I really enjoyed the experiment of setting 100+ intentions per day. I experimented with different ways of saying the intention, just to see if some ways landed better than others. I experimented with different ways of summoning intentions too; sometimes just writing down any intention that popped up without thinking and some other times seeing if I could deliberately set nuanced intentions in specific areas such as work, motivation, health, fun, and so on.
Here’s how setting intentions consciously for a week impacted me:
- It helped me become intentional about how I spent my days.
- It helped me understand the sorts of intentions I have at this point in time. I could see the patterns and themes. That created greater self-awareness.
- It changed how I felt. I felt more optimistic, lighter, and energized. It made me feel inspired by connecting me to possibilities.
- It gave me direction from moment to moment and helped me focus. I found myself not running negative thought patterns as often.
Setting intentions still feels like a new skill. It took a significant amount of time to write the 100 intentions every day. I see the importance of setting intentions multiple times a day so I plan to keep this going. For now, I’ve settled on writing 20 intentions during my end-of-day journaling and set intentions in my mind or out loud several times during the day. I also have a piece of paper with the question, “What’s your intention?” on my work table as a reminder.
Week #46 – Assurance
One of the themes that were predominant among my intentions was the deep desire to feel confident in myself, who I am, the story I’m living, and the certainty in the path I’ve chosen for myself. I find that sometimes I tend to get a bit shaky about myself or what I’m doing. Or I might look at how someone else is living their life and start questioning if I should be doing more or doing other things. While there’s merit in evaluating myself and the direction I’ve picked now and then, regular self-doubt and uncertainty do more harm than good.
I’d like to use this week to keep setting the intention to be in a state of mind where I feel certain about myself, my story, and my abilities. In other words, I want to be in a state of assurance.
I’m particularly curious to see how holding an intention to feel assured will influence my experience of reality and myself this week. I’m going to keep a lookout for external signs as well as pay attention to the internal shifts.