I think it is a safe statement to make that almost everyone has set an intention at some point in their lives. Around this time of year we call them resolutions that encompass a vision for the next year. At other, less symbolic or momentous times, intentions can pop up on any typical day; sometimes in the form of revamping your whole life (or closet), or getting clear about a desired accomplishment, or maybe you simply decide it’s time you start getting up 5 minutes earlier so you’re not rushing out of the house looking disheveled (P.S. I’m sure you still look beautiful when you do this!).

Whatever your intentions look like, we all set them whether we are conscious about them or not.  If you’re like us, intention setting is a daily practice of checking in making sure we are living in alignment with our values AND our big, scary dreams. We make a conscious effort to push ourselves beyond the boundary of what is “realistic” to live in a space that fosters growth and encourages making bold moves to create a bigger life that is more deeply connected to the world and the people around us. To us, realistic goals are the things you set out to do in your day-to-day life, the things that make better habits and create fuller lives. They are important, but if you want to change your whole game you have to start letting the unrealistic ideas and dreams steer the wheel. Shifting from focusing on realistic goals to living in your intentions and dreams that are too big to be bounded not only changes the way you see your world, but the way you see yourself in that world.

For anyone who just held their breath thinking about setting unrealistic goals, we hear you. Living your life within the confines of setting realistic goals feels tangible and achievable. But an incredible thing happens when you start focusing on and living in the space where you let your wild intentions free. Eventually, those wild, big, scary, intentions start feeling tangible and achievable too. When you shift your thinking from, “that will never happen”, to “I’m going to make it happen even if it’s not realistic”, you start putting into place the ground work that it takes to actually make it happen. We can tell you from first hand experience, once one “UNrealistic” thing happens you start believing all your unrealistic things, may not be so unrealistic.

We weren’t put on this planet for living up to realistic dreams. We were put on this planet to make those big, scary, I-must-be-crazy, might-crap-my-pants-it’s-such-a-big-idea, dreams happen. Gandhi, Buddha, Oprah, and Yoga Girl were all fueled by the fire inside. You have to take that fire inside and let it fuel everything you do. Think about it every day, talk about it everyday, write about it, dance about it. The realistic parts will take care of themselves if you focus on the thing that brings you fire.

OUR WILD INTENTION

As Wilderwomen we are fairly versed into letting our wild hang out. Our wild dreams, our wild attitudes, our wild love for connecting women to each other and the environment, our wild protectiveness of each other and of nature. We are still scared as hell of our big wild intention, and we feel that means it’s perfect. We talk all the time about our big, wild intention and, the more we talk about it, the more we believe with our whole body that it is going to happen.

We want to start a Wilderwomen Community Center by 2020! To be honest, we wrote that sentence a few times because putting it out in to the universe means: “Holy smokes that’s exactly one year away!” Our office will be the place where women come to share their stories of adventure, of triumph and failure, of hardship and strength. We envision local art to cover the walls, local speakers to come inspire, a yoga space, a rock wall, a coffee shop (’cause Seattle things). This has been spoken since day one to each other. We literally met and knew we were destined to work together and we share this same, big, wild intention and we love talking about it. This is the first time we have publicly shared it on an online platform and it feels a bit like getting a tattoo on your face. You have to really mean it.

The great thing is that we are going to work our asses off and always keep this wild intention at the forefront of our conversations and our work. It is our commitment to a dream, to boundlessness, to a vision bigger than realism, to something that is alive within us but hasn’t been born into the world (yet!). Come 2020, it honestly doesn’t matter what this wild intention looks like; it matters in what it manifests, like office space, or weekly community meet-ups (technically anywhere could be a community center). What we do know is that we are going to be one step closer every day we get out of bed and set off into the world with our vision. We focus on the fire, we put the work in one step at a time, and we also leave a little bit of room for the magic to happen. In 365 days we may damn well have exactly what we’ve been dreaming of, but we can surely say in 365 days we will closer than we are today.

SETTING YOUR WILD INTENTION

In the first couple weeks of 2019, as you are considering what you want to become resolute on, we challenge you to consider setting a WILD intention for yourself. What is the biggest dream you can muster? To travel the whole globe and get paid to do so (Liz Nugent at Get Shit Done)? To finally start your personal chef business (hi Candidly, Katherine, looking at you!)? To write a book about how insane your life and your healing path has been (hi Kimberly Coaching!)? Maybe it is to finally learn how to fiercely love yourself without judgement.

Maybe it is just a quiet spark right now, and you just need a little fuel. Maybe you’ve already started working towards it and it’s the thing that keeps you working into the wee hours of the night after you have worked all day at your 9-5. Maybe it’s the thing that has you hopping out of bed at 4:30 in the morning to work before work. Maybe this is the first time you have ever asked yourself these questions at all. 

Rather than developing intentions from a foundation of fear, insecurity (losing weight), or perceptions about traditional “success” (getting a promotion), set a wild intention that holds space for those possibilities but calls forth bigger, high stakes actions in your life.

This isn’t about making it happen this year, this is about becoming resolute on what you want to happen with your life. This isn’t about making one goal happen, it is about building a dream. 

What is a dream or idea you have that, the second it starts running wild with your imagination, you shoot it down because it’s scary, impossible, or a waste of time, and you convince yourself it would never happen? THAT, that is your wild intention for this life. Set it now.

MAKING YOUR WILD INTENTION HAPPEN

Now that your dream is big, and amazing, and “UNrealistic” it’s time to break it down into smaller steps.

STEP 1: Get VERY Clear on Your Wild Intention

Avoid vague, sweeping statements like “My wild intention is to travel more” or “My wild intention is to love myself.” Instead give your wild intention life by measuring it and giving the what a how. “My wild intention is to buy a plane ticket once a month so that I can see all the corners of the earth.” or “My wild intention is to love myself through by meditating for an hour each day, repeatedly saying I love myself over and over again (you all know this is one of our favorites).” Or my wild intention is to get one new client a month and X amount of dollars so that come 2020 I can be my own boss.

STEP 2: Make a Vision Board

Create a piece of artwork that represents your wild intention. Maybe it’s simply cutting out magazine pieces and glueing them to paper, whatever it is make sure it lights you up when you look at it. It should be something that reminds you daily what you are working towards with each small step you take. A reminder that each day even though you are tired, you can be one day closer to that dream if you put in a little work before  bed.

STEP 3: Meditate on Your Wild Intention Daily

Even if it is for 5 minutes, sit quietly and focus only on your wild dream. Imagine your wild dream has already come true and feel how it feels in your body. For us we meditate standing in the center of our community center, women climbing on the rock wall, doing yoga in the studio, artwork on the walls, and our offices upstairs. We smile and we feel the pride and connection to that space and breath into it as if it is a living thing. We let the energy become real, and become it’s own entity outside of us. Because that is exactly how dreams become reality. It starts in your head and it gets life breathed into it, it becomes a living breathing thing outside of your head.

If your meditation looks more creative than sitting and breathing, like painting or drawing or writing, give yourself time everyday for your meditation. Rather than scrolling through social media (don’t worry I recognize the irony here) for an hour before bed, decide that is your dreaming hour and get a journal and pour your thoughts and dreams onto paper each day.

STEP 4: Make a Plan and a Timeline

Whether it’s each Sunday, or the 1st of every month check-in with yourself. How much time have you dedicated to thinking and planning for your wild intention? Work backwards. If by 2020 you want to be making enough money to be self-employed, decide how much money it is you need to make to live on. Break that number down monthly, and then break it down per client. If you need $2,000 a month, would you rather have one or two clients for $1,000 each, or 10 clients for $200? Change your prices accordingly, change your packages to reflect these changes. If you are only going to have two clients a month, how much more can you show up for each of them than spreading yourself into 10?

Give yourself a deadline to make these changes. Put reminders in your phone, or colorful highlights in your planner. Make lots of stops along the way to check in with yourself. If you need accountability like we do, follow the next steps.

STEP 5: Buddy Up! Hire a Coach, or Join a Group!

We will be doing monthly meet-ups and one of the things we will be discussing is our Wild Intentions and how they are coming. Join the Facebook page where we will be posting periodically checking in on wild intentions. Hire a business coach. You all know what buddying up looks like, we did it in grade school at summer camp, we did it to study in college, we do it to build lives with humans and partners. Find someone who motivates you, who is on the same page, and who lights a fire under your bum to get shit done.

STEP 6: CRUSH IT!

We will be posting periodically about our 2019 Wild Intention and encourage you to share in the comments, on our Facebook page, on our Instagram handle, or with us in person! In the writing of this blog we have already taken a step closer to our Wild Intention and will have weekly office hours at our co-working space. Details soon!

As always, we love you Wilderwoman!

Cheers,

Jess & Kate ❤