View of the Mediterranean New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are sacred holidays for Groom and me. While we like to have fun and gather with friends to enjoy food and clink crystal like most of you do, we also set aside some time for reflecting on the past year and setting intentions for the new.
Intentions are not exactly goals or resolutions. Intentions are more an overall essence of something we’d like to experience. Instead of starting a new calendar continuing old business like “lose those extra pounds,” or “quit a bad habit,” we prefer to bring in something fresh such as “feel healthy and fit.”
Matter of semantics? Well perhaps, but by using goals and resolutions, Groom tried for years to lose weight. We’d resolve to join a gym, work out, blah blah blah. Yeah, it never happened. But when we were introduced to the idea of intentions, we activated that place in us that simply wanted to feel healthy and fit. Guess what? Groom lost 100 pounds. One hundred, not one-zero.
After releasing our intentions without worrying about the how, things begin to unfold in ways we did not see coming, yet the results are that we feel healthier and fitter now than when we were younger. After all those years of paying lip service to getting up and working out, we find ourselves at the gym four days a week now that Groom is one-third the man he was before.
This intentioning works in other areas of life as well. Sometimes we have a hankering to travel to some place specific like Paris or New York, yet when we release that desire and stay open to “traveling somewhere new,” it’s fascinating to see how events conspire to scoop us up and set us down in a charming place that hadn’t been on our list per se, but that we enjoyed immensely because it was a gift from the organic unfolding.
Intentions are not exactly goals or resolutions. Intentions are more an overall essence of something we’d like to experience. Instead of starting a new calendar continuing old business like “lose those extra pounds,” or “quit a bad habit,” we prefer to bring in something fresh such as “feel healthy and fit.”
Matter of semantics? Well perhaps, but by using goals and resolutions, Groom tried for years to lose weight. We’d resolve to join a gym, work out, blah blah blah. Yeah, it never happened. But when we were introduced to the idea of intentions, we activated that place in us that simply wanted to feel healthy and fit. Guess what? Groom lost 100 pounds. One hundred, not one-zero.
After releasing our intentions without worrying about the how, things begin to unfold in ways we did not see coming, yet the results are that we feel healthier and fitter now than when we were younger. After all those years of paying lip service to getting up and working out, we find ourselves at the gym four days a week now that Groom is one-third the man he was before.
This intentioning works in other areas of life as well. Sometimes we have a hankering to travel to some place specific like Paris or New York, yet when we release that desire and stay open to “traveling somewhere new,” it’s fascinating to see how events conspire to scoop us up and set us down in a charming place that hadn’t been on our list per se, but that we enjoyed immensely because it was a gift from the organic unfolding.
Another fine meal in Greece (100 lbs ago...) Greece was like that. The Hellenic Republic had not been prominent on our radar, but out of the blue we received an invitation with all the necessary means to get there. One minute we’re state side, the next we’re swimming in the Mediterranean, eating Tzatziki and tasting ouzo.
Amazing people have come into our lives after we’ve written that invitation down on our New Year’s list, as well as a cherished pet, a new home, exciting opportunities and much more.
Once we’ve written what we’d like down, usually in a letter to our future selves, we hide it in a special place and do not look at it until the next year. Because we’ve been doing this for quite awhile now, the next step is to read last year’s intentions and see how many of them came to fruition.
The final part is to let go of any hurts, offenses, or grudges we may have picked up during the current year that are a little stubborn and lingering. We practice forgiveness in both directions (asking and bequeathing) and offer these up in a bowl of fire. It’s so cleansing and helps to release the negative feelings and a powerful way to claim our energy back.
And then whoo hoo, it’s time to get our happy on. Yasou! Health to you.
Amazing people have come into our lives after we’ve written that invitation down on our New Year’s list, as well as a cherished pet, a new home, exciting opportunities and much more.
Once we’ve written what we’d like down, usually in a letter to our future selves, we hide it in a special place and do not look at it until the next year. Because we’ve been doing this for quite awhile now, the next step is to read last year’s intentions and see how many of them came to fruition.
The final part is to let go of any hurts, offenses, or grudges we may have picked up during the current year that are a little stubborn and lingering. We practice forgiveness in both directions (asking and bequeathing) and offer these up in a bowl of fire. It’s so cleansing and helps to release the negative feelings and a powerful way to claim our energy back.
And then whoo hoo, it’s time to get our happy on. Yasou! Health to you.
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