The holidays are over, and now…here you are, in life, back at work, with that powerful visioning and intention-setting you did during the Solstice–New Year.
What are you going to do with those visions and intentions now? How will you keep those intentions and prayers present in your daily life and work?
Did you write intentions? Resolutions? Did you make a treasure map or collage? Did you journal? I know for many years I would devote New Year’s Day to doing vision and intention work, and then I would hang the piece on a wall (if I had made art) or put my journal away, and the intentions would fade into memory as daily life resumed.
I’ve been on a long journey with yearly visioning and intention-setting. Last year the focus was aligning resolutions with your heart. The year before I told you why resolutions don’t work (they don’t!)
For me, this year, I was inspired by one of my Possibility Posse (that’s my Mastermind!) members, who mentioned Janet Connors’s mandala work. I watched one of Janet’s videos and was inspired to create two pieces, which you see here. And the thing I love so much about the way Janet teaches this is that I have these pieces set up at my inspiration altar, where I can see them when I work.
That’s the big and powerful difference…I’m using these pieces I created at the New Year in my daily prayer routine.
I’m making a conscious connection to these prayers and intentions every morning, keeping them alive as I go…As I light my candle each morning before beginning my work, I’m singing the seven prayers that are written on each piece.
The prayers on my 7-petaled lotus in the mandala are these:
- My work reflects sacred intentions
- Every thought, word and deed comes from love
- I turn to the divine in prayer
- I work and create in sacred space
- I focus only on the good
- I am generous
- I am grateful — for everything
And then there are the chakra affirmations, which called to me because I’m doing a kundalini healing practice every day.
I want to hear what your 2014 intentions are and how you are using them in your life. Please talk to me in the comments.
I am so grateful!
- I am grateful for spacious lovely visits with friends over the holidays
- I am grateful for the gorgeous sunny weather (bring on the rain, bring on the rain, bring on the rain!)
- I am grateful for my health team, and for the suggestions (strong, strong suggestions) from my acupuncturist to release discouragement, get back on my feet, do more t’ai chi. roll out and bang on my sore muscles. I have had much fewer calf cramps, less pain in my legs and the ankle swelling seems to be receding. Phew!
- I am grateful for a slew of good movies this holiday season.
- I am guiltily grateful for having illegally binge-watched the first two BBC Sherlock episodes yesterday. So good!
- I am so grateful for my neighbor’s collage-making gathering on New Year’s Eve.
- I am grateful for my beloved daughter and sister.
- I am grateful for small gifts given and received, tokens of love.
- I am grateful for a lovely New Year’s morning yoga class with my favorite yoga teacher.
- I am grateful for following my heart, for being aware, for hearing my heart, for being true to myself.
- I am grateful for being of service—joyful, healing service.
What are you grateful for, precious soul? Talk to me in the comments, please, I love talking with you!
Thank you for this beautiful share. I LOVE your daily mandala prayer! What a fantastic idea. In 2014, I intend to RECEIVE all that I desire with my head held high and my heart wide open. I like to mind map, journal and collage my dreams into reality.
Shann, you inspire me. For me too, this Solstice–New Year’s window is just one opportunity to grab those dreams and visions and put them on paper somehow. But, yes, every single day is the day to ask, receive, acknowledge, live into and manifest your most powerful intentions and dreams.
Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Love and light,
Sue
Great post! I love your mandala. We always do family vision boards (one together and each one their own) during Xmas holidays. We had some great success with them. I also draw mandalas, so your post definitely gave me new ideas to combine the two. All the best, Alenka
Alenka, welcome here!
I love the family vision board. My daughter and I do things like that when we see each other. So wonderful!
Love and blessings,
Sue
Hi Sue! I love this blog as it is so inspiring! You are right! It is so easy to forget our intentions for the year if we don’t have them posted somewhere as a reminder!
As you know my one word theme for the year is grace, and I am meditating on grace and exactly what it means to me. I am sure as the year progresses I will discover why the Guides gave me this theme! At this point I am thinking it is because life is beginning to race by and I need the grace to go through each experience with presence and fortitude!
Joy, glad you’re inspired… Yay!
Grace is such a beautiful theme, I feel blessed by Grace every time you mention this!
Love and more love!
Sue
Sue,
This is exquisite. I’ve been wanting to get into mandala work for a long time now and this really, really spoke to me. I love the idea of having one at your altar and actually singing your prayers. What a beautiful, joyous, connected, sensuous way to start your day!
I also love the chakra affirmations. I generally cleanse my chakras at night before sleep and occasionally focus on them during the day, but I just love these, too!
My intentions are much the same as they are all of the time – to stay mindful and present. This year though, my focus is very much on radical self-care so that I am walking my talk more authentically and can step into who I want to be in order to serve more fully.
With SO much love and gratitude to you.
Shân
Shan, Yes, singing my prayers, even being the terrible singer I am, is a lovely thing! So nice to release embarrassment and just sing!
I love your intentions, and your loving commitment to be of service.
I appreciate you!
Love and light,
Sue
Your 7 prayers and your chakra affirmations are so beautiful. I have not set intentions, chosen a word or made resolutions. I rarely do. But I am feeling a shift, and if I can get the sense of what it is, I may take it as one of my words for the year….or perhaps just for the season. After all, one of my super powers is small – maybe I need to set these intentions in smaller chunks of time… hmmmm…
Hugs and butterflies, ~Teresa~
Teresa, I love how some of your loving superpowers come in small packages. And seasonal intentions, I feel that flow myself as the wheel turns every year.
Much love to you!
Sue
Sue
I love love love love the chakra affirmations! x
Sam, yay, glad you like them. Chanting them every morning, touching each chakra, is a wonderful way to start my work day. Very inspiring, grounding, putting me just where I crave to be.
Love and alchemy,
Sue
Just magical, I love your prayers and the mandala Sue you have inspired me to go deeper
Thank you
Thanks, Suzie! Chanting my prayers every morning is wonderful, I am so glad this came to me!
Go deeper, gorgeous!
xoxox
Sue
Dearest Sue,
Happy New Year and thank you for sharing your experience with creating intentions. They are indeed very powerful. I know that I am just arriving at 2014 and getting familiar with this new territory while at the same time being open to what comes while being in the flow. The prayers you have on your mandala mirror my own for each day my intentions are based on those very same prayers and I stretch myself in a new way by being in the present and surrendering to love.
Bright blessings on your journey x
I’m grateful for you 🙂
Ana, Happy New moment, breath, day, week, month and year to you!
Love the image of stretching into the present and surrendering to love. Love the image, and totally get it.
Love and blessings,
Sue