The more I am learning about mindfulness, the more I am seeing the word intention.  Setting intentions, or committing to carrying out actions, connects the areas of our brains that control our thoughts and behaviors. There is a strong correlation between mindfulness and the intention-behavior relationship. Intentions are more likely to become actions.

Here are some guidelines that I found to guide my daily intentions:
  1. Focus-find something that deeply resonates with you
  2. Connect to your why-choose an intention that drives you to achieve your goals
  3. Leave your fears behind-choose an intention that is not limited by your fears (breathing can be used to ‘exhale your fears’)
  4. Be accountable-In my opinion, this is the most important. By choosing intentions that are meaningful and achievable (and also by saying them out loud) we are holding ourselves accountable to that goal

I have decided to start my mindfulness journey off but setting an intention for myself upon waking each day. This is how it looks for me:

Day 1:

Today I took the time in the morning to stretch, take a few breaths and ask myself, “what is my intention today?” before rushing out of bed.

With a massive ‘to do’ list in my head, I struggled with choosing just one but I have come to realize, through researching mindfulness, that it is not just labelling what you NEED to do, but rather stating a ‘soft goal’ that can be achieved.

My first intention was, “Today I will not be afraid to try difficult things.”

To be honest, I felt a little silly saying this out loud but I did feel a sense of positivity towards my day and when I was introduced to a new assignment (which made me nervous), I referred back to my morning intention and felt more courageous to get started.

Day 2:

Intention: “Today I will drink lots of water.”

I took a different approach. Rather than emotional, I went for physical. I know that we can all struggle to drink enough water throughout the day (seriously though, 12 Cups a day?!)

I am happy to report that my intention did motivate me to drink more water throughout the day, so I guess these morning intentions are making me more thoughtful and accountable throughout the day.

What’s next? 

I will continue to set a daily intention for myself and next week I will apply another mindfulness technique to my routine.

 

Sources:

15 Daily Intentions to Set for a More Driven Life: https://www.lifehack.org/879167/daily-intentions