Connecting With & Acting On Your Intentions
We have had the honor and pleasure of working with Janine Meaghan Stafford, the intuitive business coach behind Spring Tide, for the past six months, and thought she would be the perfect person to help us take action on our reflections.
Below she has so generously shared a ritual to go along side the soul searching we’ve encouraged in this month’s #currentinvitation.
It is magnificent, enjoy!
It’s a beautiful time of year to reflect. This is the harvest time - the time when we are seeing the fruits of our labor ripen, ready to be enjoyed and plucked from the vine. Fall gives us a perfect moment on the brink of two seasons of life - growing, working, building, manifesting from Spring & Summer and reflecting, clearing and planning for Winter. It’s my belief that this is the perfect time to practice gratitude and set intentions for what’s to come.
With this season’s invitation in mind, are you able to carve out some time to reconnect? When was the last time you took a deep breath? When was the last time you congratulated yourself for a job well done?
In my work as an intuitive coach & tarot reader, I help bridge the gap between where we are and where we want to be. I don’t believe we need anyone to predict our future or tell us the answer to our own questions, but that we have access to our own truth - if only we could clear some space to connect with it. Often, that’s the hardest part.
That is how I started with tarot - I was looking for an opportunity to listen to myself through all the anxiety and fear and doubt. What I found, was a tool that was able to go directly to the heart of the matter, that empowered me to stop feeling like a victim and that inspired me to get real and work hard for what I wanted.
I want to share the below ritual because it is a variation on one of the first rituals I performed, and is relatively simple. It felt really centering to me to clear space in my home for my dreams and intentions and goals to live - like a physical invitation or reminder of what I was working towards.
Ritual for connecting to & acting on your intentions
What you need:
A clear space of about a foot - shelf, nightstand, corner of your desk, table would all work
Two candles of different colors (1 will represent where you are, 1 will represent your intention)
A card & envelope
A pen
A few items that make you feel really good (for me that’s bright pink lipstick, seashells, fancy magazines and photos of my friends and family)
Take a seat near your clear space and start with some deep breaths - 4 count through the nose, hold for 4, out for 4 through your mouth like you’re trying to fog up a mirror. Do this until you feel calm and present - trust you’ll know when to stop.
Arrange the items that make you feel good on the shelf in whatever way you like. Set the candles about 1 foot apart with the candle representing your present on the left and your intention on the right.
In your card, write on the left side where you are right now in life - try to do this through the lense of gratitude not lack (i.e. “I’m open to finding love” instead of “I’m still single”). Be sure to include 1 or 2 recent accomplishments you’re proud of.
On the right side, make a list of all the things - feelings, experiences, outcomes - that you want in your life within the next year or so - as many as you can think of.
Take another deep breath.
Review the list on the right and circle the one that feels most pressing, important, illuminating to you in this moment.
Put the card in the envelope and on the front write your intention - “I intend to create [circled desire]”
Place the card laying flat between the candles and light them.
For a few moments, watch the candles flicker, breathing deeply and think about what life will be like when you’re living your intention. Notice where you feel excited, where you feel lit up, where you feel nervous or energized.
Every day for 2 weeks, take 3-5 min to sit in front of your intention altar in the morning. Each day, light the candles and move them a bit closer together. Breath deeply. On the last day, they should be touching, sitting on top of your card.
Now friends, a gentle reminder that magic only works if you do (thank you to Sarah Faith Gottesdiener for this sentiment in her Many Moons workbooks) so as you are performing this ritual, be sure you are speaking, living, thinking & acting with this intention in mind.
That means, if you intend to finish your book, prioritize writing over Netflix. If you intend to find a new job, spend time sprucing up your resume with your dream job in mind. If you intend to create more depth in your relationships, treat every interaction with honesty, care, attention and vulnerability. You get it!
This ritual is meant to serve as a reminder of what you’re working so hard towards and how powerful and in control you are of receiving it.