The difference between intentions and resolutions
In January of last year, I wrote “2022 is the year that I uplevel” on a 3x5 index card.
I found the card yesterday, when I was clearing the altars in my office and getting things clean and fresh and organized for the new year (rocks in this container, seashells there, gemstones over here, etc.). I use my index cards as affirmation cards on occasion, but this particular one was an intention card.
I wrote this post to talk about why this was an intention, and not a resolution, so without further ado:
The difference between intentions and resolutions.
A resolution is a choice. It’s something you have control over. To quote Master Yoda, “do or do not; there is no try.”
An intention is an aim or a plan. It’s something that you desire or hope for, as much or more as you have control over it.
An intention means that you’ve set your sights on something. Often, it’s something big: an intention or desire to travel more, or to create stronger relationships, for instance. An intention to become more physically fit.
An intention is far more likely to be a big-picture thing than a resolution, which often addresses specific conduct.
Many New Year’s resolutions are actually intentions—or even wishes.
What people call New Year’s resolutions often include giving up a behavior like smoking, drinking, snacking, or biting your nails. They also include choosing new conduct or behaviors, such as frequency of exercise, making necessary health appointments, or eating vegetables.
I deliberately chose a bunch of the behaviors that are often involved in people’s New Year resolutions. I suppose another category involves organization.
Some of those “resolutions” are, frankly, intentions. Some are even wishful thinking. For instance, depending on who you are and what you are willing to resolve to do, “losing weight” or “quitting smoking/drinking” might just be a fuzzy wish.
Let’s look at a typical New Year’s resolutions such as “I want to lose 15 pounds this year.” This isn’t actually a “firm decision” for most people. You cannot choose to drop 15 pounds without further action. You could use it as a goal and alter other actions or behaviors in order to try to bring it about, but it’s super hard for fitness goals to be resolutions. You could resolve to walk 5,000 or 10,000 steps a day and then push yourslf to do it, but you cannot be certain that your conduct will lead you to the result you want.
Intentions have power. They can serve as a guiding star.
In my case, I set that intention, and then released it to the Universe. In fact, somewhere along the line, I forgot about it. I forgot all about that card until I found it while cleaning.
And yet, during 2022, I leveled up energetically. Twice.
It involved a ton of energy practices. It involved allowing myself to be seen more fully—hence the addition of things like tarot card readings and more to what I publicly own up to. It involved meditations and quantum leap visualizations and hypnoses. It included journaling and setting other sorts of intentions along the way. It involved me getting sick as I shed my prior energetic skin. And then getting sick again. (A fibro flare coupled with migraines in one instance, a massive head cold that wasn’t any of the more serious options in the other.)
All of which is to say: I am all for setting intentions. Most people do it, even if they mislabel them as resolutions. I would love to know what your intentions/resolutions are for this year, and to offer you coaching support along the way. And hey—if you also want to uplevel energetically, or delve into more energy practices, I’m your girl. Hit me up!
