The Practice
Hindsight gets all the good press. It’s 20/20, as we know, and from the perspective of the present, it is all too easy to do a little Monday morning quarterbacking on the past.
Yet foresight, specifically the ability to pause and set an intention or visualize an upcoming moment, activity, conversation, or process, can have a much greater impact on how the future unfolds. The following are a few suggestions for incorporating intentionality into your household or classroom routine:
The Language
When you try something new, it can help to think about how you want it to go before you start. Let’s think about one thing you hope will happen during ____.
When we leap into a new activity, it can be helpful to visualize the steps in advance so that we’re ready for whatever comes up. Pro athletes use this tool all the time! Let’s sit up straight, close our eyes, and think about a few concrete steps we can take to find success during the upcoming activity.
Having goals can inspire us and help organize our actions. As we transition to the next ____, let’s pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and set one or two goals to help us get on track.
Things never go as planned, but having a plan is so helpful because it lets us know when we’re heading in the right direction and when we might need to reset. Let’s reflect for a moment and consider what would be a good plan as we launch into ____.
When we decide ahead of time that we’re going to try and do things a certain way, it is called setting an intention. Intentions are really useful to set right before a big challenge we are facing. We can set an intention to be brave, be kind, or try our best. When we set that intention it can be helpful to notice how that manifests physically. Can you check in with yourself and notice where in your body you feel that intention? Remember that you can always pause and go back to that place so that you can proceed with purpose.
Thank you for reading The Toolkit! We hope your 2023 is off to a very peaceful and mindful start.
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