Illuminate Intentions
So, you want to illuminate your deepest intentions?
Here’s some ways you can dive deep into your mind, uncover your desires, get the most out of your journal prompts & manifest those dreams of yours.
— Jackie Butler
Do it daily.
Journaling is a habit I would suggest doing daily, I understand it can be hard so here are some journal prompts you should try to answer as often as possible.
Try and make it your goal to answer 1 or some of these as a minimum daily and then dive deeper into your journaling with the journal prompts in Illuminate Intentions at least once a week.
- 3 things I am grateful for.
- Highlight of my day.
- Today I want to…
- What do I really want?...
- How do I feel?
- What has worked well for me?
- What do I need to change?
- What have I achieved?
Envision it.
I’m sure you’ve heard the old quote by Napoleon Hill.
“Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive and Believe, It Can Achieve.”
I truly believe this, and to be honest, even if you don’t, it won't hurt to try it out… right?
This activity is designed to bring clarity to you and your short term goals.
You’re going to envision it.
Write it down as if it’s happened.
Read it & feel it, as if it’s happened.
Whatever it is you desire.
However it is you want to feel.
You’re going to write a 90 day letter.
Start by working out the date, 90 days from today.
(Hint: Google “90 days from today”)
Now, write the date at the top of your page.
From here you are going to write in present tense.
Write down everything you want to have achieved in 90 days from now.
How do you feel?
What do you have?
What has changed?
Who is in your life?
Who isn’t?
Where are you heading?
The most important thing to note is how you feel, really think about this and describe it with precision.
For example;
I have woken up today feeling incredibly grateful for the amazing people in my life.
You cannot wipe the smile off my face today, I have achieved my goal of __________.
I did it! I finally __________ & it feels incredible, I have so much passion/excitement/gratitude for ____________.
The more detail you can add the better, maybe you want to note down how the whole day goes; What do you do when you wake up? How does that feel? Where do you go to work? How does that feel? What do you eat, what do you wear, who do you interact with?
Make sure everything you write about is within your control & be kind to yourself. Accepting that it may not be your final destination but you’re on the way.
Once you’ve done this, make a conscious effort to read this back to yourself multiple times a week.
Don’t read it and wonder how it will happen, or when.
Just read it, believe it & feel it for 90 days.
The first time I completed this exercise, I was blown away.
I can honestly say I wrote down some pretty extreme goals, and during the 90 days I would read it and low-key question the goals I’d set.
It wasn't until the date came around & I read it back, realising I had achieved everything I had set out to.
Dive deeper.
It is up to you how much you get out of these journal cards.
I’m sure you can answer some of them with one word answers.
But we want to get deep.
Really feel into those juicy questions.
Even more so if you feel resistance to answering them.
You may have heard of the “5 why’s method” to get to the root of your problem.
If not, basically this is a process used all over the world to get to the bottom of an issue.
As the name suggests, you’re going to ask yourself ‘Why’ at least 5 times.
It may feel hard at first, you will probably want to give up after 1 or 2.
But don’t.
Commit to finding out what’s really going on or what the real answer is.
Usually, the first answer that comes to mind isn’t the exact answer, this is your conscious mind telling you what you think the answer is.
So write that answer down, then ask yourself “Why?”
An example would be:
What is bothering me today?
My partner.
Why?
Because they didn’t do the dishes.
Why?
Because they were in a rush to go to work & didn’t even kiss me goodbye.
Why?
Because their job is important to them & they prioritise work.
Why?
Because they’re passionate & committed.
Why?
Because I’m worried if I say something it will cause an argument so it keeps happening.
You can see with this example, the issue is lack of communication, not the partner specifically.
This will help you see your answers clearly & you can use it for every journal prompt in Illuminate Intentions.
Love yourself.
We are so quick to obsess over the things we don’t like about ourselves, and very reluctant to obsess over the good things we possess as a person.
Why is this?
Maybe an ego thing, fear of sounding arrogant?
Well, you’re going to drop those feelings for this exercise, and I mean drop them completely.
Leave them out of your mind and focus only on the good.
You’re going to write yourself a letter.
This is going to be your personal reminder that you ARE amazing & that you have done amazing things.
I want you to write to yourself as another person, if it helps, think of someone who adores you and how they would speak to you.
List all of the things you’ve overcome, the impact you have on the people you love & even strangers, the things people love about you, the things you do & the way you handle situations.
You might start your letter by saying the following:
“Hello _____, just here to remind you that…”
“Good morning you hot bitch, remember the time you…”
“Hey, me again, here to tell you that you are…”
Play with it, have fun with it, but most importantly reflect on all the amazing traits you have.
There’s a list a mile long & that I can guarantee.
You might want to address a dark time you overcame, a situation where you went above and beyond for someone, small things you do daily that you often forget, traits you have that others love about you, times you’ve made others laugh or feel good & goals you’ve achieved.
There is no right or wrong to this activity, it’s all about feeling the love.
Once you’ve written this letter to yourself you’re going to record yourself reading it.
Yep, the dreaded recording your own voice, I hear you.
I see you skimming past this thinking ‘Nah-ah, that’s a no from me’.
But wait…
There is a reason for this, you’re going to listen to it back every day for 30 days.
Yep - it will feel cringe, I know it will, because I’ve done it myself.
But there’s something magical about listening to yourself say all these amazing things about you.
Something we don’t do often enough.
You have no excuse, it’s not like affirmations you’ve screenshot and lost in your camera roll or notes you’ve written down and forgot which notebook you put them in, this is in your hot little hands for most part of the day.
I set it as a shortcut on my phone screen for the 30 days and when I’d click on it, it would play automatically.
So try it, and watch things dramatically change in your mind over 30 days.
* I found this exercise in a book called ‘Rise sister rise by Rebecca Campbell, would highly recommend reading this!
Picture it.
This is by far one of my favourite visualisation tools, a vision board.
I have created vision boards since I was a teenager, and now as I reach almost 30 I still have a vision board up in my bathroom.
There are so many ways to go about this.
To create a physical vision board you can cut images out from magazines or you can save your own photos and inspiration, then print them as photos (probably the cheapest & most precise option in my opinion).
The idea is that you look at this and feel the feelings of already having these things.
Having it somewhere you are often as a reminder of what you’re working towards is great motivation.
If you’re struggling to think of what to put on there, here are some ideas;
- Bank accounts / financial goals
- Cars
- Houses
- Outfits
- Travel destinations
- Goal career
- Ideal relationship / partner
- Quotes
- Materialistic items
- Family goals
The other option is a digital vision board, these are handy as you can update them as often as you like without much hassle.
I have created a board on Pinterest called ‘Vision’ & I add all my dreams and desires there.
You could also create one as a photo collage and set it as your desktop or mobile background -you’re definitely going to look at that every day.
On my current vision board I had a 370z (now my current car), veneers (that I now have), a post about launching my first course (which I’ve now done)
I also added photos of people I’m inspired by (one of which invited me for drinks once… thanks anxiety for ruining that for me).
Yes I worked hard to have these things, but it’s been pretty cool to look back and remember when it was just a ‘dream’ so to speak.
Dream big, you know what they say, something about shoot for the stars…