I have never been a big fan of the term “New Year’s resolutions”. I would like to take the time to explain why I feel this way and why I am making “New Year Intentions” instead this year. I will also share my intentions for 2009, offer some good resources for starting your year off right and ways I am going about make my intentions a reality. To begin with here is a short video wishing you a very happy 2009!
Definitions of Resolution vs. Intention
Resolution — The Mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute, firmness of purpose.
Intention — To Have in mind something to be done or brought about; plan
When I hear the word “resolution” it sounds almost TOO strong and puts too much pressure on. Yes, it is good to say you are ready to do something and make a huge change in your life. At the same time there needs to be room for being human and slipping backwards sometimes. I hear so many people say the same resolutions; lose weight, stop smoking or exercise more but suddenly when they slip they feel “all bets are off” and they may as well go back to their old ways. You may be trying to change years of a bad habit or way of life. I feel this deserves cutting yourself some slack and leaving a little room for some adjusting to this new way of life.
I think of the word “intention” as the definition says. It’s a plan. Plans gets side-tracked and need to be adjusted. Plans mean you are moving forward towards a goal. I like to think of myself as always moving forward. I keep my intentions in mind but if I slip back I understand that is part of the learning curve and as they say sometimes “old habits die hard”. I keep adjusting the plan until it “works” for me. For example I might start out saying I am going to work out 5 times a week. As the weeks go on I can’t maintain that momentum and since it is a “resolution” I think I have failed and say “oh well”… guess I couldn’t do it. If I set it as an intention I can say, “Ok, 5 times a week MIGHT be a BIT much for me — let’s adjust the plan and try 4 times a week, if that doesn’t work, let’s try 3 times a week….” I feel like an intention leaves much more room for real life than a resolution…. In actuality even 1 time a week would be better than if I wasn’t exercising at all — so I would have still been moving forward and would have made progress.
My Intentions for 2009
I believe in setting intentions in all aspects of my life and as I mentioned in my post “Mini Goals to Heal Pain and Move Forward with life“. Without mini goals and intentions I would not know WHERE I was going. I love to congratulate myself on how far I have come, celebrating where I am now and envisioning where I want to be. I feel growth in all areas of your life is always possible.
In 2008 I set plenty of intentions for different areas of my life. I also set my #1 intention where I wanted to see significant growth in my life come year end. My number one intention for 2008 was spirituality and there is no way to sum up in one post ALL that happened to me. Some of my writings and links have touched on some of what happened and there are definitely a few highlights and people that helped me; my Akashic Reading and Clearing by Akemi, My classes with Slade, my Reconnective Healing sessions and then subsequent seminar and becoming a licensed practitioner, Paula Kawal interpreting my wild sites, a reading from Andrea Hess that contained my life’s purpose and all the things that happened as a direct result of these. If you want to develop spiritually make it an intention and stand back and be amazed by what happens! All it requires is being open and if you are scared — telling yourself there is nothing to be afraid of. All you are doing is connecting with the YOU deep inside and gaining a connection you have always had but may have forgotten. A lot of my spiritual journey felt like a “remembering” rather than learning something new. By developing my spirituality I found my life’s purpose which is healing and empowering others and I am just adding to my toolbox so my work can help and reach even more people.
If you are religious - yes, you can still develop spiritually. I believe more in a higher power/God and the words of Jesus Christ than I ever have in my life - and I went to Catholic school. As a child I saw plenty of scary movies and read scary books and anything related to spirituality I lumped in the “spooky” category when it is nothing of the sort. When I do a Reconnective healing session I am as connected to source/God/the Universe as I can be. There is nothing LESS spooky because the overwhelming emotion my clients and I feel is love. If you would have told me 2 years ago I would be into anything like this I would have never believed you. Making spirituality my #1 intention changed my life and changed the way I look at everything. I realize how connected we all are. I have helped people to heal deep issues physical and emotional in their lives. I am finally starting to “accept” the healer name that I have been called for the last 2 years although I realize it is not ME doing the healing. I am so very thankful to help people get what they need and WOW — long distance sessions NEVER cease to amaze me with JUST how powerful they are! I am gathering my testimonials to put up on the site but you can see one here.
As I mentioned I could fill a book about what I have learned this year. I am happy to see movies like “What if?” coming out with proof of the mind body connection. Thank you James Sinclair for putting the movie together and Dr. Bruce Lipton and the other scientists and teachers for bringing this important work to light. Gregg Braden, Eckhart Tolle, Dr. Eric Pearl and Dr. Judith Orloff have also contributed a lot to where I am right now and I am very grateful for their work.
For 2009 “financial freedom” and all it encompasses is my #1 intention. I have others as well; losing weight, exercising more, travel to see friends and family more… having the best 40th birthday party EVER! 
By setting my #1 though I am telling myself THIS is where I need the most clarity and where I want to see the most growth. It is more than JUST financial freedom — it is all that goes along with it; life/work balance, goal setting in all my businesses, etc. I have set mini goals for the other areas but with financial freedom I am WIDE open to learning and some steps will be revealed only as I move forward. I have many ways that I have been setting up to bring wealth into my life; my invention, coaching, my healing practice, blogging and more! How will I bring this into my life?
EASY! Step #1 is setting the intention and learning from people on how to get where I want to be.
In many cases I feel this will be easier than last year because with “develop spirituality” I had no CLUE where I would wind up and parts of me were scared just by naming in an intention! I knew it was an untapped part of myself that I wanted to get to know and see where it led. I had MANY blocks I needed to clear of what was “scary”, “surreal” and just to be open enough to learn things I never even fathomed could be true! My scientific mind got in the way sometimes but thankfully due to people like Gregg Braden (First Technical Operations Manager Cisco Systems) — there are scientists studying this stuff that bring you COLD hard facts to break down the wall of doubt you may have built up!
I feel a bit frazzled because I love all the ways mentioned to earn money. For me, with 2 young children it is important for me to know how to spend my time MOST wisely and what I should be concentrating on, when and for how long. I have taken time management courses and that’s not quite “it”. I need to remove any blocks I may have about financial freedom and discover which of my talents will best serve my higher purpose and the most people. I am so grateful for the emails I get telling me I changed people’s lives. It is indeed what I feel I am here to do.
So how will I go about learning start January 1? Ahh this is where I LOVE being in the personal development field. There is no shortage of resources for learning about connecting with the vibration of abundance and bringing in into your life. I will list the places I will be spending time these first few months of the year to get moving in the right direction:
Andrea Hess - Intuitive extraordinaire, “7 figure psychic“, teacher, coach and just all around beautiful person. Andrea resonates kindness and when you talk with her - her laugh and energy is infectious. Andrea has a free ebook on her site to help you remove blocks you may have around money. She is also offering a free call you can tune into called “Creating Finanical Abundance in 2009″! She will talk about the spiritual nature and energy of money and clear some collective blocks to abundance for all registrants. It is Saturday, January 10th, 2009 9:30 a.m. Pacific/ 12:30 p.m. Eastern Visit here to register — if you can’t make the free call there will be a recording you will recieve of the event if registered.
Coaches Eva Gregory & Jeanna Gabellini — Famous for being Law of Attraction coaches, radio show interviewers as well as public speakers… but they also do more! Their Prosperity Game is a great way to begin if you are trying to create more financial freedom. They also have a new course a bit different from their traditional ones called “Channel Surfing — Riding the Waves of Inner Guidance” . You can follow the link for a free audio and to find out more about the course. They also have a free call offered January 5, 2009 where you can learn more. This course is being promoted by Hay House which deserves a BIG congratulations to Eva & Jeanna!
Lance from Jungle of Life and Jennifer from Principles for Peace have begun a forum to discuss the very important book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. The forum is called Journey to Success. Think and Grow Rich was one of the first books I read on my healing journey and is very empowering and teaches important lessons about success. I feel everyone can benefit from reading this book. I know even having read it, I will get a lot from discussing it with others. I am very excited for this project by Lance and Jennifer — brilliant idea — thank you guys!
Slade Roberson — I took two classes with Slade this past year that helped me exponentially and I will take any other classes he offers. His spiritual awareness is inspirational to me as is his entrepreneurial nature. He designs and teaches classes, is an ordained minister, designs websites, is a marketing expert, writes beautifully and is an intuitive life and business coach. I have learned so much from Slade but I know I will be a student of his for a long time to come. Slade is a beautiful person and a pleasure to learn from!
Stephen Key and Andrew Krauss at Invent Right– THE invention resource on the internet. For $400 you get a course ANDs to ask as many questions as you want for a WHOLE year! They have tons of resources priceless to the beginning or even the more seasoned inventor. Stephen Key has invented MANY items and Andrew is SO knowledgeable as well. I have been working on my invention for the past 5 years and it is finally at a point where I can get it licensed. I really want this to run as smoothly as possible. I have a provisional patent and a lawyer in place but Stephen and Andrew will be there when I run into blocks and help me along the way. As a first time inventor THAT is priceless.
Tom Volker — Writes the blog “Delightful Work” which is all about doing what you love as an entrepreneur. He is a priceless resource, a work coach and I know I will continue to frequent his blog and keep an eye out for classes he offers. Hey Tom — can you do a class on HOW to NOT become a workaholic when you are living your higher purpose, deeply love and resonate with your work and are helping people in the process? I’ll sign up in a second! 
There are several GREAT posts that have come out in the last week on the new year that I want to mention that will also help GET and keep you on track:
Akemi — To Those Who Lost Their Job Recently
Andrea — A New Perspective for New Years Resolutions
Lisa at Mommy Mystic — Neuroplasticity and How to Keep a New Years Resolution
Mike from Live Life 365 — A New Year Brings New… What?
Slade — Stuck on Outcomes
All of these people have already touched my life and I look forward to seeing what I learn from them this year! So what will you do? Do you have resolutions or intentions for the new year? Will you make one your number ONE intention and be caring with yourself if you fall off track a bit? As always, I welcome comments! Happy New Year everyone! All the best for a happy, healthy and ABUNDANT 2009!
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