How are you going to create with courageous intention next year?
Is this a bold question to kick off a blog post? Sure is…and it’s also an invitation to break the comfy, restrictive, outdated mold you’ve created up until now by setting safe, practical goals.
The energy of 2018 was all about really seeing, sensing, and understanding what felt like a mismatch. It showed you ways you need to grow; maybe even forced you into the fire more than once to get the core of unfavorable situations or outdated behavior patterns. The past year also reflected where you needed to direct attention to heal, release, and begin again in a bold new way without looking back.
As we inch closer to a new year and the energy of a fresh start, it’s equally important to check the perspective you use to connect with and follow through on dreams and intentions. Is it still serving you or keeping you small? More importantly, are your choices and habits truly leading you to what you want to create and express in the world?
Do An Honest Self Check-in
When you take time to look inward, the habits and actions you perform on autopilot or see as unhealthy or “bad”, become clear. For most of us, the first reaction is – how can I “fix” this? It’s why more than half of new year’s resolutions are geared towards changing things you don’t want to do anymore; what you see as negative habits getting the way of what you want to create or achieve next.
This “fix it” perspective keeps you looking at a one way door into the past, focusing attention on what isn’t working the way you want it to, YET. It’s perfectly natural to want to rework that familiar energy like a worry stone and find a way to “make things better”. It’s the devil you know, after all.
Continuing this perspective is also an easy way you keep yourself stuck in patterns of procrastination or fear to move forward. And who wants that consciously?
What’s not as natural, but more effective, is to observe how the energy of forcing rather than allowing keeps you disconnected from seeing and feeling what wants to grow. To make that leap, it helps to look at the root of a goal or intention, and why it’s important.
Roots of Healing and Growth Are One in the Same
While it’s important to know what you want to change for a more enriched, supportive way forward, it’s also essential to notice how fear influences goals and creative potential in key ways that aren’t so easy to see.
For example, saying you want to eat better and get healthy is a broad, admirable goal. But do you understand what’s at the root of why that goal is important?
- Are you ready to step into a space of full self-acceptance and own your self-care responsibilities?
- Is there a regret, grudge, or mental obstacle that keeps you spinning through why something sounds like a realistic, noble goal, but still stands in the way of you actually moving past comfy habits to achieve it?
- What keeps you from seeing a much broader picture of what’s possible for yourself?
It’s natural to move through change at a slow, personal pace, unless a circumstance forces you into it very suddenly. To take steps towards real, courageous change in an authentic way, it’s important to understand two key things:
- What are your comfy habits and how/why do they support you?
- Are you willing to step into any feelings, fears, or issues of control to create with courageous intention?
Now, let me make this clear. There’s no reason you have to abandon current supportive habits JUST BECAUSE they feel comfy. The important part is to understand their value, and if continuing them will support you and the expanded self you see in your mind and heart.
Step one, (if you choose to accept it), is to do a little habit review. Ask yourself:
- Does this support me?
- Keep me safe with good reason or create an important, necessary boundary?
- Help me to continue to make myself small to avoid xx emotion?
Why?
Sit with these answers for a bit. Roll them around and see where they take you. Meditate on how they can be supported or expanded, healed or released. Maybe there are no clear answers and they need to stay in place for now. No biggie. Simply trust the fact you will know when the time is right to review them and get the insight you need to make a different choice.
Step two, re-imagining what’s possible with courage and grounding practices
Dream about, contemplate, and write down new intentions and self-supportive habits to move you towards ways to create with courageous intention. In other words, focus on the big fat, hairy, scary, but also amazing, goal that calls to your heart and soul. Then choose small steps and approaches that focus on how you feel AND what you desire to create, while incorporating grounding practices such as meditation, yoga, nature etc. Blended together, these tools help you live intentions and big dream goals purposefully, while actively grounding them into everyday life.
For some it’s going to feel like a refreshing invitation to step closer to the version of the deepest, most honest creative version of themselves. Others might see and feel the experience is hard, confusing or difficult because you are unclear about how to even put what you want to create into ideas, words, or actions, and that’s OK, too. Just be with how it feels, and don’t force a solution. Feelings are your guide towards what step or intention you need to take on next.
Taking Courageous Steps is Easier Than it Feels at First
To get in a good frame of mind to embrace your next level self, review what you’ve accomplished in the past year that would’ve seemed impossible until you lived it. Taking on this perspective can really surprise you, offering a way to look at and acknowledging the growth and healing path that has already occurred. It’s an important step that empowers you to clearly see what really IS a courageous way forward.
As you move along an inner transformation path, there are tugs and gut instincts that feel like fate. Some are guided by true intuitive insights, others are led by fear and avoidance. Now is the time to get into the nitty gritty of which is which, and be honest with yourself to create a strong foundation of your inner discernment prowess. It’s your most magical tool to use next year.
Ultimately, when you feel supported in your choices and trust your own discernment capabilities, it’s much easier to step outside of what you need to survive and create with courageous intention. All the best in your quest, and have a fantastic holiday season and new year! Catch you in 2019!
Interested in reading more posts on a similar topic? Check out Soul Lessons and Being Present Through Change or How We Unleash Natural Talents When We Get Clear on Our No’s. Like podcasts, check out mine! It’s called Flirting With Enlightenment and it’s all about how to tap into your own inner wisdom as a tool for powerful inner clarity and transformation.