Setting Intentions

Introduction to Gratitude

0:00Hello and welcome to The Art of Gratitude with me, Margaret Alvarez, your host, creativity coach, artist, art teacher, and mental health advocate teaching people how to combine creativity and mindfulness for their own mental well-being. I am so excited to be here in the new year. I'm going to be totally honest. I totally created an episode in November that I toyed around with for a little bit. It felt like, I don't know, I just needed to change it. And then the craziness of the holidays happened and time totally escaped me. I am not going to lie.

0:38This past month and a half has flown by. I've done so much, had so much to do, you know, the usual getting ready for the holiday and just being, you know, with family and getting things done. And yeah, we all know that the time between Thanksgiving and the new year can be a little chaotic and crazy. And I set the intention at the beginning of the holiday madness to not say that, but it's okay for me to say it now because it's over and we've done all the things and we are good.

1:17We have had a lovely holiday. I hope you have too. And of course, this episode is going to be about setting intentions because it is a new year. I have a lot of people who follow my content and who want a regular practice, something that they can do themselves, you know, on a regular basis. And so that can be an intention that you set for the year. I don't set resolutions. It's not a resolution thing for me.

1:52Last year, I was very clear about the intentions that I wanted to set for the year. And so I think that it's important that we set intentions in January. And I do not do the whole strict first of January. I'm starting this. I really I'm a teacher. I go back to work on Monday. That is when I start all of my, you know, routines. I'm still on vacation. I am not like steady on. Let's start this on January 1st.

2:25I actually it's you know, I mean, we're here. It's the new year. And let's set these intentions and let's be, you know, intentions are meant to be set. And, you know, you intentionally want to do these things. Right. And so how do we do that?

Setting Intentions

2:41If you've started a journal in the past year or if you haven't, you can start by setting your intentions in your journal and just making that your first page. Or, you know, maybe it's not your first page. Maybe you have been working on your journal this past year, years before this episode was created. So what do you do? You just you write it down. It is really easy to get caught up and, you know, to say to yourself, I am going to be better this year about eating or, you know, healthier foods.

3:15Or I am going to, you know, read more books or, you know, whatever your intentions are, your resolutions, quote unquote. You know, if you set them in on paper and write them out, you're already setting your mind up to do these things. It is there. It's on paper. You're committing yourself. And to me, that is really powerful. And so my suggestion to you would just be set those intentions, write it all out.

3:46Last year, I think I sat down and I made a page about it. I, you know, painted on top of it. I made it, you know, the way that I do. My art journal, you know, is colorful. And I just I made I made a moment of it. And this is what I intend on doing. And I pretty much stuck to most of my intentions from last year. And I was really proud of myself at the end of the year. I, you know, I had all of these things that I wanted to do and I stuck to them. And I am just proud of the fact that, like, I had them in the back of my mind.

4:20Like, they were there. And I knew what I wanted for this year. And so we are approaching 2025 with the same attitude of I'm going to set these intentions. And this is what I want to do for myself. And they're personal. And they are, you know, this is what I want. And I've already kind of started working on them. At the end of last year, I started talking about them. My husband and I sat down and talked a little bit about what it, you know, what his intentions are, what my intentions are.

4:52Because, of course, when you're in a, you have a family, you know, you want to work together on setting intentions together on certain things. And for us, it's travel, you know, just, just exploring, doing new things, you know, just exploring our own city, like doing new things with my son that he's never done before. We've been doing a lot of that. And I just think that's such a cool, you know, way to expose him to things. He's getting older. He's starting to ask more questions. And it's just been such a joy to share new things with him.

5:26And so that is one of my biggest intentions for this year is to do that. Through travel, but also just, I mean, we live in a pretty big city. There's a lot to do here. And we have been really good about, like, let's try this. We've never done this before. And we've done a lot of that in the past couple of months. And I just thought, this is, like, magical. To see him experience things for the first time is really magical. And so those are just a couple of examples. But those are, like, really strong in my mind.

5:57And I just can't wait to start exploring and doing those things. And so I think it is really intentional when you actually write them down. And you really have a good idea of what you want. And it can be, you know, three things. It could be ten things. It really is up to you. I saw this really cool post. I don't even know who posted. I'm, like, you know, I'm constantly on social media. And, you know, it was a bingo card.

6:29And you write down all of your, you know, intentions, all of your, you know, bucket list things on this bingo card. And you just, throughout the year, you're just kind of marking off all of those things that you do. I thought that was really unique. I also, vision boards are really huge. And I've been wanting to do vision board workshops. I haven't done one yet. But I did post about a vision board workshop that I want to offer. Vision boards are very powerful. I have a handful of them. I've been doing vision boards for the past ten years.

7:01I think they're very powerful. I think that they really help for you to focus. And if you put them somewhere where you can see them on a daily basis, even more powerful if you do that. And I just, I've always really loved the idea. And just sitting down and doing the work, looking for things that visually, you know, represent this thing that you want. And then going back years later, I love looking at my vision boards and seeing all of the things that have manifested from just my focus.

7:32And so, it is all about focus. It's all about intentions. It's all about what you do for yourself. And how do you set that intention for yourself? And, you know, writing it down, I'm telling you, is probably one of the most powerful things because it's there. You set it. It's there. And this is what you intend on doing. And this is, you know, your goals or whatever wording you want to use. If you want to use resolutions because that's something that you've always used and it's a resolution.

8:06What I have to say is and what advice I'd have to give you if this is something that you need to do and want to do for this year is don't be, don't stick to being perfect. Perfection is, will get you nowhere because if you stick to, oh, I'm not going to eat, you know, processed foods for the rest of the year, which is terribly, I mean, it's so hard. I'm just telling you. If you stick to one thing and then you fall off and you don't do it, then you are on this whole, like, oh, man, I didn't do it.

8:41Oh, well, forget it. I'm not even going to do it now. And I say perfection is not something. I mean, I really give yourself some, a little bit of, you know, wiggle room to fall off and then get back on. I mean, if this is your intention and you won't plan on doing this, we are not perfect and, you know, things happen, but you can always start over again. And I think, I don't know what it is about, maybe it's just our culture about just, you know, like being all in and then giving up if you can't do it.

9:16I just don't understand that. And I have to say, I probably used to do things that way. And now I just feel like that's silly. Like, okay, I messed up. Big deal. I'm still going to do what I intended to do. And so don't be so hard on yourself. That's all I can say about that. Setting intentions is really powerful stuff. This episode, you know, is just to kind of inspire you to do that. It is a new year. And I am really excited about so many things and so many exciting things that have already kind of started showing themselves.

9:57I don't know how to say it. You know, I'm just starting to get little hints of things that are going to be happening in the coming year for me and my artsy coach. I am so excited. And so I'm saying this because I've, you know, I've really been working hard to try to provide really solid workshops and really solid content. And I really want people to understand the power of creativity and how it can change you and move you.

10:28And I feel like people are starting to catch on and it's starting to, you know, like they're starting to understand the importance of that. And so, you know, I've been setting this intention for a very long time of sharing, you know, what I find works for me and my own mental health. And I'm just excited about, you know, the idea of more people latching on to this and joining me in, you know, all of my online stuff. And, you know, so this has been a very, very good year for me.

11:02And I feel like 2025 is going to be even bigger. And I hope that you follow and just, you know, you take in as much as you can because it's all good. And what I try to do is just inspire people to just think about things in a different way. You know, perspective is important. And I try to read and I try to watch movies and documentaries and things that inspire, you know, my work because I just feel like it's so important to be inspired.

11:35And, you know, that's how I started this whole thing in the first place. And so, you know, that's just an example of what I started doing, you know, how I even started doing all of this. Even this podcast was inspired. I woke up one morning and said, I think I'm going to start a podcast. And, you know, I don't know how many people listen to this or if anybody has run across it and taken, you know, any of my advice. And I certainly don't feel like I have to, you know, count the number of listeners and feel, you know, justified or, you know, validated by all of my listeners.

12:15I do it because I know that there are people who might attend a workshop that I, you know, I've done and maybe they want to be inspired to do more. And so here I am offering more and I just tell people, hey, listen to my podcast and, you know, get more ideas because today, you know, I'm inviting you to set intentions in your journal. And, you know, this can be an art piece if you want it to be.

12:49It can be, I think last year I created a list and I'm going to post it today. I'll post my intentions from last year on my Instagram and that way you have something to look at. But I think I just use watercolor and, you know, just made my list and, you know, it's bright and colorful and I made a page. And so that's what I intend on doing this year. And so maybe I'll post the one I do today. And so you'll have a couple of examples to kind of follow.

13:20So, again, very loose on this idea of setting intentions for the new year since it's already the third.

New Year Goals

13:28But there's no, you know, like we're not late. You know, it's not, there's no set time on this. You can set your intentions whenever you want. For me, I like to kind of simmer on my vacation. You know, I go back on Monday, I like to simmer on it, you know, the last few days of just enjoying being off. And then I sit down and I do some of my work in my journal and, you know, just, I just do some thinking. And, you know, I already have an idea of what I want to do this year.

13:59And so I hope that this helps you. I am excited about the new year and some of the new things that I will be offering. And so please follow me on any platforms that you see me on. I'm my artsy coach. I am the only my artsy coach. And really one of the only people that teaches mindfulness and creativity as a regular practice. I am that coach.

14:29And I'm really excited about that. So please tell your friends about me. I would really appreciate it. I appreciate you listening to this episode. And I thank you. Blessings, love and light on this new year. I am, look, I'm like beaming with excitement because I feel like there's so much that's going to happen in the next year. And I just can't wait to share it with you. So thank you so much for being here. I will talk to you very soon. And have a great rest of your day.

15:02Have a great rest of your day.