Get Empowered Now ~ Set Your Intentions Visually

It’s the first day of a new year and of a new decade.

I’ve been waiting for this day for months! January 1st has traditionally been a day to officially begin anew by giving ourselves a fresh start. Dissatisfied for decades with watching football games and taking down Christmas decorations on this most auspicious day, I decided that this year would be different.

It would be meaningful. Purposeful and deeply satisfying. And, you know…spiritual.

I began around midday with a candle lighting while listening to some of my favorite empowering music. I’ve been wanting to tap into some new feminine energies for the new year–skill sets and attritbutes within me that need developing and strengthening.

I also did some journaling, first focusing on a list of action items by making my traditional to-do list for the year. Honestly, I’ve been doing this for years.

But then I did something new. I focused on my emotional development, writing out how I wanted to see myself grow in spirit.

Like most people I’ve always had a hard time staying committed to my resolutions and staying focused on my to-do list long enough to create lasting change in my behaviors and my lifestyle. Since I am a visual learner, I decided that I needed a visual plan to help me maintain focus, stay committed, and integrate my new skill sets and attitudes into daily living.

I began to gather some creative supplies: magazines, glue sticks, scissors, pens, colored pencils, my journal–and a small, blank accordion book which would become my canvas.

It was time for me to put my hands and heart together and create a unique, personal and visual plan of my new year intentions.

Today I made a different kind of soul collage. It reflects less of my current personality and focuses more on who and what I want to aspire to be this year.

I edited my spiritual goals down to as few words as possible so that they could become affirmations and mantras. Here are some of my 2010 intentions:

Cultivate courage daily.
Don’t judge. Just accept.
Take action when inspiration strikes.
Practice loving self-care.
Live a creative life.
Practice allowing by not controlling.
Forgive others.
Seek simple pleasures.

I made the soul collage first by simply writing my intentions right onto the pages of the book. Then I started looking for corresponding images and words from magazines to give my list of goals a visual lift.

For example, I matched nests and bird’s eggs with live a creative life, and the inner spiral of a seashell to match the inner journey that is required to forgive others.

It was a fun afternoon project that allowed me to concentrate on getting off to a compelling start for 2010. I was able to solidify my thoughts and give them the respect they deserved with focused time. Since I need constant visual reminders of my goals, I like how the accordion book offers different glimpses of each page, like a kaleidoscope, because that’s how daily living is anyway. It’s a big amalgamation of everything thrown together.

Life is rarely arranged for us in a neat and tidy to-do list. In this way, at least for me, the coupling of written words and images will help me more consciously integrate all of my intentions into my daily personality.

Plus, lists get lost or shoved into files, piles, or altogether discarded. This little book–which I found at a local art fair–is a keeper. It easily fits into a tote or purse, or on a nightstand, for handy reference. You could use anything though, such as simple posterboard, a standard blank journal, calendar, or scrapbook paper, and display it in your personal work space, a dressing area, or other location where you can view it daily.

I hope you will consider taking your New Year’s intentions and creating a visual reminder of them for yourselves this year.

Intutitively, we all know that those who write down their goals, and then focus on them consistently beginning early in the year, are more likely to succeed in attaining them. Research also corroborates this thinking.

How do you usually spend your time on January 1st? Are you comfortable and satisfied with how you have approached this special day of the year? New Year’s Day can truly be a spiritual day of planning, unfolding, and becoming.

Why not do something for yourself that helps you continue to transform, grow, and evolve as you begin a new path for the next 365 days?