The Magic of Setting Intentions

Setting intentions can really have magical effects.I have a very poignant example from my own life right now.In recent years I have really dreaded Christmas.  Christmas lost all of the magic and cheer for me for a variety of reasons and a combination of factors.I used to love Christmas.  As a child my mother decked out our house with tons of decorations.  It was a magical time with lots of lights and family around.Even as I got older Christmas was magical for me.  In my first place on my own I followed in my mom's footsteps by decorating even inch possible with Christmas lights, garland, snowmen, etc.  I baked Christmas cookies and loved choosing presents.In recent years I have not joyfully done any of it.  I have been very bah humbug.Several months ago I decided I wanted to have a Christmas full of JOY & CHEER again.  I started listing out all the things I wanted to do that we haven't done.  I got my Christmas decorations that were in storage at my parent's house.Then as we got closer to the holidays, I made lists and started planning.  Two things were super helpful with this.1.  Holiday Sanity with Tara Swiger.  She doesn't do this as its own class, but it is available in her Starship membership.  To be honest, I didn't even complete the entire class, but just getting absolutely everything down I wanted to do from Thanksgiving and through the entire holiday season and then organizing it was very helpful.and2.  Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas.  I took a class with her in September and knew without a doubt I wanted to take this one as well.   On the first page of your album or journal (you can do a journal or scrapbook or however you like, but I'm making a mini scrapbook), you write a manifesto.  If you're familiar with Ali Edward's December Daily, she calls it an intentions page.I wrote my intentions for the holdiays.  In big red letters on the top I wrote "JOY & CHEER."And almost like magic it's working!The day after Thanksgiving I pulled out my artificial tree and all the decorations and we decorated the tree.  I've been more decorations and making some as well.  I've been keeping up with Journal Your Christmas and daily recording what we're doing in photos and journaling.We also went to a fun Christmas event the day after Christmas with my parents who were visiting and that really set the tone.  We've gone to see some really amazing Christmas lights.  We went to our town's Christmas tree lighting.  I've taken photos of most the store window displays in my town.Usually, I would have just ignored most of this.  Yes, we usually do go check out Christmas lights and do some other events, but this year I'm actively seeking out holiday activities and putting them on the calendar.Without setting an intention, I would have no focus.  I wouldn't be actively trying to find the JOY & CHEER in Christmas.And even better yet?I see it rubbing off on my husband.  He's actively looking for holiday activities and (more importantly) having a lot of fun doing these activities.This doesn't just apply to the holidays.For anything you want to do you can set an intention.  If you're about to take an eCourse, you can decide exactly what you want to get out of before you start.  When you're planning your week, you can decide how you would like to feel and what are the most important things you would like to accomplish.You'll still do everything else.  I'm still doing dishes and cleaning the house and doing all those other mundane activities you have to do, but I'm looking for those moments of JOY & CHEER, too.And I'm also recording them, which I think is a big part of it as well.  You could do this just by jotting things down in a notebook or if it's something like finding more JOY in the holidays, you could take photos of what's bringing you joy and keep a photo album or create a scrapbook.Say, for example, you want to feel more productive in your day, you might jot down things you've accomplished as you accomplish them throughout the day.  If you want to feel more peaceful, maybe you could keep a list of moments when you felt peaceful during the day or what you were doing when you felt peaceful.Setting an intention is magical.What is your intention for your day today?If you are a student in one of my upcoming eCourses Rediscover Your Creativity & Make Jewelry or Inspired (or if you got the bundle), what are your intentions for the eCourse?  What did you hope to get out of it when you signed up?I would love to hear your intentions for either eCourse if you're taking them, your intentions for the holiday season or your intention for anything you have coming up.  Leave a reply below or email me with your intention!Warmly,Kim