big difference in how the day goes when I do take the time to really focus on how I want the day to go — I’d always done this in a way when I would visualize how I wanted a hearing or trial or mediation to go. While that was often more about strategy and how I would plan to react or behave in a certain context, I can see how I was instinctively doing some of this already.

Now that I’m no longer officially working in an office, setting intentions for my kids or myself or whoever I run into during the day has been a discipline that has helped me get into the right mindset, the right perspective and I’m far less likely to get upset or freak out or get overwhelmed. This is especially important as we ramp up to Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) and having to deal with the sea of Pink and PinkWashing and all the things that come with a month that sidelines those of us with MBC.

I close my eyes, recall that intention from the morning, and that is often enough to reset my mind and heart. All bets are off if I’m driving, though.