Setting Intentions in the New Year: A Gentle Invitation

As the new year begins, it often brings with it a sense of renewal and possibility—a blank slate to envision the life you want to create. Instead of focusing solely on resolutions, which often feel rigid and fleeting, consider setting intentions for the year or even just the season ahead.

Before diving into what I mean by intention-setting, first check in with yourself. What emotions are coming up for you as you think about the new year, or a new season? What do you notice in your body as you imagine the post-holiday shift? What thoughts are popping into your mind as you reflect upon the word “intention”?

Checking in with ourselves offers us the ability to slow down, to understand what is going on internally, and to reconnect with the deepest part of ourselves. Noticing the sensations, thoughts, and feelings that arise in a centering practice like this allow us to practice non-judgement. We aren’t here to fix – no one is broken. We are here to notice, to pay attention, and to make conscious choices that align with our experience and values.

Living with intention – that is, to show up with your full self and to be present with what is rather than what we want it to be - is about honoring the journey you are on, acknowledging the scars that bear witness to your strength and your pain, and embracing the beauty of the present moment with curiosity and honesty. You’ll notice that I’m not saying that intentions need to be beautiful, flowery phrases about “living your best life” or “embracing every day to the fullest,” because let’s be real, that’s oftentimes not the world that we live in.

If you are reading this, you most likely share the common experience of being affected by something challenging in your life. Maybe it’s learning about a new medical diagnosis, managing the loss of someone dear to you, uncovering childhood trauma, or feeling generally overwhelmed by life. These experiences can test your resilience, your faith, and your capacity to endure some of the hardest things that life has to offer. The idea of living with intention is about finding meaning and purpose amid the messiness of life. It's about turning towards our pain with curiosity, inviting in the totality of our emotions instead of picking and choosing the ones that feel nice, and choosing to show up in a community and commit to vulnerability even when it feels scary and difficult. This takes courage, it takes curiosity, and it takes conscious choice.

As you enter the new year with your intention in mind, keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be an experience that you enter alone. Who in your world can help you to reorient to this intention? Share your hopes for the season with your partner, friends, colleagues, communities, and supporters. Communities are so special because they are more than the sum of their parts. Notice what it feels like to your nervous system to know that you are not alone, that there are people out there that see you, hear you, and want to deeply know you and your experience.

I know when challenging sensations, thoughts and feelings arise in my own life, it is an invitation to connect again with my intention, and to connect with something deeper than myself and my day-to-day. For me, poetry helps me do this. Reading poetry oftentimes gets me out of my own head, invites me to drop into my body and ask what I really need and want. It gives voice to the indescribable and conjures imagery that lingers with me for long after I’m done reading the words in front of me. Above all, I think the best thing that poetry offers me is spaciousness. It forces me to slow down, to reflect, and to hope and imagine new possibilities in a way that sometimes I struggle to do on my own.

I want to share with you one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver. I think she offers the best possible invitation for us as we move into the new year with intention.

When I Am Among the Trees

When I am among the trees,

Especially the willows and the honey locust,

Equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

The give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

In which I have goodness, and discernment,

And never hurry through the world

But walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

And call out, “Stay awhile.”

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,

“and you too have come

Into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

With light, and to shine.”

I encourage you to take this gentle invitation to heart today. Whatever intention you’d like to carry throughout the season, and whatever you notice in your own body right now as you finish reading, please carry it with you. Your only job is to do as Mary Oliver instructs: to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.