Many of us wake up every morning thinking about what we have to do. We check our phones first, email, social media, calendar, tasks, etc. Some of us even wake up in a bit of a panic thinking about what we may have forgotten about or didn’t get done the day before. This experience sets the tone for our day. It’s undeniable that information changes our behaviors. We have so much information, so much access to other people’s expectations, requests, plans, needs, and opinions, that we can lose sight of our own.
We hear about wellness, mindfulness, meditation, and all these other things that we’re “supposed” to be doing for ourselves, for self care, but even that can feel like another thing on the list, another chore or task that is expected of us. I want to share the concept of intention as self care, intention as the first and most important thing we do for ourselves everyday. What I mean by that is to take a moment each day, hopefully before you do anything else, you could even do this in the shower, or while brushing your teeth, to decide how you want to live your life, what you want to gain, what you want to let go of, what you want to feel, notice, and experience. Set your intention for the day to be who and what you want, before you invite all of the other information in.
When you set your intention, you are creating your Karma, your meaning, your relevance, and your own internal control. You’re reminding yourself that you have control, you have choices, you are the strongest source of power and support in your own life. That might feel a little woo-woo, but I promise it works. Acting with intention is a major way that we can start to feel more confident, more calm, more centered, and even feel happier. Doing things on purpose, exercising autonomy actually releases dopamine in your brain. It creates a chemical alteration in your body that actually increases your effectiveness. Taking control of your internal experience will improve the way you feel about yourself and your ability to improve your environment, relationships and your life. Try it, just for a moment, set the tone for your day in a new way. See what happens!
