One of my yoga teachers always said that during practice… “where your intention goes, energy flows.” And I used to think it was just associated with postures/asanas and making “corrections” to alignment. But DUH, it’s actually so much bigger. I think there’s probably another expression about being mindful about what types of thoughts you water in your garden, because those plants will be sure to grow.
Each New Years Eve, Matt and I make ourselves a nice dinner and run through a reflection of the past year and where we’d like to focus in the coming year. This year we did two giant Dungeness crab from the farmer’s market. I also did my own reflection ritual as inspired by one of my yoga teachers here (her name is Nuria and she posts really inspiring content on socials). Natalie had asked for a newsletter that touches on goals for the home/lifestyle in 2023, so I thought I’d combine my 2023 intentions with that concept.
Not to mention, my final Saturn return date was this past Tuesday! I did a large tarot reading on what my return represented and where I’m headed next - it ended up (naturally) aligning with my intentions anyway. Including a photo of my spread because the cards are just. so. beautiful. If you’re interested in this “tree of life” spread, let me know and I’ll send instructions.
Intentions
Do more of what makes me feel alive/what makes me feel like myself. What leads me into a flow state? Where do I totally lose track of time? What energizes me? My coach calls this the “zone of genius” which certainly applies to career, but I also apply it to where I want to allocate my time in a given day. It’s also beneficial to balance this out with a partner, because we inherently have different strengths. Here are a couple of my ideas:
Writing, writing, writing. Last session my reiki healer/psychic said, “you wanted to be a writer, right?” and I had never discussed this with her. Back in the day, I was split between going to Pitzer for environmental studies and pursuing a writing and publishing degree at Emerson. I often think about what would had happened if I took the other path, but at my age now, I realize nothing prevents me from still writing as I’ve always loved. I plan to write more poetry and fiction outside of my typical journaling/newsletters this year.
Connecting with powerful women. It’s everything to me - it’s grabbing coffee on a Monday morning with a new friend, it’s joining in a women’s circle, it’s being really intentional about connecting with my coworkers about topics that aren’t only work related but life related.
Moving my body. Hiking, walking in the rain, climbing over rocks, yoga, breathwork, dancing. The retreat center here has a weekly contemporary dance class I want to start attending. While I love the morning chills of the desert right now, I also keep thinking about how wonderful warm sunlight will feel in the coming months!
Learning, always. The booklist for 2023 is growing. Here are a couple I’m most excited to dive into:
[Yoga and privilege studies] The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing and Abolition by Thenmozhi Soundararajan
[Spirituality] The Light Between Us by Laura Lynne Jackson
[Doula studies] Birth Ambassadors: Doulas and the Re-Emergence of Woman-Supported Birth in America by Christine H. Morton
[Death] From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty (thank you Skee for the suggestion!)
Do less of what drains me/no longer serves me. 2022 was certainly a year of transformation - it was a year of shaking myself (sometimes literally) out of old habits or talk tracks. So here’s what I’m leaving behind:
Questioning myself: why am I waiting for permission? Who am I waiting to say “OK,” to say “you’re on the right track,” when I have the power to grant myself and actualize whatever I put my mind to? Those rhetorical questions are a little meta, huh…
Taking responsibility for other people’s reactions to my own actions: just as I choose how I react to others’ actions, others have their own power and conviction in response to mine. I would be over-exerting by doing otherwise.
And even with all of the above… maintaining the inertia of my flexibility! Regaining mental flexibility and straying from rigidity was a major focus on mine in 2022. I made huge strides in thinking less black and white, holding multiple truths at the same time, seeing the reality of situations, and straying from the patriarchal concept of scarcity mindset (we know it, we don’t love it, we all feel it, we need to break from it). The mind is an incredible place, and I’ve really enjoyed leveraging my creativity and flexible mind via meditation and journeying.
Home plans for 2023
By “home” I’ll refer to more of a household model than the physical place. Matt and I have a few combined priorities for the new year that we’re excited to put in practice after being more fully moved in.
Dedicated outdoor time as much as possible. We have decided to chunk out time during the week to get into the park to climb while crowds are a little lighter (though we’ll continue to go on the weekends). While our jobs can be demanding, we don’t have as solid of home commitments and want to take more advantage of this while we can - doing things at odd hours (grocery store visit at 8pm on a Tuesday instead of 10am on a Sunday, why not). This touches on both the flexibility concept I discussed earlier, but also prioritizing what matters to us.
We’re also taking this intention into our vacation schedule - I think we’re over city-based trips and will prioritize opportunities to backpack, climb big things, etc.
Nourishing ourselves. As I’ve mentioned before, we always cook together, but I feel like we’ve really hit our stride in the past few weeks in terms of cooking food that makes us feel good. Gosh bless the New York Times Cooking app and specifically Yasmin. Maybe I need to do a newsletter about food…
Operation Pick-Up. It’s what it sounds like! We’re in the market for a truck. We want a versatile vehicle for hauling, off-roading and camping that we can sleep in the bed of. Matt is owning this initiative, speaking of zones of genius. Matt’s car is doing alright but definitely on it’s last leg. My mini is great for zipping down the hill and less great at jumping dirt piles. But she’s officially registered here now! Goodbye Texas plates!
I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year. Do any of my intentions resonate with you? What are you taking on and what are you leaving behind? I also heard from one of you that it’s asking for payment to comment on these… I hope that’s not widespread. I’ll look into it, let me know if you’re running into the same issue.
Love,
Lily