Hi friend!
Welcome to the first volume of the Intentional Living Letters!! I’m so stoked to have you here!
First off, a big shout out to my business coach, Catherine Andrews for linking my newsletter in her own Sunday Soother newsletter! I really appreciate all the new subscribers that are following along from her community. I recently completed her business course, Secretly Ambitious, through which I started my life coaching business.
In this newsletter, I will share ways to follow along with my work as well as ways to work deeper with me. Right now, I am offering pro-bono aka FREE 1:1 life coaching! If you’re interested in having me as a mentor in learning how to live a more intentional life and in setting and achieving your 2023 goals, please book a free, no obligation discovery call here. I would LOVE to chat with you!
With that housekeeping out of the way, lets dive into today’s topic: Embodiment vs intellectual knowing, and just HOW to actually keep up with all the good habits you’re trying to build?!
I’ve been on a self-development/self-discovery journey for the better part of 5 years now. It’s only been in this last year that I started being more intentional with my work. Meaning I took time to look at who I really am as a person, discover what my true authentic values are, what my desires for my life are, and then take actions in my day-to-day life to live out those values and intentions.
This work has not been easy in the slightest.
I have a habit of gaining as much knowledge as I can - reading all the books, listening to all of the podcasts, reading all of the newsletters. But, when it came to actually implementing and embodying these practices in my life, I kinda fell short. Maybe I would journal every morning for like a week, then fall off and not journal for months. I would try and start a meditation practice, even just 10 minutes a day, for most days of the week, but that wouldn’t stick for long either.
Intellectually, I know and understand that these practices are good for me. And that I want to be getting the results they promise like better mindset, more positive self-talk, less stress, increased nervous system regulation, etc, etc.
Another one I’ve had such a hard time actually doing is increasing my time spent in nature. You hear this one everywhere nowadays in the self-development/spirituality spheres. I mean, it seems like it’s one of the easiest and most accessible things you can do for yourself, with innumerable health benefits. So why am I having such a hard time just DOING it?!
So, if you’re struggling with this type of thing just like me, I’ll start by saying this: let’s be kind to ourselves and show ourselves grace! You are absolutely not alone in this, and nothing has gone wrong!
I think it takes time to integrate new habits, and we can’t rush our healing journeys. I believe we are all on our own growth journeys and we are exactly where we are supposed to be.
Here are 3 tips I’ve found helpful in embodying the change we want in our lives:
Join a community of like-minded folx - it’s been said that we are the sum of the 5 people we spend the most time with. So if you’re trying to embody someone who prioritizes their self-growth habits, surround yourself with those types of people. Curate your social media feeds by doing an audit of who you follow. Join an online community where you can have conversations around the struggles you’re facing. Feel free to comment on this post and we can start a conversation right here!
Do daily thought work - our brains have something like 60,000+ thoughts a day, and a vast majority of these are unintentional. Meaning your brain is running on auto-pilot, thinking in patterns of the same old thoughts it has always thought. If you are always thinking, “I’m so bad at keeping up with my morning rituals, it’s so hard, why should I even bother.” That’s okay, that’s NORMAL but also, these thoughts are NOT TRUE! You get to decide what thoughts you’re having. The easiest way to change your thoughts to more intentional, supportive thoughts is to do thought work aka the self-coaching model. Learn more about the self-coaching model here.
Evidence hunt for ways that you have changed - this kind of goes along with thought work but basically, I bet you’re further along on your healing journey than your brain is telling you that you are. Try journaling on this prompt and see how much evidence you can come up with to show your brain that you actually have achieved SO MUCH already!
What are 20 ways in which I have healed recently, or things I have done in support of my self-growth journey? (Hint - you signed up for this newsletter! That’s one right there!)
Healing in community has really helped me so much along this journey. I’m so grateful that you’re here as part of my community.
“Evidence hunt for ways that you have changed”
So true. I’ve found myself on the floor of a yoga studio unconsciously asking myself the koan “Why am I here?”, and realising that the reply was “Since I have changed”. That situation wouldn’t have been possible just a few years back.
Good stuff!