Setting Positive Intentions for the next six months

In every Covid related article that I read it seems we are being told to prepare ourselves for a further six-month period of uncertainty. If this is the case then I suggest we need to plan for the biggest self-care project of our lives to make sure we emerge from this next half year in robust mental and physical health feeling that we have tried to make this next stage as positive as is possible, giving the very many challenges we are all facing.

If we don’t set some good intentions now, then we run the risk of allowing ourselves to become wrapped up in negative emotions and we miss the chance to learn from the past six months. Setting intentions allows us to take some control of an uncertain situation and at the end of the period enables us to feel proud of actions that we have taken or the mindset we have adopted.

Start by using the Balance Wheel exercise to assess different aspects of your life

Get started by completing the Balance Wheel exercise which is part of the link below (courtesy of coach Ian McDermott):

https://tinyurl.com/y6oysldj

This tool proposes that you rate eight different aspects of your life from 0-10, including your health, finance, physical environment, career, personal growth, friends and family, fun and recreation, and partner or relationship. This activity enables you to gain perspective on your life and hopefully builds your confidence by revealing that there are some (or even many) dimensions to it which are strong and positive. For any aspects that have lower scores you can now reflect on what actions you might take to address them. Aim to focus on what matters most to you at the moment rather than necessarily the area with the absolute lowest score.

Prioritize self-care during the coming six months

I sense from listening to people that some don’t like this term “self-care.” Perhaps because it is so widely used nowadays it has become a cliché or because it suggests too much seemingly selfish focus on ourselves? I would be interested in your thoughts on this, in the comments section below. However, I do feel that it is an especially important concept at the moment, whatever we call it. Only we as individuals can look after ourselves. We can’t expect anyone else, even those closest to us, to be responsible for this. You might find the book “The Self-Care Project” helpful by Jayne Hardy for an easy to read explanation of how to look after yourself. I found the accompanying exercises with space in the book for your responses really aided my reflections. Set your forthcoming intentions to ensure you are looking after yourself in mind and body.

Set your intentions

Not only can you set good intentions to address your Balance Wheel outcomes, you might also  decide on an action that you are going to take in the coming six-month period in the following areas. I have identified these areas as ones which particularly helped me since our first experience of lockdown in March. In addition I am in the midst of taking the free “Science of Wellbeing” online course offered by Yale University via Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being) and finding that many of the reasons for our happiness stem from a focus on these aspects of life:

Social contact: what can you plan to do to help or reach out to others to keep yourself connected? I have realized that I rarely have a phone conversation nowadays so during the coming months I’m going to get in touch with friends and clients whom I haven’t spoken to for a while and take a break from Zoom as a means of communication. I have also bought some blank greetings cards and stocked up on stamps so that I can post a weekly note to elderly, isolated relatives with a family photo or inspiring message on the front.

Creative: what can you do to indulge your senses? Could you pick up a dormant hobby like painting or sewing that you have not had time for previously or take an online workshop to learn them from scratch? Since March I have particularly enjoyed taking photos of the natural world as the seasons have progressed and have used them to illustrate inspiring famous poems. My intention is to create a new booklet for the autumn and winter seasons.

Learning: committing to new learning can be very energising as well as being useful for your CV and LinkedIn profile and for something tangible to discuss during networking meetings and interviews. During lockdown in May a local French teacher approached me about joining an online French conversation class which I loved as we discussed all sorts of things from books to films and politics although it made me realize I need to work harder on my grammar and vocab!

Mindful exercise: what about setting an intention to support your mental wellbeing? A few years ago I found the Mindfulness 10-week course I followed to be extremely helpful in managing anxiety and keeping me in the present moment. During this first period of lockdown I learned more about yoga by completing the 30-Day Challenge for free offered by Adriene on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY It’s great for complete beginners and for the next six months I am going to follow up with more of these challenges that provide structure to the start of my day and help me to relax.

So, these are just a few suggestions and ideas to get you started with your intention setting for the coming months. Please do share below in the comments section your plans as these will definitely inspire and help others reading this article. Please share the article with others who might find it useful and do get in touch if I can help you with career related matters of any sort ([email protected]). Let’s make this as positive a six month period as possible – all the very best going forward.