Annual Setting of Intentions

I am part of a very special group of women.

Named the Garden Goddesses by the previous rector of my church, who found us relaxing on the church grounds having a picnic when he was walking his dog one afternoon, we begin each year gathering to set our annual intentions for the year.

I am not exactly sure when this ritual began, but over the years they have served as focal points and beacons for each of us. Our intentions arise from a place of great depth and personal growth, and are vastly different. In more recent years, we have also included a review of our previous year’s intentions, to see how effective they might have been. For me, I have always taken them very seriously, and they have given me a roadmap for my my growth, progress, and setbacks.

In 2016, something shifted in me. I realized I was not sufficiently accessing the parts of me which were causing me suffering. I decided to try illustrating my intentions instead of writing about them. This was my year to release my longings. Most of them centered around my inner resistance STILL to how I wished Mark’s and my life was without the inclusion of his MS, and the altered lifestyle we decided must occur in order to accommodate his need for a quiet, predictable life. It was a groundbreaking year, and at the end of it, I finally relaxed. My resistance finally crumbled. I cannot explain rationally how this worked, but seeing these inner parts of me visually made it happen.