PAUSE -11.01- What’s Your Intention?
REFLECTION: A fresh new year. A blank slate of days stretching forward. How best to use your time and your energy?
January, for many, is a time of resolve. We create highly ambitious, jam-packed action lists of goals. In the end, we lose our focus or beat ourselves up as our super-human promises fall by the wayside.
The way I think about this practice has shifted over time. I have come to understand that HOW WE ARE in this world (our mindset – our character) is every bit as important as WHAT WE DO. And so, in recent years I’ve chosen to set one strong intention for being and not to create an exhaustive laundry list of resolutions for doing. Sure, I still make plans and set goals, but HOW I approach the demands of each day gets top billing.
Over the years, Celebration, Impact, and Presence are a few of the intentions that have taken their turn as guiding lights. For 2011, I aspire to a year of Exploration.
What does Exploring mean? In my mind, it’s about being open to new ideas and possibilities. Staying curious about people, situations and problems. Deepening learning, skills, and relationships. Experimenting with new and creative approaches. Finding ways to make what I do in life and business ever more engaging, relevant and useful.
Rest assured I am not trying to convince you of the merit of my chosen intention for 2011. I am inviting you to create your own.
ACTION: As the new year unfolds and its demands set your wheels in motion, how about giving some serious thought to a way of being and responding that inspires your very best? What phrase captures your intention for the year ahead? What word speaks to you?
It could be anything. Accountability? Bravery? Compassion? Determination? Excellence? Those are just a few offerings from the front end of the alphabet.
Name your intention and express it. Tell others about it. (I’ll happily be the recipient of your news!) Post your intention in visible places at work and at home. Choose an image that represents what you envision, and turn it into a screen saver for your computer. Write your intention at the top of every list you make. Remind yourself of your intention as you pour your first cup of coffee of the day.
As the challenges of the year unfold, ask yourself how would a person intent on (your word here) respond?
Keep that intention alive. Watch it spring to life, color your experience, and work its magic in the days ahead.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK: A few thoughts on intention from American writer Robert Brault:
Never mind searching for who you are. Search for the person you aspire to be.
If you aren’t sure who you are, you might as well work on who you want to be.
There are people who live their whole lives on the default settings, never realizing you can customize.
RESOURCE OF THE WEEK: To jumpstart your thinking about intentions, take a run through this starter list of virtues.
Tags: attitude, commitment, inspiration, motivation, Pat Katz, Patricia Katz, pause, perspective, purpose, Saskatoon, speaker, success, time, wellness
Love your idea of “Being” instead of making resolutions. My “Being” for this year, especially the first half, is Reflect. Reflect on the prior year (lost 4 dear people last year including a sister), and reflect on the current year – to make time to visit friends and family more frequently. Reflect on the challenges I will be leaving behind (retirement end of May), and challenges and opportunities and I move into a new phase of my life in another province. Reflect on how these radical changes will affect those around me – my family, friends and peers. Yes, my word for 2011 is reflect.
Jackie, lovely to hear from you. Reflect sounds like the perfect intention for how your life is unfolding at the moment. All the best, Pat
What a wonderful way to start the new year and so much more productive than making resolutions you may not keep for long.
Last year I decided to practice patience and what a wonderful result I achieved. I relaxed in long line ups and told cashiers that I had time and they relaxed too. It provided a calming influence on both of us and resulted in everyone’s day being better. I practiced patience in driving and allowed other drivers in and gave them the benefit of the doubt when they charged ahead. Result – calmness, no road rage and a relaxed feeling when I got home.
This year is about being connected. I want to connect with and stay connected to family and friends and neighbors and coworkers. Take time to visit and listen and learn. Connect with people in general and be genuinely interested in the lives of those I care about and am involved with.
Two GREAT concepts, Colleen: Patience & Connection. Won’t they make a powerful combination building on each other? Wishing you continued success with your intentional living practice.