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Writer's pictureWendy Cuba-Danca

Setting Intentions For a Successful New Year

Updated: May 6, 2021


Intentions For a New Year

This morning I woke up, looked at my new Apple Watch Christmas gift and saw it read 7am, the time I planned on getting up to get ready for my walk with a friend. Then I went downstairs, let out my dog, Bishop and looked again at my watch (both times sans glasses) except this time it was 7:40, the exact time I needed to leave my house and I was not ready!


Luckily, my friend was understanding and used the extra time to pick up some coffee for us. I quickly got dressed and arrived to the park only 10 minutes late. We ended up walking around the park twice, for about 3.5 miles. It was chilly, so we were glad to have our hot drinks with us.


While we were walking we discussed a lot of our hopes for the new year. I was using words like focus, determination, health, gratitude and energy but I wasn’t yet prepared for the lesson I’m about to share with you.


Why am I telling you this? Because it makes for a good intro to a New Year blog about time and manifesting change. I want to share with you bits and pieces of me this year as one of my intentions is to find my voice for 2021. Get ready to hear more from me. I will do my best to keep it interesting. OK, here I go, eh hum (clearing my throat)...


I want to start by also letting you in on a secret. I am a Genius! Well not that kind of genius! I belong to the Jay Shetty Genius Community. I have been following Jay Shetty for 2 years in the Genius Community. I think that his lessons, meditations and exercises are making me a better person and coach. They help me to serve my clients better. Every Sunday, I have the opportunity to listen to Jay live on the Facebook group. Therefore, I have decided that I would like to pay it forward and share with you some of the lessons I am learning. This is a major intention for me for 2021 to help myself, and you (if you would do me the honor of coming along for the ride).


This is Jay's lesson from today, January 3, 2021:


"This is the year to set the right intentions to manifest the life you want. This is the year to get around the right people and to get the right coaching and mentorship (we all need coaches) and this is the year to invest in your health. We have to be ready, aware and prepared for 2021 and what lies ahead. Financial health, career health, and looking at your goals, practices and getting you set up to have a powerful new year."


Jay said this principle, "I don't want you to have a list of expectations. I want you to have a list of investments" (stay tuned for the explanation coming later, it will be worth it).


During meditation the focus was on: "Calm, Balance, Ease, Stillness and Peace"


Ask yourself, "What seeds are you planting this year?" Bring your awareness to what is truly important and meaningful to you this year. Which quality do you want to develop to make it a meaningful and fulfilling year?"

Ask yourself, " What lesson did you learn last year? Hold that lesson close to your heart because the closer it is to you, the further you are away from needing to learn it again.

Ask yourself, "What is your intention for this year? What vibrational energy are you bringing towards this year? Feel it energetically bubbling and fizzing inside you. Make sure it's an upgrade and a rise from last year. It is not about what energy this year will bring you, but what energy will you bring to this year? Feel this positive energy and attention moving and cascading through your mind and body. Are you ready to take focus and action?


Visualize yourself walking through a door that says 2021. As you walk through the door, what do you see? These are the three things that take up our lives:

  1. Who are the people in our lives? Are you happy with the faces you see there? Who is missing? Who do you need and who needs to leave?,

  2. What are the places we spend time (your house, garden, Netflix, in nature). Where do you want to spend more time?

  3. Which projects do you want to focus on personally and professionally?

Expectations vs. Investment

  • Expectations = Exit, comes as an end result

  • Investment, Input, Intention = What are you putting in?

Western culture focused around the output and results and Eastern culture is focused around investment, input and intentions. We think we need to focus on the goal (expectation) but not the investment. Wrong.


Exercise:

Write down 5 expectations for the year: physical, financial mental, relationships and spiritual.

Here Are My Expectations (which you can also use for examples):

  1. Physical - do yoga at least 5 days a week, walk all days a week (weather permitting) and do the NEW elliptical 3-5 days a week.

  2. Business and Financial is that I am able to strengthen my current businesses and current revenue streams. I want to bring 100% of my energy to each and every session with my clients.

  3. Mental is to to meditate daily with Jay Shetty with the Genius app and the 10% Happier App (that I use nightly for sleep), to fully read the books, "Think Like a Monk" by Jay Shetty and "The Healthy Deviant by Pillar Gerasimo" and to incorporate the lessons in my life that resonate with me the most.

  4. Relationships are that I create more fun and interesting experiences with my husband, kids and my friends (social distance of course until we are fully immunized).

  5. Spiritual is that my meditation is more attentive as well as prayer and gratitude.

IMPORTANT LESSON: None of your expectations will happen without an investment in place. The investment is the time and the intention is the energy that you will put towards your expectation. This concept needs to be part of the plan. It is where you carve out specific days and times to get these expectations done. Focus and take action by investing in yourself!


What are you putting into this year? Where is your time being spent in your calendar ( be sure to add time in for rest, refuel and breaks)? Make a well managed calendar. When it is in the calendar you value it and honor it. When its not in the calendar something else comes along and steals that time. We have time stealers when we don't have a plan. It is all about investing your time. Is your time invested or being spent?


Your Investment needs to be made in a few ways: Research, Act and Reflect (R.A.R)

  • Research your area of interest

  • Actively do it

  • Reflect on the action

Improve your calendar by asking yourself "Based on my expectation - what investment do I need to make?" Your calendar will become more realistic each week when you realize how unrealistic you are in setting your goals or how overly ambitious you are. Ambition requires better planning and prepping and you will improve it the more you set it.


Answer these questions for the New Year:

  • What are your investments?

  • What seeds (investments) are you planting?

Set investments not expectations and goals. The more you see everything as an investment rather than a goal or expectation, then you will know what you need to do and you won't expect something else to happen.


Your capacity is like an elastic band. The way you stretch yourself is: every month you stretch yourself a little bit more. If you stretched yourself too much too fast the elastic band would snap. Each year you can stretch it a bit more by adding more to your plate. You can also expand further or deeper by doing what you are already doing better. You can go deeper in what you do and you don't have to start something new.


Rewire your brain for the year to be all about the investment. What are you investing in terms of time, money and energy (T.M.E)?


Ok, that's the lesson! I hope that resonated with you as much as it did for me. I started working on my calendar during the last few months of 2020 and it definitely made a difference to how I approached my weeks with more optimism. Please add your comment below and share how you connect to these concepts.


Here's to a fulfilling and transformative 2021! My wish is for you to achieve your goals and truly become the person you want to be!


If you need me, you can find me at: Restorative Wellness and Weight Loss and Your Wellness With Wendy...and if someone knows how to work the new Apple 6 watch and set the alarm can you please let me know. Drop me a line or send me an email to wendy@restorativewwl.com. Thank you in advance!

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