I have written already in a previous blog post about my Morning Rituals.   One of my most important rituals is setting daily intentions. I have been asked quite a bit about this part of my morning so I thought it would be important for me to share why and how I go about this particular practice. The word intention means, “what one has in mind to do or accomplish” and that is exactly how I use these daily intentions.

The way I spend my morning really does set the tone for my day. If I were to rush into activity I would not have a plan set to succeed at my daily tasks and wouldn’t have a vision at all for what lies ahead. My daily intentions are the driving force behind maintaining my health and feeding my spiritual mindset, which overflows into my relationships and work. Even with their importance, I choose not to see my intentions as a to-do list. Instead, they help me to set my mind on four areas: Health and Wellness, Spiritual Life, Relational Life and my Physical Life. These are the four categories that are most important to me but you may have others that are a priority to you so make them your own! Ask yourself what you need to do each day to nourish your mind, body and spirit. To be a healthy human being you cannot neglect even one of these areas. They make up who you are as a person and if one area of your life is off-kilter than the rest will be as well.

I look at my day in 3 parts: Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. I look at my four categories and ask myself what I would need to accomplish in each category to fully nourish myself on that particular day. Yes, this is a daily ritual because my needs change depending on what I have planned for that specific day, added stressors I might be facing or any health issues I am dealing with.

So my Intentions might look like this:

Morning: Spiritual: set daily intentions, encouraging reading, journaling, Bible reading
Relational: Tell my husband I love him!
Physical: 4-mile walk with the dogs
Health: Balancing hormone smoothie, supplements, a quiet moment with coffee

Afternoon: Spiritual: listen to an encouraging podcast

Evening: Relational, dinner with friends or family
Health: Lavender and Epsom salt bath
Health: Reading time before sleep
Health: Lights off at 10 for 8 hours of sleep

All of these things fall into one of the four categories that are important to me. After writing out my intentions, I now close my journal and I don’t refer back to it at all. This is not a to-do list! It’s a way to get your mind focused first thing in the morning on the accomplishments you wish to pursue when it comes to caring for yourself.

By the end of the day, I have found that maybe I have accomplished ⅔ of what I listed in my journal but that is far more than if I had never listed my intentions at all. There is no guilt at all associated with what I chose not to do since this is NOT A TO DO LIST.

What does your morning ritual look like? Do you take time out in your day to nourish yourself in ALL areas of your life? One thing I know for sure is that if you don’t love and care for yourself then it is very difficult to love and care for others. You cannot give what you don’t have.
I hope this was helpful to you and would love to hear about some of your daily intentions. Life is meant to be lived in a community and I am so grateful that you are part of mine.