Why Setting a Weekly Intention is an Empowerment Technique

Do you believe in your personal power and how you can use it to shape your experience of life?

How do you feel about holding yourself 100% accountable for how you show up and react to life?

Seeing yourself as co-creating reality isn’t always easy, but it’s an important truth that will help set you free.

Deciding to get in the driver’s seat of my life years ago was the best gift I could have ever given myself.

This isn’t to say I don’t still fall asleep at the wheel sometimes. I may get irritated with the way others show up around me. I can find myself lamenting over what exactly that person meant when they said that certain thing. I can feel hurt by those close to me, or triggered when my children don’t listen to me for the eight hundredth time in a row.

I can sometimes wonder: How in the world did I end up here?

I admit it, I’ve thought (more than once): Life would be easy if I didn’t have to witness all the mean-spirited, ignorant, insecure or judgmental people spreading their stinking thinking. You know, the ones who blame the world’s problems, including their own on everyone but themselves.

But carrying around those kinds of thoughts and stories causes more harm to the person thinking them. Let’s face it, there are always going to be people asleep at the wheel out there in life. There is no sense in letting others ruin all the fun or darken the day.

All anyone can do is be accountable for their own happiness and for how they choose to show up in life.

That may sound like a real let down. Like what, you mean it’s up to me?  If that feels like a hard truth to swallow. I get it. The upside is by choosing to empower our lives from within, it becomes easier to manage our emotions and feel clear. With clarity, we begin to experience life, including all the people in it, with more lightness, compassion and sometimes even humour.

The trick is to regularly remind yourself of your power and position as co-creator, so you don’t fall asleep at the wheel.

I’ve found the best way to remind myself to stay awake at the wheel and be 100% accountable, is to set a powerful weekly intention.

Here’s how I do it:

Step 1: Every Sunday I carve out 10-15 minutes to map out the upcoming week.

Optional Step: I like to fancy up the process by looking at what’s unfolding in my natural environment, i.e. the weather, sun, moon and stars. I don’t go too in depth. I simply take a snapshot. Then I look at my own system, cycle and energy levels and take it all into consideration. I find this information is helpful when mapping out my tasks, weekly projects and responsibilities that keep my business and household running smoothly. This step isn’t necessary in setting your weekly intention, it’s simply a part of my process. Give it a try if it speaks to you.

Step 2: This next part is important. This is where you set your intention for how you want to feel over the course of the next week. Get to the core of how you truly want to feel. What do you want the essence of your experience to be this week? Why is that important to you right now?

Step 3: Once you’ve nailed the part about how you want to feel, pick a word or phrase that’s personally meaningful to you. Make sure it’s emotionally charged and one that matches the core feeling you desire.

For my weekly intention, I like to choose words that are direct and easy to bring to mind. This way, when I feel myself falling asleep or reacting in a way that feels messier than necessary, I bring my word to mind and voilà, it slaps me awake.

Your weekly word, and intention behind the word, serves as a reminder to “be” what it is you desire.

For example, my weekly intention and word might be calm. When I find myself overwhelmed throughout the week, I will use my intention to ask myself: how can I be calm in this moment? Then instead of beating myself up or feeling powerless, I empower myself through calming techniques. It might include things like: deep breathing, walking away from a heated discussion. It might mean holding a calm space for someone, instead of being reactive or judgmental.

If my weekly intention is to experience connection, I can bring up this word and feeling to fuel my interactions with others. I can also use it as inspiration for how I care for myself. If connection is important to me, I will show up with more consciousness and accountability in my daily life. My shift in perspective isn’t merely from the Sunday intention setting ritual. I shift and show up differently because all throughout the week I’m checking in with myself and adjusting my thoughts and actions based on my “connection intention”.

The idea here is to use your intention to have a different conversation with yourself. Our intentions help us empower our lives because we use them to take directive from ourselves based on what we truly want.

Moving through life on autopilot, or expecting other people and circumstances to change around us, isn’t empowering. When we spend our time wishing things were different than they are or blaming others for how we feel, we dis-empower ourselves and risk becoming victims. Neither will put us on our highest path. The path we all deserve to be on that’s joyful. When we are 100% accountable for our happiness, we can’t help but spread more joy and love out in the world.

There isn’t a right or wrong way to set your intention. It’s a gift you create to be used in a way that works best in your life. How you give and follow your directive is yours by design. The point is to use your intention as a resource that will help you feel empowered and in charge of your own happiness.

What will life feel like through your weekly intention?

❤ Emily

Like what you read? Get your free weekly Happiness Note for a dose of happiness with some simple ideas for remembering the good, feeling your best and re-setting as needed. You’ll also receive a free mini E-Course: ‘Self-Care Success: Adopting a Self-Care Mindset That Sticks’.

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