Journey To The Soul

Celebrating the Beauty of Slow Intentions

• Jacenda Villa

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What if you could transform the overwhelming hustle of setting countless goals into a serene journey of meaningful intention-setting? Join me, as we embark on a heartfelt exploration of grounding our intentions for a purposeful life in 2025. By sharing my own experiences, I illuminate how even the smallest steps forward are worth celebrating and how embracing a reflective approach can align our intentions with personal values. Dive into a conversation that encourages slowing down, embracing self-compassion, and letting go of societal pressures.

As we welcome the new year, experience a shift from the frenetic pace of goal-setting to the peace of intentional living. Reflecting on my own past, I reveal how prioritizing fewer, truly meaningful goals has led to a more fulfilling and mindful life, free from the chains of constant busyness. This episode is designed to inspire simplicity and mindfulness, inviting you to share your intentions and rituals for 2025. Let's continue this journey together, fostering a community filled with support, love, and authentic living.

Instagram: @jacendamarie


Speaker 1:

Hi loves, welcome to the Journey to the Soul podcast. I am your host, jacinda Villa, a spiritual life coach and holistic health coach. Every week, we will be diving deep into all things purpose, wellness, spirituality and creating the life that you dream of. This space is meant to be safe and transformative for you to dive into the deepest parts of yourself. I will share what I have learned from my journey along this path years of research and mentors along the way. Having spent many years living life out of alignment and afraid to go after my dreams, I know firsthand what it means to take the first step down, living a life authentic to you. We are on this road of self-discovery together. It is time for you to live the life you imagined. Hello, beautiful souls, welcome to this episode of Journey to the Soul, to this episode of Journey to the Soul. I am so excited to say hello to you from 2025. It is a new year, a new chapter in our beautiful book of life, another time filled with new opportunities. I hope you all had a lovely holiday season, celebrating with your loved ones and enjoying all the winter things. Winter is really settling in here in Tennessee. This morning, we actually had our first bit of snow, and it's just so beautiful to look outside and see how all the trees are vacant and everything is desolate and asleep and so quiet and at ease and peaceful. It really is so amazing to look at how the seasons change and evolve with every couple of months as time continues to go on, so I hope you are enjoying the winter season so far.

Speaker 1:

For today's episode, I wanted to talk about a more grounded approach to setting goals or New Year's intentions or resolutions. If that is something that you do. I want to start off by saying that there are seasons of life where setting goals might not feel resonant for you, and that is completely okay, and there are also just people who may not resonate with it completely, and that's completely okay too. With this episode, I want to touch on a couple of things as everyone gets settled into starting a new year and this is really the time when most people want to set all of these new year resolutions and intentions for 2025 and what they want to do but how can we actually do it in a more grounded and supportive way for us? So that is what we're going to be talking about today making sure that this is coming from a place of compassion and doing it from a place that is really in alignment for us. Like I mentioned, if you don't resonate with setting goals on January or at any moment in time during the year, that is totally okay. I feel like many people can feel the pressure to do so from the outside world, society, social media, parents, colleagues, what everyone else is doing and regardless of what I go through in this episode, I just want you to know that if you don't feel like doing anything, there is nothing wrong with that. We all have our own journey on this earth and the way that we're meant to move through this world in such different and individual ways, and setting goals can really not be supportive for some people. So take everything that I say with a grain of salt. If there's something that does resonate with you which I'm sure there will be great, because some of these things are just things that we can keep in mind when it comes to other aspects of our life.

Speaker 1:

The way that I usually approach intention setting is I typically have a three-part process really two, but it involves three aspects, and the first thing is a reflection piece. This is typically when I look at the intentions that I set the year before how I did with those where maybe I could have done better, where could I have done things differently, and then from that I am able to gain clarity on what intentions I want to set for the new year. So the reflective piece is just creating space to gain clarity and take a consensus of what worked and what didn't and really tapping into your values again and what you're trying to do and accomplish in the new year, and that sets a foundation to the new intention. So that is my approach. So I was sitting reflecting on the five intentions that I had for the last year and I was just so plainly looking at what I said I would do and what I did, and I was giving myself a hard time about it, which I know is the case for most of us, because there was three out of the five that I clearly accomplished and then two that I didn't accomplish.

Speaker 1:

The way that I said that I was going to it wasn't exactly in that way. As I was writing about it and being reflective, I realized that I still made progress towards those two other intentions. It wasn't what I set out to be in any way, shape or form, but I made more progress and was more far along than last year when I set the intention. But it was really easy for me to disregard that initially and feel, you know, slightly disappointed in myself initially and feel, you know, slightly disappointed in myself and this is coming from years of me doing that and just innately disregarding what my small wins in life. This is also part of why I have added this reflective piece into my intention setting. I feel like having that could be so beneficial for us to give ourselves a hug and a pat on the back before we move on to setting new intentions for the year.

Speaker 1:

So as I was sitting there writing, I came to the realization more and more that I actually did do something, you know, and what I did in regards to these two intentions was very valid, like it was still energy put in, there was still intention there, and one of them well, really, both of them I overestimated how much time was going to go into accomplishing them. And as I've gone through accomplishing them or trying to accomplish them little by little in the last year, I realized that, lo and behold, it's not as quick as I thought it would be, and that happens sometimes, especially when we're trying to do something new in our life, or starting a new habit of some sort, or whatever it is. We really don't know, unless we've done it before. We really don't know the time commitment, the energy, what it's all going to look like, right? So with these two intentions, it's like even if I had given my all to them, I don't think I could have actually accomplished them, because I didn't know at the time of setting these intentions how much time it was going to take.

Speaker 1:

But from January of 2024 to December of 2024, did I make progress in them? Did I still do something that is going to set me up to have a better chance of reaching them in the new year? Absolutely, and that's the first thing that I wanted to touch on is that it's so easy for us to disregard the progress we have made in our life if it does not exactly fit into the expectation that we set out for us, if it doesn't fit into the box, if it's not exactly what we wrote out. And the thing that we need to keep in mind here is that progress was still made. Right Is that we are still better off than we were before. So this is something that I want you to keep in mind, if you are going to go through a reflective time before you set intentions for the new year, is to really notice, in the smallest ways, how you still made progress with any of your goals.

Speaker 1:

And taking the time to reflect before setting new goals, like I mentioned, really allows us to honor our small wins, big or small. It's an opportunity for you to pat yourself on the back, to give yourself a hug, to be kind to yourself and honor what you have done, because so often we just want to quickly go on to the next thing as soon as one year ends Okay, january 1st, let's get ready to start the next year and we just completely disregard everything that happened the year before, and we need to give ourselves the love and validation that we want and need. It's so important when we are trying to do anything in life. It's so important to take a step back and just honor yourself wholeheartedly for what you did. I call it the sacred pause. Did I call it the sacred pause? Creating a sacred pause between finishing a year and going on to the next year In anything that you do?

Speaker 1:

I love taking a sacred pause because it just allows us to do this, to reflect, to digest, to look more deeply into everything that we experienced, all the wonderful things the year brought to us, what you got out of this year the most. The other thing that reflection gives us by creating this space is clarity, and the reason that this is so important is when we come from this place of clarity and we know what didn't work, what did work, what we want to refocus on, what are our values, and we just have complete clarity over that, then we can go and set intentions from a grounded place that is more connected to our hearts and this is part of living from a heart-centered place. And if we disregard this step or taking this sacred pause, like I mentioned, you could really just go from one thing to the other from a place of need, from a place of lack, from a place of fear, a place of lack from a place of fear. If you don't take the time to reflect and digest and honor your wins and relish in all the wonderful things that happened last year, you're going to go from one chapter of life to the next with this underlying need to perform, but not from the right place, not with the right intention. So, creating this space for reflection, for clarity to come, in that you can go and set intentions that are really in alignment for you. So from this we go to setting intentions for the new year, and I like saying lightly, lightly, setting intentions for the new year. Why lightly? And when we think of lightly, there's this airiness, right, this gentleness, this softness. How does it feel when you think about it? How does your body feel? How does your mind? Again, it's not from a place of rigidness, it's not from the need to perform, from a place of fear.

Speaker 1:

Something that I want you to keep in mind is that life happens as well. So if something comes up during the year that you did not anticipate, or something else takes center stage in your life and it is requiring your attention, it's about learning to carry on with what's in front of us, gracefully right, and being kind to ourselves in doing so, and it's knowing that sometimes we need to focus our energy on something else in the moment. And what I'm trying to highlight here is that there's always going to be something that comes up and happens, and we need to allow for flow, surrender and ease in life, to not take everything so seriously. There is a fine line there between being overly rigid and commanding of ourselves and showing compassion and love towards ourselves in a way that is still supportive of us reaching the goals that we have in life. So, when thinking about your intentions for the new year, also keep in mind that something might come up and, when that happens, leaning into it with ease, with lightness, with grace, and this is really working with our feminine energy. It's that part of us that is more in the flow with life, the part of us that honors more and surrenders and is like water right, if there's a rock in front of a stream, the water finds another path, another way to flow. And that is the energy that I'm trying to focus on when I'm saying this. That is what I want you to focus on, and many of us are getting ready or have already set intentions for the new year.

Speaker 1:

Whenever you're listening to this, it's probably the first week of January or the second week of January, and for many of you, intentions could already be set, goals done, clarity, figured out, things already done to a T, figured out things already done to a T and sometimes we do that because we simply feel like we need to. We expect so much of ourselves. We feel like we need to do what everyone else is doing and get our life together by the first of the year and have it nice and detailed and have a plan and bullet points for everything and how am I going to make it happen? And I think that that's all well and good if that feels good for you, but that also looks like a multitude of things and it doesn't need to happen when it's happening all around you as well.

Speaker 1:

I used to be that person that by January 1st, had their entire year figured out and I always had so many goals 20 goals for many, many years since I was like a teenager, I think, I started setting goals and doing vision boards and things like that. I was really young when I started doing that and the way that I set intentions for the year now is completely different to then. But I used to set 20 goals a year in 10 different aspects of life and the reality was that I didn't reach half of them. I maybe accomplished three or four, half accomplished another handful and the other half I didn't even touch or they got lost in everything else. And what ended up happening is that at the end of the year, as I was getting ready to start a new year. It really just left me disappointed in myself and so burnt out because I had allotted so much energy on all of these things, but I felt like I had gotten nowhere with any of them. And this is how I slowly started realizing that I started making progress on half of these things that I felt like I needed to and wasn't really important to me.

Speaker 1:

And this is also when I was super into multitasking and I thought multitasking was something to be proud of. And I will say that multitasking has a time and a place. Multitasking has a time and a place, but it is not something that I strive to do in any way, shape or form. I let that go many years ago. It ties into something that I'm going to talk about later in this episode, but one of my personal lies, as I call them, was that I always needed to be busy. So this was a limiting belief that I had a lie, like I mentioned, that I believed and that I always needed to be productive and doing something, and I know many of us struggle with this. So what do we do? We reach and reach, constantly trying to fill up our day, because we're afraid of the free space, we're afraid to just be. There is a tie there between our self-worth and what we do, and having 10 or 20 goals may work for some people, but it really doesn't work for most of us. So the key is in being intentional. In the last few years, I've taken a less is more approach. Like in 2024, I only had five intentions and less.

Speaker 1:

It has allowed me to feel more at peace, because intention is a huge thing in my life, and if you've listened to other podcast episodes, you've probably heard me talk about intention a lot. It's a word that I do use a lot and it's because for me and my life and what I value, intention is a huge backbone in that I want to be intentional with my time. I want to live an intentional life, and in order for me to live an intentional life, in order for me to live an intentional life, use my time intentionally doing things that I love, all from a place of intention, really allows me to live a life that is fully for me, because I don't want to waste my time on this earth. I know that our time here is limited, this earth. I know that our time here is limited. I don't want to waste my time doing something that doesn't bring me joy, freedom, a feeling of ease, bliss, if it doesn't bring that into my life. I don't want it in my life, and I have gotten clearer and clearer on those things, and I've talked about this in another podcast episode as well, about how your energy is gold, and that episode is also rooted in the theme of intention.

Speaker 1:

So intention has been a huge thing in my life, because I used to do everything not for the correct reasons and not for the right intentions, and it was not working for me, as it does not for most people. And when it comes to setting goals, resolutions, whatever you want to call it, intention is such a powerful thing. Focusing your energy on three or five things will allow you to make more steady progress towards them. It's focused energy, being able to do something in short spurts. But with focused energy, you're going to do a lot more than spending twice as much time doing something. Multitasking. You're not going to be able to accomplish it as quickly as well. It's all about being focused, and when you do this, you're also able to feel a greater sense of peace because you're not overwhelmed, and overwhelm is another thing that we need to be careful of, because it inhibits us. Sometimes, when we are overwhelmed with life or in a state of anxiety, it can inhibit us from actually doing anything. By taking away more and focusing on less, we are able to be fully with whatever it is we are doing. More is not better. Less is more effective.

Speaker 1:

I have also adopted a slow life this past year, and intention is also a huge part of this. Living with intention allows me to live a slower life, which is a way of living and approaching your day-to-day that is rooted in simplicity, mindfulness and living a life that is wholesome and nourishing to you, and this is something that I have chosen for myself because it feels very supportive to me, and I'm going to expand on why I decided to adopt a slow life in an episode to come, and I'm actually also working on launching a blog in the coming weeks where I'm going to share more on slow living and my reflections on it, so when that is out, I will share that all with you. I'm really looking forward to having more conversations about that, because I really think that in our day and age, where we have a very strong and prevalent hustle culture and the need to perform and constantly outdo each other, outdo ourselves it just gets so tiring and you start to wonder what is all of this for and like. Where is the fun in life, where is the joy, where is the peace, where is the ease in all of this? Because having the constant need to perform is not a way to live. So adapting a slower life allows us to step away from that noise and really live life for us on our own terms. And I know that as you're listening to this, you might want to start off the year strong and making progress on every area of your life. We can get high off of the buzz of everyone around us and what people are posting and sharing and what everyone else is doing. It really is a wonderful time.

Speaker 1:

I love a start of the year. I have this thing about Mondays. I don't know if it's because I was born on a Monday, but I love a start of a new week, the start of a new year. I love new beginnings because it goes back for me to the principle that we are in a constant state of flux. In a constant state of flux, we are in constant evolution, which means that with every new day, if we want to look at it from that minute way, we can always choose something new for ourselves to be a new person, to adopt new habits, to be whoever we want to be. It's a new day. New habits, to be whoever we want to be. It's a new day. So I understand why that energy is so attractive and it feels so good to so many of us.

Speaker 1:

But if you choose to set intentions, you don't need to have it all done and figure it out by now when you're listening to this. On January 10th or 11th or even February. You can do this whenever you want. It doesn't have to be at the beginning of the new year. In some years I've set intentions for my year around my birthday, because that felt better for me. You can do this in November. You can do this never as well, like I mentioned, if that doesn't feel good to you at all. So as you set your new intentions, please remember that if you did not reach your goals last year and you feel a bit disappointed in yourself, know that you still made progress in some small way and that still counts for something that should not be discounted. We need to acknowledge the wins. It's so integral for us to do this before stepping into the next thing Giving ourselves time to reflect, to take the sacred pause so that you can be your best friend before you carry on.

Speaker 1:

If we don't learn how to do that for ourselves now, we never will Go slow to go fast. By going at a pace that feels good to you, you are able to make sure that you are working towards anything in life with intention, with clarity and with purpose. If we go too fast, we can fall short of where we want to go because we were too busy being focused on something else, and the truth is is that this actually allows us to get to where we want to go quicker, because we are moving with intent. And lastly, anything worth having in life takes time. So why don't you just allow yourself to enjoy the journey while you're on it? Where do you still resist? Allowing yourself to soften to life? Let yourself feel the bliss, the peace, the awe of being alive. We are not meant to be here on this earth to make ourselves miserable, to fight ourselves to the grave. That is not why we incarnate. That is not why we are here. If we allowed ourselves, we could truly live our own version of heaven on earth.

Speaker 1:

So, as you get ready to start the new year. Take these things and put them into practice in your life, if that feels good, because it will simply allow you to feel more connected to your life, to what you're setting out to do this year, all the exciting opportunities to come, all the success that you're going to experience this year. What adventures are you going to go on? But just let yourself enjoy it. Let yourself fall in love with being here and enjoying the next 365 days of the year to come. Remember to be kind to yourself. Remember to be kind to yourself, and that being your own best friend along this journey of life is really the best thing that we can do for ourselves. So I hope you all have a wonderful start to your year.

Speaker 1:

I would love to know what some of your intentions are for 2025. If you are setting intentions, you can share with me on Instagram. You can also share with me in a comment. You can send me a personal message. Whatever works, if you're not setting intentions, that's wonderful too. Is there any other ritual that you have, perhaps for the year when it starts? I would love to know, and I look forward to talking to you all in my next episode. I am sending you so, so much love and so much light Until then. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this message with any friends and family. I'd love to hear your takeaways, so share them with me by leaving a comment below or heading over to my Instagram at jacindamarie. I am sending you all so much love.