You’re winding down the summer and gearing up for a brand new season. You’re changing out your slinky summer wardrobe for the weightier pieces in your fall fashion line up. You’re back to school shopping, and changing out the linens, and otherwise gearing up for big shifts in your household. Whether you are marking the beginning of the academic year or not, the end of the summer into fall has a distinct transitional feel to it.
And one thing we’ve found to be true again and again in our lives is that it is much easier to go with the tide than against it. This means when you feel those changes occurring all around you in everyday life, it’s a perfect time to set brand new intentions in your inner life as well. Roll with the changes and lean into what is already happening to create a momentum that carries you through the season. If you’ve never set seasonal intentions before, it’s an easy and gratifying process. There is so much benefit to sitting down and identifying what you believe in, determining how you will live your own values, and taking stock of how far you’ve come in your inner journey.
So this week in the journal, in light of this week’s Full Moon (in fact — a Super Blue Moon!) on August 30th, we’re sharing five ways to set a brand new intention for a brand new you this fall. Try one or all of these practices to feel into this new you, connect with the energy of the season, and feel supported in this time of transition. Because, as always, you deserve it.
While you may assume that you already know your values — you may not know them until you articulate them! This can be as easy as simply thinking about them, or as structured as slipping into your green kimono robe and writing them down in your favorite journal after a deep sound bath meditation. However you connect with your values is right because it works for you! If you are feeling disconnected from your inner voice and values, one way to get reconnected is through your senses. Wearing a green kimono robe or lighting a candle or paying attention to all the sounds you can hear are just a few ways to feel into your senses and start to hear your inner voice again. List out all of the things that are important to you. What do you believe in? What do you trust? What do you think is worth saving or holding onto? Answering just a few of these questions can help you figure out what it is you value. Then once you decide your values, write them down in a secret note to yourself and remind yourself of them every day.
While it’s beautiful to give yourself a secret reminder of your values, it becomes even more potent and powerful for you when you put them into action. Don’t worry — if one of your values is the environment and nature, it’s not your job and your job alone to fight climate change! An action for the love of nature could just be to host a garden party with all of your closest friends. You may simply slip into that favorite green kimono robe once more, invite your loved ones over, and bask in the beauty of nature. It may be that you decide to go on hikes once a month. Or perhaps, you start to walk to work instead of driving, if that’s available to you. There are plenty of ways to align your actions with your values. Now that you have them written down, it’ll be easier to see what actions naturally flow from them. And once you start blending your inner and outer life, you’ll find that life becomes that much richer, and the transition from one season to the next feels much more intentional.
Another way to set intentions is to actually write them down. Intentions are a bit different than values or even aligned action. Values are what you believe in. Aligned action is what you do now. And intentions are the future you wish to create. What future do you want to create this season? What version of yourself do you want to meet this fall? It’s simple to start writing down your intentions — slip into your favorite black long kimono robe, grab your favorite pen (the one you love to write with the most), and take out your journal. Start to answer the question: what would I create if anything were possible? Even with just one prompt, you’ll start a cascade of thoughts flowing from your heart and mind. Remember these intentions and refer back to them whenever you’re questioning your next steps.
That’s right! Change your mindset from the outside-in. We love this technique for redefining ourselves and our outlooks. It’s so simple and yet so overlooked! When you wear things that don’t feel like you, or don’t feel good on you, you can really feel it in your body and mind. But when you dress the part and wear something that illuminates how you want to feel and who you want to be, you make the jump toward that ideal much more quickly. If you want to feel like an absolute queen, get dressed in your black kimono wrap and strut around like a queen! You deserve to feel exactly how you envision yourself. If wearing a black kimono wrap makes you feel confident, then it’s the perfect sartorial choice.
If you set one intention for this season, make it to connect with your internal validation. When you are connected to that inner voice and you trust yourself, you have opened yourself up to a million possibilities. It can be hard to validate ourselves sometimes. Before you try it on a grand scale, try it on a small scale. Try to make a small choice without asking for reassurance from an outside source. Maybe it’s deciding what to eat for dinner! Or maybe it’s finding the perfect silky floral robe that’s just for you. Or perhaps it’s simply making weekend plans. So many times we ask others when we don’t trust our own instincts. If you love that silky floral robe, no one else needs to validate that but you! And the same goes for the big questions too. Your inner voice is the most important one.
Try out these intention-setting tips and let us know what you think!
