New Year: New Intentions
It’s been a confusing couple of years, in my world at least. My brain works in a big picture, strategic way and I generally have a clear vision of where I’m going.
But then the world changed. Things we took for granted, were no longer possible. Rules keep changing. There’s a huge amount of uncertainty.
We have been preparing for some of these things as best we can - solar panels, growing our own food, automated passive incomes, Bitcoin, silver. However there feels like there’s a lot of uncertainty, and changes on the horizon that we can barely begin to imagine.
So how do we set new intentions in these circumstances?
Reflection
The most successful business leaders take regular time out to reflect. So I feel like reflection is a good place to start.
Grab a piece of paper and a pen, or even open up the notes section of your phone, and reflect on the past year.
What are your favourite memories?
What are you most proud of?
What have you learnt? About yourself. About others. About the world.
What are you most grateful for?
Where did you shine?
What surprised you?
As we reflect on these questions, we may start to gain some clarity on how we want to move forwards into the new year.
When you look forwards to the New Year, how do you want to feel? Forget circumstances beyond your control and the logistics, but simply tune in and ask yourself what you want to FEEL.
Strong, confident, helpful….whatever comes to mind. For me, I want to feel free, energised and light.
Pick A Word
From these reflections and this knowledge of how you want to FEEL in the future, can you narrow this down to one single word?
I’ve been doing this for sometime…The year I chose Patience, I got married. The year I chose Freedom, I went mortgage free. Your word helps guide you and influences decisions, that then build up over time and create incredible, positive change.
Let me give you an example…it was last year that my word was Freedom. One of my friends who’s very entrepreneurial knew my word and that Freedom is one of my top values. We were mid-beach walk during lockdown when I mentioned that I was considering about maybe selling my investment property. To her it was crystal clear: “why the hell wouldn’t you, when you’re all about freedom?!” Well good point. From that moment it was crystal clear to me too…she helped me come back to my word and tune into how the decision would make ME FEEL. As soon as she helped me to do that, BOOM. I could feel the lightness and freedom that would bring - energetically, financially, on all levels. & that was it: decision made.
The sale has now completed and it feels SO freeing! In a year where many freedoms were taken away and we were all forced to make big decisions about our health, values and boundaries, my guiding word helped me to stick to my truth.
Just Start!
At this stage, don’t worry about what the intention or outcome looks like. Just believe you can. Little steps each day. And for godness sake, just START!
The thing with goals is if we never try, they will stay out of reach. Big, shiny, untouchable things that we aspire to, but remain that way: aspirations, rather than reality. But if we decide this lights me up, it makes my heart beat faster, I feel myself leaning in with a full body yes - then we know we need to at least try.
Ideas for your 2022 Guiding Word
Abundance
Adventure
Align
Alive
Authentic
Available
Aware
Balance (My 2022 word)
Become
Better
Bless
Bold
Breathe
Bright
Calm
Celebrate
Centered
Challenge
Change
Commitment
Compassion
Confidence
Connect
Creativity
Cultivate
Daring
Dedicated
Delight
Devotion
Discipline
Distance
Dream
Embrace
Emerge
Empower
Expansion
Express
Faith
Feast
Fit
Focus
Forgiveness
Foster
Free
Freedom
Friendship
Golden
Glow
Giving
Grace
Gratitude
Grounded
Honesty
Hope
Humility
Integrity
Intentional
Intuition
Journey
Joy
Kind
Learn
Listen
Love
Magnify
Meek
Mindful
Motion
Nourish
Nurture
Organize
Patience (the word I used the year I got engaged to my husband!)
Passion
Peace
Permission
Persistance
Play
Polish
Power
Present
Progress
Radiant
Recovery
Relationships
Release
Reset
Resilience
Resolute
Rise
Risk
Savvy
Service
Simplicity
Slow
Smile
Space
Sparkle
Strong
Teach
Thrive
Tranquil
Whole
Yes
Zen
Zest
The Essential Oils
Did you know you can use your essential oils to help you create an aromatic anchor?
Wondering what this means? Allow me to explain…this is when we use an essential oil, or blend of various oils, that we associate with our particular goals.
When you inhale an essential oil and the smell travels up to the Olfactory Bulb and Limbic System, it impacts your emotions and memories.
This is why when I smell Wild Orange oil, it takes me back to my childhood in Cyprus. There was an orange grove behind the fence at the back of our garden and when it was harvest time they would throw them over the fence to us. Fun childhood memories! Perhaps you can think of a smell that reminds you of something, somewhere or someone? If so, you’ve already experienced aromatic anchoring.
So if we smell our aromatic anchor while goal setting or reading affirmations, we create intentional and powerful future emotional memories. mean, a single essential oil, or a blend of multiple essential oils that you'll link to your specific goals to.
I always encourage you to choose your essential oils intuitively, based on what oils are calling out to you…sometimes this will be a whisper, other times they’ll be jumping out at you!
Oils I like to use include:
Litsea: The oil of manifestation
Ascend: from the Yoga Collection, the oil of enlightenment
Then later when it comes to working towards your goal, I love this Manifestation blend:
Ginger (oil of empowerment)
Blue Tansy (oil of inspired action)
Litsea (oil of manifestation)
Wild Orange (oil of abundance)
You can place 2 drops of each in the diffuser (or place into an old, clean 5ml essential oil bottle and add to there so it’s pre-mixed.)
Alternatively, take a drop of each oil into your hands, rub together and inhale deeply.
Or pop 30-40 drops into a 10ml roller, topped with fractionated coconut oil and apply topically.
My favourite way to learn about the energetic and emotional properties of the oils is the book Emotions & Essential Oils
Affirmations
My intuition is strong
I trust my instinct
I feel clear and focused about my goals
My intentions align with my higher purpose
I am successful in all that I do
I will make my goals happen
I am open to receive abundance
The universe is working with me towards my goals
If you’d like help choosing your word, integrating it into your yoga practice, or enhancing your intentions with essential oils please contact me
You can also head on over to my essential oils page for instructions on how to get lifechanging oils into your home.
Happy intention setting!
Namaste,
Lou x