Spice Up Your 2024 Vision: Intuitive Intention Setting for a Dynamic Year
February 6th, 2024: Article Published for The Reinvention Series, Written by Charlotte Jade Askew
“To be honest, I don’t much fancy the word goals. It’s become a touch trite for me, perhaps overused with often little result, and it also implies a kind of finish line. As if we go through life aiming, shooting, and hitting targets. Ticking off a list. It doesn’t quite fit the nuance of evolution for me, the growth that often comes in a state of flux and sometimes great waves, without any perceivable kind of destination or finish.”
In today’s article, we’re taking a detour away from uncovering our early childhood dynamics; instead, we’re embracing an intentional and delightful approach to upgrading our 2024 Vision.
Written by Charlotte Jade Askew
(click here to read about the writer)
Welcome to The Reinvention Series.
You can start working toward something and make changes at any time — at any moment, in fact. You could choose right now to start living in a different way, expressing a new or different facet of yourself...
but there is something about the end of one year and the beginning of another that feels delightfully fresh. There is an intangible theme of discovery. A flavour of possibility. We are more inclined to shed, cocoon, and emerge hopeful.
And, this year, we’re honouring the transition into 2024 well-passed the turning point of January 1st.
Here is what we’re covering in this article:
*click below to navigate directly to the section you wish to read
1. Balancing entrapment (ever looking forward) and our eagerness for a future timeline
2. Time marches on — witnessing who we were and who we are
3. 2023 recap & reflections (a review of the year that’s been)
4. 2024 set-up: creating fresh momentum for the year that will be
5. Orienting towards our intentions — what we are bringing to life this year
6. Creating specificity and focus
7. Clarity: breaking down the granular steps
8. Energetic projection (what do you actually want?)
9. The emotional landscape of your future
Entrapment: ever looking forward
intimacy with our past develops our intentionality and directionality
Sometimes we’re so eager for the future, to obtain the next and the next and the next, that we forget to glance backward. We momentarily disregard the fact that the beginning of a New Year is also the ending of another.
There is value in reflecting on where we’ve been — and who we’ve been — over the year. And often, that’s the most helpful place to look when it comes to moving forward.
Intimacy creates intentionality and directionality
Getting intimate with our past can open up even deeper opportunities for being intentional with our future. If we don’t know where we’ve been, how can we truly know what direction we’d like to go?
Time marches on — witnessing who we were and who we are:
deliberate evolution requires re-assessment
There is a colloquial saying that goes along the lines of ‘Don’t look backward; you’re not going that way’, and it’s never quite made sense to me. We aren’t going that way in a literal sense. (I can agree with that.) Time, after all, marches on. But the basis of our growth forward is almost always, to some extent, a witnessing of who we were and are. It is incredibly difficult to change without an understanding of your own present climate.
To grow in a deliberate way begins with an assessment of who you are in this current iteration of yourself.
Photo by Taylor Deas Melesh
Casey Jacque Ad Break: If you’re on the hunt for a fresh notebook to record your vision process, we’ve got you covered. You can find one of our current favourite journals here:
2023 recap: reflecting on the year that’s been
engaging in an annual review — making full use of what we learned and where we’ve voyaged
So, let’s take a few minutes to do this together. Now seems as apt time as any with 2023’s finale still in reaching distance. If you have a pen and paper handy or even the notes app on your phone, whatever feels right for you, take some time to ponder and answer the following questions:
1. What did I love about this year?
2. What challenged me the most?
3. What am I most proud of myself for?
4. What have I learned about myself?
5. What could I have done better?
6. What’s something I wish I’d done or achieved?
7. What’s something I wish I hadn’t?
8. When you’re finished, place your left hand over your heart and your right hand on your belly and take a few deep, full breaths.
9. How do you feel?
10. Is there anything else you’d like to add to the list or note down about the year?
The Final Piece: See if you can choose three words to describe what 2023 for you.
2024 set-up: creating momentum for the year that will be
unleashing the essence of this next chapter
Now that we’ve glanced backward, we’re not going to stay there. It’s time to go forward. Let’s choose three words to describe the 2024 you’d love to have. Write those down at the top of a fresh sheet of paper.
Then underneath, note down anything from the previous year that you would like to be different in 2024.
Now ponder and answer the following questions on the same sheet of paper:
1. What would you like more of in your life?
2. Is there anything you would like less of?
3. If you had a magic wand, what would you change about yourself and/or your life?
4. Think of someone you trust and admire; what would they say you should try to work on for yourself or do in 2024?
5. Imagine this time next year; what do you want to be able to say you’re proud of yourself for doing?
6. Which things and people are most important to you in 2024?
7. Take some deep, full breaths again, hands on heart and belly, and look over your answers. What stands out? Does anything surprise you? Is there anything else you’d like to note down?
This is the beginning of your goals, your manifestations, for the rest of 2024.
Orienting towards our intentions:
reference terms and shared dialogue
To be honest, I don’t much fancy the word goals. It’s become a touch trite for me, perhaps overused with often little result, and it also implies a kind of finish line. As if we go through life aiming, shooting, and hitting targets. Ticking off a list. It doesn’t quite fit the nuance of evolution for me, the growth that often comes in a state of flux and sometimes great waves, without any perceivable kind of destination or finish.
I prefer the words intention or manifestation. Perhaps there is less perceived baggage attached to these words from a societal perspective, but that may simply be my personal experience. You may already use these words frequently, or the people around you might. Find whatever reference term fits for you when it comes to your growth for 2024. They are, after all, just reference terms and labels to help us engage in a shared dialogue. So, if goals (or something else) fits for you, just substitute it wherever I use manifestations.
Now that you have an idea of what you want your 2024 to look like, we can start to create a blueprint for your intentions. There are two main components to practice when you’re trying to create or achieve something. The first piece is getting specific (either about the details of ‘the thing’, or simply about the internal experience you desire to have once you have the thing). Either way, the second component involves your emotions.
Creating specificity and focus:
deeply explore the area of your life you desire to sustainably shift
There might be a few intentions on your 2024 page that really stand out for you. For now, select the one that speaks the loudest and practice getting really clear with yourself about your vision in this space for 2024. Maybe it’s in relationship to your self-care, for example; perhaps you’d like to experience a revitalizing level of self-care and self-discovery for the rest of the year.
Clarity: breaking down the granular steps
let’s break that down in a meaningful way
What does self-care look like for you? or What does self-care feel like for you? Remember, self-care is anything that fills your cup up. That means it includes activities that pour into you, raise your energy, and revive you.
1. How will you feel as you’re including more of these activities into your life?
2. How often do you want to fit self-care in?
3. What’s reasonable for you to be able to expect to fit in, in terms of your life balance?
4. Is there anything about your life balance that will need to change for you to include more self-care?
5. Will it be the same activity every week, or will you change it up?
This is just an example of how you can get down to the nitty-gritty when it comes to your annual direction and intentions. We want to ‘pick them apart’ and look over every aspect. Often, we can set manifestations or goals for the new year such as ‘I want more self-care’ or ‘I want to live a healthier lifestyle’, but we have no idea what that actually looks like for us.
Energetic projection:
what do you actually want — evading vague action
When you’re not clear on what it is you want, you project chaos and confusion. It might feel like you’re clear (and you might genuinely think you are), but your definition of a healthy lifestyle and mine might look completely different.
If you’re not clear on what it is you actually desire, it’s going to be difficult to implement the choices and changes required to achieve it.
Cue Noah pleading with Allie in The Notebook.
When we keep things vague, we take vague action (or sometimes no action), and this is usually where, even if we start out strong, our goals or manifestations fade a few months into the new year.
When you get clear, like in the example of self-care above, you can formulate a specific action plan personalized to what you’re trying to change or achieve. Research also shows that you’re 42% more likely to achieve your goals by simply writing them down (Matthews, 2007), so if you haven’t started while you’ve been reading, I encourage you to grab a pen!
The emotional landscape of your future:
this is where we have the capacity to create physiological change
Bringing our manifestations to life is an energetic and body-based experience, and we do that by getting intimate with our emotions.
E-motions. Energy in motion.
Aside from subconscious self-worth, this is, perhaps, the most important aspect of the conversation around manifestation. Your uninhibited — yet, responsibly expressed — emotional experience transmits and communicates information.
Your ability to deeply feel, explore, and transform your well-patterned emotional experiences impacts your ability to create the intentions you have for your future. This has everything to do with the way you relate to the world (and others) around you; in turn, the personal experience of those around you impacts the way they respond to, relate to, and experience you. Think of it like tuning into a radio station. First, there’s the crackle and spit of static, and then eventually the music begins to cut through — crisp and clear.
Take some time to tune yourself into the emotions of your future. Consider the manifestation you were working on above. How will it feel when you get there? What would it be like to achieve it? Write down the emotions and visceral sensations that come to mind.
The ultimate state of receivership:
revitalizing the conversation
As well-worn as this particular topic may seem, gratitude — that deep, visceral appreciation for being alive — cannot be dismissed. It plays a valuable role, not only in the realm of spicing up your yearly vision, but in the conversation surrounding around what it means to be human.
With a vast array of textures to experience in this life, drawing back to thankfulness for what has not yet actualized can seem counterintuitive… but it’s actually the secret sauce.
When experienced in congruence with our intentions, gratitude deepens and sustains our belief, our trust — in ourselves, our daily actions, and our experience of something much bigger than us. Even in seasons of unexpected transition or grief, gratitude can reignite and reinvigorate us, bringing back an inherently vital quality to our existence.
It’s more than okay that this takes practice; for many of us, walking with faith in what is still on its way to us is a nonlinear journey.
Personally, practicing gratitude for what I already have is a daily nonnegotiable, and a great place to start. I recommend making a routine out of saying “thank you” for the things you already have in your life. Write down a handful of things each day, say them in your head as you’re brushing your teeth. Create a daily ritual that feels great for you, and it will begin to create energetic room in your life for more things to come to you.
Embodying the emotions of your future allows that future to be experienced now. Start to practice what it feels like. Wake up in the morning and focus on those emotions. Actively bring up the love and gratitude you predict would come with receiving your manifestations. Feel your heart expand and rise. Feel the bubble of joy in your throat. Practice, rehearse, and repeat feeling that way. Your life will begin to open up, deepen, and evolve in ways you maybe haven’t even imagined yet.
Creating your vision statement:
pairing a powerful conscious frame with subconscious reinforcement
Finally, it’s time to create a vision statement for your manifestation. A present-tense, focused intention to integrate into your self-concept.
Take the manifestation you’ve been working on and have a look at the feelings you described and associated with receiving that change. Start to formulate a vision for yourself – how will you be when it happens, what will your life look like, how will you feel? Create something in language that resonates with you and put it in the present tense as if it’s already happened (fake it till you make it, remember). Capture the essence of your vision: the place you’ll mentally, spiritually, and maybe physically be when the iteration of yourself required for the vision comes to fruition.
Here’s a little formula you might like to use:
I have/do/am X and feel Y.
Maybe… “I am in perfect health and feel enlivened and free.”
or
“I love myself entirely, exactly as I am, and care for myself with a yoga session and paint class every week. I feel energised and at peace.”
Hold this vision statement as a reminder of the embodying that is taking place from the conception of this exercise. With repetition, you will each day from now on, begin to evolve toward this vision, into this vision — and this vision to you. The process has begun, asking for your devotion and allowance. Start to feel the expression of it within you, address (feel, process, repair, and re-pattern) the internal dynamics that present themselves along the way, continue to practice opening your heart throughout waves of contraction, and take the appropriate inspired, intuitive action.
Remember, this process isn’t exclusive to the end of the year. You can, at any point, take yourself through this exercise and find your way into a vision for the future. If you change course, become disenchanted or simply desire a re-envisioning, revisit this guide.
We are always ever-evolving, so why not do it with intention?
To read more articles by the Casey Jacque team, visit www.caseyjacque.com, where we publish fresh content regularly.
Article Written by Charlotte Jade Askew, In-House Writer at Casey Jacque
Charlotte is a Writer, Play Therapist, and Energetic Psychology Coach living in rural Texas. Born and raised on the rugged West Australian Coastline, she is a holistic practitioner, working with the conscious and subconscious mind to cocreate transformative, mindbody healing. Her affinity for being out-of-doors rather than in, means it’s likely that when she’s not with clients or writing, you’ll find her with her horses or barefoot, sipping organic coffee.
Let’s Connect! Instagram: @inner_chatter
Read More: About the Writer
References
Matthews, G. (2007). The impact of commitment, accountability, and written goals on goal achievement
