Good morning and welcome.
In today's meditation,
We're going to be setting an intention for our day.
It can be really helpful to set intentions for really anything in life,
Right?
It helps us stay focused and present and connected with ourselves when we have an intention set.
So today we'll be focusing on choosing an intention for today.
So before we can do this,
It's important to check in with ourselves and see where we're at.
If we're coming off of a difficult night's sleep,
Perhaps with some tossing and turning or nightmares or just general restlessness,
Not enough sleep,
We may not be quite at 100%.
Or if we know that we're going to be having a fairly busy or stressful day,
Also good information for us for setting an intention.
If we got an excellent night's sleep and woke up feeling energized and ready to take on the day,
Also really good information for setting an intention.
So I invite you to take a moment here to just check in with yourself.
How are you doing right now?
How are you feeling?
How is your body feeling?
Are you having any aches or any pains?
Anything to note?
How are your thoughts right now?
Are they fairly calm?
Are they in a tornado?
Are they mean or angry?
How are you feeling overall?
How are you feeling emotionally?
Do you feel pretty solid?
Do you feel maybe a little bit more fragile today?
Do you feel somewhere in the middle?
How are you feeling spiritually?
Are you feeling connected?
Are you feeling connected to yourself?
Are you feeling connected to the earth?
How's the connection feeling with your loved ones or coworkers or neighbors or community?
All of these are good questions and good areas of focus when we are creating our intentions.
So perhaps if you got a less than ideal night of sleep,
An intention might be,
I'm going to check in with my body maybe a little bit more often today.
Maybe every three hours.
Maybe every one hour I'll check in with my body and see what I need.
Do I need some more water today to help my body function a little bit better on less sleep?
Would it be helpful for my intention to be stepping outside every few hours to allow the elements to help my body today?
If I'm having a day where I'm feeling a bit more anxious because of something coming up or certain interactions I'm probably going to have or just one of those more anxious stays.
If I'm having more of an anxious day,
Would a helpful intention be to check in with myself every hour or two hours or however often I need to see if I need to do any breathing exercises to help calm my system down a bit?
Maybe slow my breathing down?
Do I set my intention for each time I look at the clock I'm going to take one deep cleansing breath?
If today is a day where there are more spinning thoughts happening,
Would a helpful intention be to notice that spinning and pause and perhaps take a few moments to just write all of those things out on a piece of paper or type them in your phone and if you don't want anyone to see them you can rip up or shred that piece of paper,
You can type it out on your phone and then delete it.
Some kind of way to get those thoughts out of your head and externalize them somewhere.
Is there anywhere in your life that you feel your connection could maybe be strengthened?
And might a helpful intention for today be,
Today I'm going to spend five minutes,
Two different times of the day,
To connect with myself.
Check in,
See how I'm doing,
See how I'm feeling.
Or might we want to connect with a loved one or a neighbor or somebody in our community or a coworker?
Do we want to check in spiritually?
Whatever that looks like for each of us.
Taking a few moments throughout the day intentionally to check in spiritually.
If I'm feeling disconnected to the earth,
What's something I can do for five minutes today to connect with the earth?
Whether that is going outside,
Putting our hand up against a tree,
Going for a stroll,
Paying attention to the beauty around us.
If today may bring with it some potential challenging interactions,
Perhaps a helpful intention,
Perhaps a helpful intention would be before a challenging interaction or interactions today,
I'm going to do my best to ground myself,
To really feel my feet pressing into the earth,
Looking down at my feet,
Seeing them press into the earth,
Knowing that I'm connected,
Taking some deep breaths.
Sometimes it's also helpful to set an intention of checking in spiritually before a challenging interaction.
So perhaps calling upon your spirit team or the universe or God or your higher self or a source or whatever name you might use that feels most comfortable to you.
So perhaps a helpful intention might be before this challenging interaction today,
I'm going to take a couple of minutes to call in my spirit team to be there with me,
To surround me,
To support me,
To speak through me out of a place of love.
If you happen to have a day today that is going to be pretty busy,
A lot of things going on,
A lot of moving parts,
Perhaps a helpful intention might be I intend to focus on one thing at a time.
I intend to focus on what's in front of me for the next hour.
And when I'm done with that task,
I'll move on to the next.
And sometimes it's helpful to check in and see if we are jumping ahead to other things during the day and gently bring ourselves back to what's happening in this present moment.
If you woke up today feeling vibrant and ready to take on the world,
Awesome.
What might your intention be?
Might it be to be fully present and soak in the appreciation,
Soak in the gratitude for waking up in such a state?
Might it be being present and grateful for this beautiful life?
Other general intentions that can be helpful are,
My intention is to learn one new thing today.
Another intention might be I will tell a funny joke to three different people to make them smile.
Another intention might be to give a genuine compliment to somebody just to spread some good energy.
If we're having more of a fluctuating emotion kind of a day,
Perhaps a good intention might be to check in with ourselves and see what we really need from our self-care toolbox.
And if we don't have a self-care toolbox,
Perhaps the intention is to create a self-care toolbox that might include things such as journaling or stepping outside for a few moments or doing a meditation or taking a shower or a bath,
Perhaps having a cup of tea,
Perhaps drawing or writing or watching a funny movie,
Sometimes connecting with a friend or engaging in some sort of spiritual ritual.
And just checking in with yourself and seeing which of these things feels like it would be what my mind,
My body,
My soul needs most right now.
So again,
Let's take a few moments here to check in.
What area of focus would I like my intention to be?
What feels like it fits the best for today?
There's no right or wrong.
It's just what you're feeling.
Once you've found the intention that feels like it fits best for today,
Feel free to take a moment to write it out on a piece of paper or a sticky note,
Or you can email it to yourself or you can hold it in your mind's eye.
Check in and see what feels best for today.
And as we close our practice for today,
Let's take three collective breaths together.
We'll inhale for five seconds,
Pause just briefly at the top,
And then release for five seconds.
So let's start our first inhale,
Pause and release.
Good.
Let's do two more.
Inhale,
Pause and exhale.
One last breath together.
Inhale,
Pause and exhale all of that air out.
Be well,
Everybody.
Good.
