This Sunday, our Kenya-based Impact Manager, Sam Nkirote McKenzie, shares how she is living intentionally in 2022 and the tools instrumental to her efforts.
What a year 2021 was! It tried and tested us all. In my downtime between Christmas and the New Year, I took the opportunity to reflect and journal. In the process, I realized that I had been merely going through the motions of life. In anticipation of 2022, I put in the time to care for myself and lean into my feelings. One of my fave Insta accounts for mental health insights, tips, and tools—@heybobbibanks— recently shared an infographic that gave me a real aha moment:
|
If you feel: |
Your unmet needs may be: |
|
Anxious |
To have safety, security, stability |
|
Resentful |
To feel heard, understood, noticed |
|
Numb |
To feel supported, safe, loved |
|
Overwhelmed |
To have space, support, me time |
|
Disconnected |
To feel noticed, loved, prioritized |
|
Distrust |
To have honesty, openness, loyalty |
|
Stressed |
To prioritize yourself, and self-care |
Starting this January, I re-committed to self-care and self-love. To trust that my positive and negative feelings are valid. To give equal importance to all areas of my life and to my mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. And to do my utmost to live more intentionally.
1. Identifying my values
Knowing your values is the foundation of an intentional life, and to identify mine, I answered these questions:
What does an ideal day look like from morning to night?
Why are these things so important?
What are the activities that bring fulfillment? Meaning? Contentment?
What do these activities have in common?
What do you wish you had more of? Less of?
What upsets you?
What inspires you?
2. Creating a vision board
I am already a BIG FAN of vision boarding, but doing it with a view to greater intentionality fostered a compelling emotional connection. I focused my board around these areas:
Health
RelationshipsCareer & business
Money
Spirituality
Friends & family
Intentional journaling
Each night in my journal, I check-in with my values and do my best to evaluate the decisions and actions I made that day. In addition to this, I have found four prompts to be incredibly beneficial to my intentionality practice, and I wanted to share them with you. I start by writing down everything—big or small— that I am grateful for, I list my wins and then the things that I can do better, and I set my intentions for the next day by noting down what is most important.
I sincerely hope that you find these tools as beneficial as I have and that you live an intentional year filled with joyful abundance.