Intentions, Conscious Creation.

Happy New Year PragMagicians.

What are your New Year traditions? Do you party and greet the New Year with confetti and a tipple? Do you welcome the new year in your dreams? Perhaps it changes year to year. I grew up with the first version. A party that included sweet punch, dancing and a very uncomfortable moment of hugging and clutching to sing at the top of our lungs a rendition of Ole Langs Syne. I didn’t know the words and so I would cringe and pretend to hum along just wishing one time I could warp time and make it stop. At 12:05 my parents would declare their first resolution – this year we will teach Leanne the words to Ole Langs Sine! Never happened, I still don’t know the words. No fault to is being assigned here, just a reflection on some of my first experiences of the new year’s tradition and my first impressions of resolutions. New years has changed for me significantly over the years. It’s gone from forcing myself to party like it’s 1999, thank you Prince for the reference, to my current choice of making a toast to the previous year at whatever time the urge strikes and welcoming the new year with well wishes. I go to sleep when my body informs me it’s time, planning to wake with the sunrise.

The New Years tradition of resolutions is another relationship that has evolved overtime. Re-solution, as I often rephrased it, inferring a different fix for the same problem, was problematic for me. I would go through the motions of making resolutions, thinking this is it, this is the year I will stick to it. Well, just like learning the words to ‘Ol Langs Syne, it never happened, they never stuck. Failure was inevitable and the rest of the year was spent attempting to restore my self trustworthiness. Eventually I gave up on them all together, leaning into the randomness of life being the guide. No surprise here, this didn’t work for me either. I wandered untethered and often feeling purposelessness. Resolution or no resolution, my impact on the world was nonexistent and often led to confusion and disappointment. How does one lead or create when one has no idea where they are going? How does one commit to purpose and not feel restricted by over regulation and rules? The time arrived to create consciously, and I began the search for a process that was solid enough to activate movement and had enough spaciousness to allow for magic.

Along the way I uncovered that resolutions have been practiced for over 4000 years. The Babylonians would declare their resolutions after an 11 day festival held in March to mark the new year based on their calendar at the time. Resolutions were promises made to gain favour and appease the Gods. The tradition as we know it as followers of the Gregorian calendar began in the 1500’s when the sitting Pope of the time declared the legal new year was to be January 1st . This could explain why the timing of resolutions for some feels a little off. In North America the New Year occurs during winter, a season associated with slowness, reflection and rest. Really, does it matter when we set intentions? I haven’t experienced an intention monitors out there handing out fines to those who chose a different timing than January despite what you may witness on social media. I’ll encourage everyone to set an intention whenever the need rises. Intentions can be set for all sorts of experiences, times and events. What if leaders set intentions prior to a meeting or families set intentions before a large family gathering? The practice of intention setting can be used abundantly and freely!

There are countless books, opinions, and practices for resolution/intention/goal setting. That’s great news, because it indicates there is no right or wrong. Realizing this, permission is granted to take ideas that work and leave ideas that don’t’ allowing the process to evolve. It is the same for wording. Although the words, resolution, intention and goal actually have nuances to the words in conversation we tend to interchange them freely. Chose the words that work for you.

I once heard the statement “we judge others by their actions and we judge ourselves by our intention”. An indication that the actions taken must align to the intention to communicate and create the desired impact. This has stuck with me over the years, a guide in the process and a reminder when I find myself either experiencing or creating unintended impacts. It is a place to investigate when things get sticky. What was the intention behind the action? Does the action align with the intention?

Below is the process as it unfolds today. A combination created from sourced information, intuition and experience.

Consciously Create

Intention Statement. Clearly state what you want and speak to it as if you already have it. Think of it as a guiding principle an achievable want, it tends to focus more on the being or energy side versus an action. An example could be I live a joyful, fulfilled life. Notice how it has the feeling of bigger picture, a guiding principle? As well, the intention statement is to be declared from this moment and to avoid stating it in a futuristic way.

Set Goals. A goal is an external achievement, the action taken to achieve the intention. Goals are our way of communicating to the world intentions and therefore we want to have and should be aligned with our intentions. Goals can be measured and are used to let us know when we are steering off course.

Energy expenditure. How much energy are you willing to spend to manifest the intention? A place to consider here is to think how important this is to you? Goals must align with the energy expenditure. If the willingness to expend energy is an 8 ( very important) and actions are being executed inconsistently or not measured, the impact will be to fall short of the target. The opposite can be true. If the importance level is a two then the goals need to reflect that to avoid creating a return on investment deficit.

Accountability Make yourself accountable. Get yourself an accountability buddy or start a tracking sheet. Whatever way you chose to be accountable, accountability creates ownership and increases alignment with values. It empowers self control and signals when we wander off the chosen path.

And last but not least, don't forget to reflect and adjust. Check in with yourself regularly and see how you're doing. Are things working out the way you planned? If not, it's time to make some changes. And that's it, you're on your way to achieving your intentions!

Leanne French Coaching provides coaching to individuals, groups and teams in addition to a variety of presentation topics and workshops.

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