The Secret to Changing Habits

This last year has brought many changes, disruptive changes… and big or constant change can mean stress.  What is the secret to changing habits so to embrace the possibilities that lie within and beyond change?

If you’ve had to completely alter your day to accommodate for more online meetings, kids and meals at home, or being unable to go to places that nourished your spirit… you are not alone.

While this time has been full of change and more than your fair share of navigating the unknown, change can also offer many gifts.

Times of change can be times of transformation.

One of the best ways to transform is to explore what we do with our daily habits.

I thought it would be helpful to give you a little practice of intention-setting to set up a new habit and support you to have more calm, clarity and direction through your day.

Why intention setting is important

You might be wondering: “I have plenty of things on my to-do list to accomplish, isn’t that enough?”

Intention-setting isn’t just about what we want to get done. It’s about making a heart-based commitment to yourself and setting the tone for the focus of your day. It’s a place to keep orienting towards, when stressors come up.

Intentions aren’t just about achievement. They can be anything that supports you, that you want to welcome more of into your life.

Some intention statements:

• I value and accept myself today, acknowledging my mistakes without shaming myself for them.
• I keep returning to calm and curiosity as feelings come up through my day.
• I allow my challenges to expand the compassion I have for myself and others.

Write It Down

Write down an intention that feels supportive to you. Now, stick it somewhere that you’ll see it often throughout the day.

This can be the bathroom mirror, a sticky note on your computer screen, on your fridge, as a screen saver on your phone, in your car, or anywhere else you’ll notice it regularly.

You can write it down on a few pieces of paper and stick them around your home too!

Check In With Yourself

As you navigate your day, take a moment to check in with your intention.

Pause, and feel the kind, expansive energy of it.

What does it feel like in your body, when you value and accept yourself even when you make mistakes, or when you allow your challenges to expand the compassion you have for yourself and others?

Tune into your body, listen, and observe what messages it has for you.

Take a moment to thank your body, mind, heart, and spirit for the feelings and sensations it’s brought you, and gently resume your day.

Open The Doorway

I often refer to one of my favourite Rumi quotes that states: “our wounds are the place where the light enters us”.

Our challenges become doorways.

Setting an intention to guide you through the day is a wonderful way to assist that transition, from pain to new levels of openness, curiosity and discovery.

What intention will you set today?

In my You Are Not Your Brain online course, we take this even deeper.

If you feel called to join, you’ll get access to annual group mentoring, a specially developed progression of modules and practice opportunities, and so much more, to help you create and integrate new intentions and habits in a supportive, sustainable and judgment-free environment.

Each module of the online program is like a rung on a ladder, giving you doable, meaningful steps up towards your most joyful, healthy, fulfilled self and life.

If you’re curious to learn more, click here!

Enjoy your wonder-full intention today.

May it bring you joy to reflect and reorient as you experience your day.

With love,