Embodied Intention in 3 Parts! This is Part 2 of a 3-part series of prompts that invite you to connect to an intention for the new year in your body. You can find Part 1 here and Part 3 here.
Setting an intention for the year (or any span of time) isn’t a unique practice, but many of us skip the step of getting our intention into our bodies. An embodied intention expands from an experience in the mind to one that’s in our cells.
In Part 1, we connected to what went well in the past that we want to bring with us. Even if 2023 was challenging (as most years are), there were some things that are worth continuing.
This week, the invitation is to connect with those things, activities, relationships that aren’t working and that don’t help you. For me, the practice of Less This, of saying No, of letting go requires truth-telling.
Even if it’s in the privacy of my own head, letting something go requires me to acknowledge that it’s not good for me. For example, as much as I love learning, the truth is that constantly having podcasts in my ears and articles in front of my eyes isn’t getting me any closer to feeling calm, peaceful and free.
Check out the things you do regularly, habitually or out of expectation. Are you doing them because they feel good down to your bones? Or are you doing them because it seems easier to keep doing them than to figure out what to do instead? Is that scrolling you do at night something that feels really good? Or is it numbing? Is that friendship one that fills you up or saps you dry? Is that committee you’re on something that feels congruent with what matters to you or do you feel like you have no choice but to do it (spoiler: you always have a choice)?
So what do you want less of? What do you want to let go of from last year?
Less This.
"Every truth you tell is a kindness even if it makes people uncomfortable. Every truth you don't tell is an unkindness even if it makes people comfortable." -- Liz Gilbert
When it comes to letting go, it often comes down to telling the truth -- to myself and to others. Often on a deep level, we KNOW the habits, relationships, activities that don't serve or support us but are reluctant to let them go. Letting go or stopping something might disappoint someone or feel frightening or vulnerable. This week, think about the things that feel like NO in your body -- and what that NO feels like. Notice in particular when you say "I *have* to do this (in this way)," "they need/expect me to do this (in this way)," or "I cannot stop/let this go." Ask yourself if this activity is relaxing...or numbing, if you are doing something because you love it...or because you always have. Then explore how telling the truth -- to yourself or another -- about what you want to let go is a kindness.
Perhaps counter intuitively, letting go takes strength. Releasing takes courage. Saying no requires telling the truth. It is a kindness to do it, even if it’s uncomfortable. And letting go makes space for what we really truly want for the new year.