Setting Intentions for 2008

A new year is about to begin! Time to set new intentions. I've been a believer in setting intentions because several years of experience has shown me that they work!

For me, an intention is a direction I set in my mind. It is the vision of the creation. It includes the destination but is not limited by it, nor does it necessarily show the path I will take to get there. If need be, I will include concrete goals to help measure my manifestation, taking good care to not let them limit me (for instance, I intend to earn $100,000 or more in revenues in 2008 - and I may revise that upward in the next few days). But the goals reflect a feeling, an experience, the financial goals representing Abundance, and Success.

A goal feels like something I "try to do". Just as a resolution is something I "try to keep". It smacks of work. It reeks of effort. It sounds difficult. My experience with intentions has been that when I set them I usually have no idea how I will create them, but I figure it will be exciting to do so. And often afterwards I find that I enjoyed the manifestation process, and I grew and was enriched by it.

Your intentions can simply be written, like a list or a word-story. Or they can be done via collage, especially if you are a more visual thinker. I strongly suggest keeping them somewhere where you will see them on a daily basis (mine go in the front page of my schedule book).

I'll share with you my intentions that intersect with this blog:
- I express and share my spiritual side
- I create and write whatever I am passionate about
- I experience Abundance by being of service to others

There are more, but I'm going to keep those for myself and my support network.

Happy New Year! Your Grateful Guy

New Year - Reviewing the Year

It's almost New Year's Eve! I'm in NY enjoying time away from being a therapist (in fact I am watching the Giants-Patriots game).

I've pulled together a bundle of things to do at the change of year that I'd like to share with you.

First of all is the Year End Review. Whether you had set goals or intentions for the past year or not, you can still do this. For this, I want you to create two lists. The first is Celebration List - this is the goals you've set and achieved (or surpassed); the intentions that were manifested; and the unplanned successes. Take a long minute and drink this list in. Look at what you've done! Toast yourself! Do a victory dance. Plan a nice reward (I always think self-care like a massage, or a nice meal out is a good reward). But definitely feed this back into your mind - YOU DID THESE THINGS. You achieved them.

Now for the next list. What goals didn't you achieve? What intentions didn't manifest? What unplanned issues or problems cropped up over the last year? Write these down. Reflect for a minute. Don't hang your head down, but take an honest assessment. There are probably good reasons for the items on this list. Learn from them. Feed that back into your mind - you can improve so much by learning from where you underperformed.

For the next step, you'll need to be someplace where you can burn something. Yes, you are going to burn both lists. You are going to release them, quite vividly, and leave them where they belong. For they are now in the past. The year is done. Both the good and the bad. It's a clean slate ahead of you. And that clean slate allows you freedom in visioning for 2008. But let's wait for tomorrow for that....

Until then, Your Grateful Guy