Turning Wishes into Intentions.

Thanks to thoseshortbangs

Happy New Year!  Welcome to 2012.  I am very excited about the new year, feeling the renewed energy of possibility and freshness.  Some of you may know that I am a not a big fan of resolutions.  Largely because resolutions become more of a chance to beat up on ourselves when we don't do them correctly, rather than a chance for us to give ourselves a little self love and self reflection.  All change is incremental...and resolutions are no different.  We will fail at the detoxing from sugar (as I am trying to do right now), we will not get to the gym every day, we will have a cigarette...the point is to not get stuck in the failure but to remember it is a process and to know that mistakes are all part of the process.

That said, I left 2011 by having us complete our 2011 Wish List.  It was a two folded exercise.  First, it was a fun way to look at our lives and just dream...dream big...without judgment or criticism.  Second, I thought it would be a helpful jumping off point for seeing what changes, additions, hopes we had for 2012.   The wish list is the dream of all dreams..it is the core of what I believe will help me Work Happier and Live Happier.  The wish list is constantly ebbing and changing but it the wishes I wrote down took some time and some thought...so they are an insight into what really matters to me. They touch on my values, my beliefs and the people and things that are most important in my life.  I am going to use my wish list as a example for what I am talking about.

My 2011 Wish List

1. A Cure for Parkinson's Disease, Cancer and Epilepsy--
2. Continued Good Health for myself:  
3. The Ability to Eat WHATEVER and Not Hurt my Health.  
4. Compassion.  
5. Travel. 
6. My own private jet and someone to take care of it and fly it.  
7. A Maid. 
8. New Sheets Every 6 months. 
9. Consistent Supply of Quality Books. 
10. Intentional Living.  

 Example of My 2012 Intentions

1. To take the time to spend with the people in my life who have been touched with Parkinson's, Cancer and Epilepsy.  To be empathetic to their illnesses and to support and love them as best I can.
2. To take care of myself as best as possible... I already work out daily, and eat pretty healthfully but I want to become more intentional around meditation, relaxation and boundaries. 
3. Unfortunately I can't eat whatever I want (BIG DREAM) but I CAN be intentional about what I eat and when.  So when I do treat myself to a piece of cake to really enjoy that cake each and every sinful bite.
4. I want to practice more self compassion and give myself a break from time to time.
5. Travel is always a priority for me...figuring out how to keep travel into my every increasingly busy life.
6. Own jet plane--not going to happen for a VERY long time---but it is is still a dream.
7. A Maid is long term goal...in the mean time I can find fun ways to make cleaning the house more enjoyable.
8. New Sheets every 6 months---again an impossibility---but I can (and usually do) make an effort to put clean, fresh sheets on the bed frequently and acknowledge that warm wonderful feeling of crawling into a freshly made bed.
9. I have already started making reading more of a priority..shutting of the TV and opening up my book is a good start.
10. Intentional living is something I do each and every day of my life.  Fortunately I approach this year with renewed energy to help spread the message and power in living intentionally with as many people who will listen to me!!

So there you have it--for the record I am not implementing all of these intentions today!  These are intentions for the next year--and currently I am actively working on 2-3 of them.  They are all powerful and important to me in their own way (after all they came from my Wish List) but it is impossible to make that much change at one time.  For the sake of example, I wanted to give you as many options as possible in transferring your wish list into an intention list.  Clearly, not all your wishes can become intentions (that is the beauty of having big dreams).  Many of them can be tweaked in some small way to help us implement ways to do what makes our heart sing!!

As always, please feel free to share your 2012 intentions in the comment section.