Well, when I first was digging around for a way to help a client get off to a good day without so much tension and anxiety, I told him to start a gratitude journal and to set an intention for his day. That sounded pretty good until we tried to wrap our minds around what that setting of an intention for one's day was all about. I did not have a good clear answer for him. All I knew was that this was something I did.
In preparing to write this blog it took me through a review of just how I have learned to set an intention each day. I realized that I have been doing this for decades now. First, I started with my "personal mission statement." Coming from a Christian worldview, I carved out my mission statement using Scripture passages to form the guidelines by which I would live. You can learn how to create your own personal mission statement, here's one website that will teach you the steps: How to Write a Mission Statement in 5 Steps - with Examples (wix.com)
Secondly, I borrowed from Franklin Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" to ground me in both relational and emotional intelligence. These 7 habits have led me to think more flexibly in the workplace and among my family. I believe it has also led me to create a business that is both proactive and a win-win. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® - FranklinCovey
Third, I clung to "The Four Agreements" by Don Miquel Ruiz, it helped me recognize that watching my words was super important, and that taking things personally only ruin my day and take me away from being the happy jubilant person I truly mean to be. I also learned from Ruiz that making assumptions truly can make for problems, it is better to ask than to assume. Finally, Ruiz offers us grace in saying that we should "always do our best," but that our best is different on different days.
Fourth, I grabbed hold of Merlin Carothers "Power to Praise." I applied that lesson of praising God as an act of faith and trust in Him, during really difficult and dark days. Therein I found the power to overcome any and every difficulty. It seemed all I needed to do was to step into moments of prayer journaling praise, and or songs of praise, and or even dancing praise. Talk about lifting anxiety, it works!
As I have added each of the above ways of setting an intention, I have seen a little more of the core values I hold become apparent. Things like integrity, and spirituality, and grace applied. I have learned from personal relationships; from things I have read and from life experiences, of what truly matters to me. Those things are how and what one sets an intention for each day of their lives. Setting an intention is like being renewed in one's mind daily about the things that matter to them.
Barb Raveling wrote several books on emotional eating and renewing your mind as a way to manage it. In her book titled simply "RALLY", she lays out for us this one more way to set an intention for your day. By using the word RALLY as an acronym for the following.
R is for "Renew your mind, " and has to do with reading scripture.
A is for "Ask for help and accept what I need to accept."
L is for "Let go of your 'Have To's'"
L is of "Let go of 'If Only', and make a plan"
Y is for "Yah God. (Thank Him in all situations)."
I hope by now that whether you are a Christian or not, that you can see the value of setting an intention for your life, and for each day of it. A good question to ask yourself is, "What are the guidelines I want to live by? With anxiety running rampant these days, it seems that we have fogotten the message of having habits and setting boundaries. They help us perform well and keep our eyes on what matters instead of on all the things we cannot control that make us feel fearful. Setting an intention satisfies the soul as we live it out.
It is also good to know that setting an intention for your day and ultimately for your life is about understanding that you and I are response-able. That is, we do not have to allow circumstances, or even pre-conditioning to control our behavior. While we may need counseling for deeply set ways of thinking. We can gain the tools for managing our minds such as for anxiety, and we can gain control. Setting an intention may be one of the best ways to start the process.
As Franklin Covey put it in his "7 Habits, "Be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek first to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and find a way to sharpen the saw." When you do you will have lived out one set of intentions, that teach us about mutual benefits and flexible thinking.
While admittedly I do not review all of these, every morning, I do have many of them memorized to the point that they are almost naturally a part of me. What I would recommend is that you find your own or borrow from me. Find something you can sink your teeth into regarding what you believe and what makes your soul sing and what truly matters to you and set an intention for each and every day to make that a part of what you do and who you are. It can make a major difference on where you allow your mind to go and how you handle everyday stress and anxiety.
Kindly Charlotte
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