Content provided by the Health & Wellness Team at GBS Benefits
“Intentional living is the art of making our own choices before others’ choices make us.” — Richie Norton
The new year brings the excitement of a blank slate and a refreshed sense of ambition to fill 2023 with happiness and success. It can be overwhelming and intimidating to think about capturing the potential of the upcoming 12 months. Setting New Year’s resolutions is a popular custom aimed to do just that but often leaves people feeling disappointed.
Resolutions frequently leave no room for error and fail to acknowledge that we can’t predict circumstances out of our control. They often involve big lifestyle changes like overhauling your dietary habits, altering your sleep schedule, or putting major physical stress on your body. As soon as something unexpected happens and you fail to complete one of these tasks, you may feel like giving up completely.
Shifting the mindset from resolutions to intentions is an effective way to seize the moment while also aligning personal values with your goals. Living with intention means living purposefully. Intentions represent hopes such as “where do you want to be a year from now” and values such as “what kind of person do I want to be.” They are more focused on what you want to manifest in your life or the guiding principles you want to live by rather than the eventual outcome. Intentions are less about a specific goal but more about a shift in mindset to help achieve that goal. They are typically centered around the process and progress made rather than the result.
Avoid cruising through life on autopilot and bring clarity and purpose to what is most important by committing yourself to an intentional lifestyle. Define priorities, get clarity on what you want from life, and live each day in alignment with these priorities.
Being intentional isn’t expensive or time-consuming. It doesn’t involve you giving everything up or throwing it all away. Make small conscious daily decisions about what enhances your life and what distracts you. It is the sum of these small decisions that shapes the bigger picture of your life.
The next twelve months are ripe with opportunity—make them count.
References:
https://anamcrae.ca/setting-new-years-intentions
https://balancethroughsimplicity.com/intentional-living-and-4-easy-ways-you-can-live-with-intention-now/
