month of intention: how do you want to feel or "be" this year?

Hola amigas, Happy Wednesday all around!

We're into the third week of intention love at Barefoot Works. I gotta say that as a teacher, and as a student I'm still filling inspired by it. I'm finding that the idea of intention is on my mind even more this year (rightfully so) and I'm pondering it in new and different ways.

Last year as I was making my intentions for the year I made them into lists of
*be
*see
*do
*learn

This year I made the list inclusive of the realms of physical, mental/emotional/intellectual/spiritual with the hope of balancing everything out. I've been working on my list throughout the month and hope to create a collage/vision board at the end of the month.

What I'm seeing it that we all want to have a lot of experiences. Usually our intentions are set up as actions. For example, on my list I have to do 3-4 cleanses (physical), spend more time writing (mental),and take 3-4 silent retreats (spiritual). Those are fairly action oriented.

I know that with intention, focus, and practice I can realize all those intentions. In fact I think that when we connect to sincere, heartfelt desires and we apply focus (softer terms would be mindfulness) and practice (meaning we do the work)there is little we can't do.

I also think we can use this same idea to develop inner qualities such as gratitude, courage, joy, patience and so on. Inner and outer, it's all about creating news habits and patterns.

So I've been thinking about how I want to feel, how I want to be, how I want to move through the year. And instead of just one word, I keep getting....

Sacred Courage.
Yep, that's is. I want to view life... this wonderful, scary, delicious, messy life as sacred. I want to see, breathe, and be courage. Which actually looks and feels softer, more feminine in my mind that what it looks like on paper. To be courageous is not to be filled with fear. To have courage means to have faith. To trust. And that's what I want this year.

Now when I go back and look at my lists of hopes/dreams/intentions I can view them through this lens of "sacred courage". When I say that I want a house that's uncluttered, simple, and cozy, I know that I want to surround myself in a space that feels good. That feels sacred.

Yesterday I was at Homegoods while Meredith was teaching her brilliant teen yoga class. I saw so many pretty pretty things, but I walked away with nothing. Instead of buying a mass photo, I reminded myself that I would prefer to surround myself with more meaningful things.

Then the coolest things happened. A student came in to my 5:45 class and presented me with The Most special gift. The piece of art you see above that she crafted with her hands. I am so smitten with this. I love love love it.

Since I'm talking about surrounding and embracing myself with sacred courage, I must show you a fave gift I got from BFF for Christmas. Two photos, one each from our wedding days, spaced nearly 10 years apart. Very special. Very sacred to me.

Have you given any thought to a word for the year? Or how you want to feel, or move through your year? Would love to hear!