Living with intention might seem synonymous with being goal-driven or meticulously scheduling every aspect of your life. However, true intentionality transcends these notions and can either coexist with goals or stand alone.
In this episode, we'll demystify the nuances between setting goals and living intentionally. More than just a checklist of achievements, intentionality can be the guiding light towards a more fulfilled, content life, especially in the aftermath of battling breast cancer.
Discover how adopting an intentional mindset can alleviate feelings of struggle post-recovery. Dive deep into reflections that can shape your daily intentions and the broader purpose of your life.
By rooting our intentions in authenticity and gratitude, we shift focus from mere accomplishments to connecting with our genuine self, thereby living a life that resonates with our true essence. Join us in this exploration of intentional living.
Read the full transcript:
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This is Laura Lummer, the breast cancer recovery coach. I'm a healthy lifestyle coach, a clinical Ayurveda specialist, a personal trainer, and I'm also a breast cancer survivor. In this podcast, we talk about healthy thinking and mindfulness practices, eating well, moving your body for health and longevity. And we'll also hear from other breast cancer survivors who have reengaged with life, and have incredible stories to share. This podcast is your go to resource for getting back to life after breast cancer. Well, hello, and welcome to episode 63 of the breast cancer recovery coach. I'm your host, Laura Lummer. And I am super happy that you are joining me today, I have a great show for you. And if you listen to the podcast with any regularity, you probably know that I say that a lot that I start the show off by thanking you for being here and saying I'm super excited. And you know what the truth is I am because today we're going to be talking about living an intentional life. And while that is important for healing and happiness, and many years ago, I set an intention and intention to be a breast cancer mentor. After my diagnosis, I was contacted by a breast cancer mentor. She was a woman who was a two time breast cancer survivor. And her advice and her guidance calmed my soul so much, and helped me have some direction in the craziness that was happening, as you will know how that goes immediately after you have a diagnosis. And it was while I was still in treatment that I set an intention that I would become a breast cancer mentor. And over the years that evolved from being a breast cancer mentor, to actually transforming my business into becoming a breast cancer recovery coach supporting women after breast cancer treatment everywhere around the world. And every time you download an episode and you listen to this podcast, you are supporting my intention of being the person I want to be in this life. So no joke, I am super excited that you're here. And I am always excited to bring you this show. Because it's my hope. And it's my intention that the information that I bring to you, supports you in some way, has a nugget that you need at just the right time. And one of these episodes or hopefully a little nugget in each of them. And that's what we're going to talk about today is setting intentions and here's how that happened. Here's how it came about once a month in rebuffed by my online course I do a live coaching calls. And I try to keep the topic of those calls relevant to some of the lessons and the modules that are in the read vivify program, because the purpose of the call is to support my students, the ladies who are in Rivera fie. And moving through those phases of releasing and renewing and regrouping and reviving. And so this is a time that I can answer questions, exchange ideas, and support them in moving through the program. Now the very first module in re vivify is release. And the reason why I start the process of breast cancer recovery with this module is because I know how important it is that you get your mind around setting an intention that allows you to leave the past behind you that allows your mind to be present today about who you want to be. And that shifts the energy of your subconscious mind. So if you wake up every day with the intention of living your healthiest life, and you you state this, you speak it out loud, or you write it down, and you say to yourself, I will make choices that support living my healthiest life today, you will start to change. And that's not a goal. It's not saying I'm going to lose 10 pounds this month. I'm only going to eat vegetables today. It's an overall intention every day of how you want to show up. And if you say today, I am going to live my healthiest life. This becomes a filter through which you make your choices throughout the day. So we're having this conversation about living an intentional life. And that topic doesn't come up by chance. It's because it's it's the end of the year. And it's so important at this point in the year to be very intentional because some thing I often hear, and you may hear yourself, say, I'm struggling, I'm feeling lost, I'm disconnected, I just have to get through these holidays. And if any of those things sound familiar, I would love to suggest that you take a moment. And really consider how intentional you're being with your days with your life, and how you're showing up. Now, the holidays can be stressful enough. But especially if you're recovering from breast cancer, if you're trying to manage energy and healing and fatigue and all of the things that come along with the mindset and the PTSD of everything that you've been through. That's a lot to manage. But if you have an intention, and if you make your choices and end this year, strong and intentional God, I'm saying that word intention, like 100 times, but you're probably gonna hear it 1000 More before the show was over. Because I really want you to understand how vital it is to joyful living, and to feeling of being connected to something so that you're not struggling and feeling lost and feeling directionless. So if you're just trying to get through life, or just through the holidays, or these last couple of months of the year, that's you missing out on a lot of days if all you're doing is just trying to get through them. But if you set an intention for your life, and you make your choices based on what serves and supports that intention, you'll have a whole different experience of these last, well, it's not even 60 days now, what 45 days of the year. But also, you'll have that intention of the new year coming forward. And when you're more present in your life, you have more control over your life, you're taking charge of the way you want to live. I love this quote that I found in an article in Ink Magazine by Marla Tabaka. Her article is setting goals isn't enough, setting daily intentions will change your life. And in that article, she says clearly stating how you intend to feel today, instead of wishing you felt better, puts the power of change in your hands. As an example. I intend to live in gratitude for all that I have in all that I am allowing joy and love to fill my heart and positive energy to fill my body. That's a pretty cool intention. And when you set an intention like that, you begin to make different choices throughout the day. It's almost like when you were a teenager, before you went out with your friends and your mom would say don't do anything you wouldn't do if I weren't there. If I were there with you, you know that little voice of your mom was still in the back of your mind. When you found yourself in a situation where if your mom was there, she'd be giving you that look. And maybe you made the choice to do it anyway, even if you wouldn't if she were there. And maybe you'll make choices sometimes that don't support the intention you've set for yourself, but you'll have more awareness of what you're doing. You'll have more awareness of the choices you're making and whether or not they're supporting the person you want to be and the life you want to live, you'll begin to notice your choices. And whether or not you're a planner, you may find yourself setting goals that support those intentions of who you want to be. For instance, if if you do have the intention of living your healthiest life, you may suddenly find yourself saying you know what I'm going to eat for one half cup servings of vegetables every day.
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Or you may decide I'm not going to talk out loud about my aching joints anymore, because that just increases the focus on my pain, rather than concentrating and growing energy and living my healthiest life. And things will begin to change. So let's talk for a minute about the difference between goals and intentions. So here's the dictionary definition of a goal, the object of a person's ambition or effort, an aim or a desired result. A goal is something we decide to attain and we work towards creating in our future. Whereas an intention is a choice you can make right now. You can set an intention right now. It's who you want to be. It's your purpose is the Life You Want To Live today and in this moment. I'm going to share this definition with you because I love it by Deepak Chopra. He says intention operates outside the boundaries of normal space and time. It is the great organizing and unifying force of the universe, infinite in scope and duration, and allows us to imagine beyond the boundaries of what local mind sees as possible. And to think outside the box and Believe in miracles. Intention is this bigger energy behind a goal. So as I shared with you a moment ago, I had set an intention of serving breast cancer survivors. I knew in my heart of hearts, that's what I wanted. This was my purpose. This, in my mind, made sense to me, that if I could take this, and I could serve people and support other women with it, it made sense to me. And I set that intention. But behind that intention, were a lot of goals, I had a goal to get a different degree, I had a goal to get different certifications. And to build my credentials in a certain way, I had to set goals of how I would structure my business and different things that had to be built out in order to be able to fulfill that intention. So you don't have to be a planner. And you don't have to be goal oriented. And you don't want to, you don't have to want to have a podcast. That's not what setting an intention is about. It's about the difference between saying, I want to be happy, and I choose to be happy today. An intention is that it's a direct statement that gives you back your power. It's the difference between saying I wish something was different, or I wish something would change. And saying, I choose to live differently. I choose these things today that fill my heart. I choose these things today that support the goal that I want to achieve. For instance, today, I set an intention to be open to seeing the opportunities that will guide me towards the goal that I have in life. So intentions can be tied to goals in the sense that your goals serve that bigger intention. And your intentions can fuel your goals by giving them that higher purpose, or your intention doesn't need to have a goal behind it. But your intention guides you as you make choices throughout the day. So let's talk about a couple of things for you to consider as you set an intention for your day, as you set an intention for your life. And knowing that that intention can change and evolve, as you become more comfortable with that person you want to be. As you become more clear, you develop that clarity about what you really want in this life, and what you really want to offer the world, your intention will change and grow with you as your life changes and grows. And we know that that's the one consistent thing in life. It's constantly changing. And that's a beautiful thing about it. So, knowing that, here's one thing to consider, first and foremost, what is authentically you, when you're setting that intention for your life? What is it, you truly want, not what you think you should want, not what other people think you should do, not who other people think you should be. When we're talking about overcoming struggle, feeling disconnected, feeling lost, just not completely connected and embracing this life. You need to reconnect to who you are, and what you want. And you need to be okay with seeing that sometimes we figure out who we are or what we want, when we think, Oh God, I shouldn't want that. Or how many things around me will change. If I move forward with that if I take the steps to step fully into who I am now, or how I see my life now. But it's okay. It doesn't have to be a big leap all at one time. It's just an intention to move towards becoming that person who is in your heart of hearts, that person who may have changed going through cancer treatment, who may have changed and have a different perspective on life. Now, that was one of the things we talked about in our E vivify coaching call is going through this experience this traumatic, life changing life threatening experience. It changes your perspective, and allows us to see the things that are really important. And to notice the things that are just trivial drama, and to let them go to realize these things are not important. What's the bigger picture? And that's where your intention comes in. So know yourself, be very, very authentic. And write things down or write that question down. Who am I? What do I want every day ask yourself that because it's by doing that, that your life begins to become aligned with your vision and your desire and your purpose of who you are. And as you're setting In that intention, as you develop more clarity as you connect to that glow in your heart of what you truly want and how you want to live, be really specific with it, you want to use the language that gives you control. So not I want this or I wish for that. But I choose this, let's say you want to live a more financially secure life, maybe your intention is, I choose to open myself to the opportunity for more financial security, or I will make choices that support me living a more financially secure life. And when you have an intention like that, and you write it down, and you say it to yourself. And if you're anything like me, and you're walking by a Lush store, and you see a beautiful, delicious smelling bath bomb, he'll say, does that support my intention of living my most financially secure life? Or is that a little bit of a frivolous squander of my money? You see, there's that that mom voice in the back of your head saying, Would you do that if I was there with you, and your intention can help you with that. So you're making great choices that support the life you want. So from this example, you can see how living an intentional life also helps to just open your eyes and create more awareness to the choices that you're making, and the things that you're focusing on. So you can notice, if I'm focusing on this, if I'm choosing this relationship, if I'm choosing to spend money on this bath bomb, if I'm choosing to eat this ice cream, and it isn't supporting my intention, why am I doing this, your intention acts like this, awesome, tether back to your soul back to your heart says, Hey, come back, take a look at it not beat yourself up not feel bad about the choices you made. Knowing we're only human, we're always going to have setbacks, there are always going to be times when you should expect them where you do something or make a choice. That doesn't necessarily serve you intention because you feel obligated or for whatever reason. But then you can be aware of why you did that. And you can check in with yourself and make a decision of that's okay, this is a part of my life now or huh, that doesn't make me feel very good. It doesn't serve the person I want to be in the life I want to live. And I'm not going to do that, again, let your intention serve as your own non judgmental filter, a guide that's allowing you to come back to what your own truth is. And now if you remember, in the beginning of the show, where I said that the revivify program starts off with release. Setting this intention is so helpful and continuing to look forward in your life to being president now. And to having a focus on what you want your life to look like. I've talked so many times in this podcast about how we lose our power, we feel powerless, or our choices are taken from us. I mean, certainly we have choices as you go through cancer treatment. But as I've said before, they're not great choices. It's kind of like between being between a rock and a hard spot. And so when you're in that position, it can tend to make you feel powerless, in a difficult part of this space of recovery of getting past the treatment. And the experience of having had cancer is finding that power. And determining and setting and following an intentional life really does give you back that power. And so something that is really important in this process of setting an intention of being authentic with yourself, being honest with yourself, filtering your choices through that intention is to sit back every single day, and acknowledge the great stuff that's happened, the good things that have come to keep that positive outlook, to practice gratitude, and that practicing of gratitude, it just putting that positive energy back out into the universe. Remember the Deepak Chopra quote that I referred to saying, it helps you think outside the box and believe in miracles, while practicing gratitude is that acknowledgement of these little tiny miracles every day, acknowledging those blessings that are in your life. Sometimes when I'm working with women who are having a very, very difficult time finding a way to continue to live their lives beyond cancer, whether they're still in treatment, or if they've just finished treatment. I tried to help them see, this is just one part of your life. It's a big part. It's a huge, impactful part, and it's very challenging, but around this part, are all kinds of other wonderful things. And some of them are as simple as a warm, safe bed, to sleep in, and to wake up in. That in itself is something to be grateful for. A delicious warm cup of coffee in the morning. These are small little blessings, and things that we can practice gratitude towards to help keep our mind focused on positive things as we're healing. These are things that inspire us, these are things that help us to let go of heavy feelings. And they bring a lightness back into our life back into our heart. So as I wrap up the show, I want to just leave you with a couple of thoughts, and suggest that maybe you try a writing exercise, or at least just a thinking exercise and think through these questions. But are you living an intentional life? Or do you feel like you're just drifting, that you're disconnected and struggling with feelings of isolation, or just simply feeling unfulfilled? And if that's where you're at? What is one intention you could set today that speaks to your heart, and that can begin to shift those feelings to help you feel more connected? To help you know that today, you can make a choice that will begin to create positive change and happiness? Are you a planner? Do you have a list of goals that you're writing? And you're focused on? And if so, do you have an intention behind those goals? What is that intention? And how does it fuel them? How does it make them even more? And how do those goals serve that intention for you to become the person you want to be not just have the things you want to have, not just achieve the things you want to achieve, but become the person you want to be, and live the life you want to live? Now, I would love to hear some of the intentions that you live with. And if you have questions, or if you're willing to share those intentions, I hope you'll find me on Facebook as Laura Lummer and share those with me and actually have a little bit of an exciting or not just a little bit, I have some exciting news. So many of you have found my podcast or on my email list from downloading my ebook. The six habits of healthy happy breast cancer survivors are my free guide care four steps to healing after breast cancer. And I've also had a lot of people ask to get into the revivify Facebook group, when they're not a part of the revamp of my course. And so what I've come to realize is that whether or not revivify is something that you're ready for I'm hearing that you want more community. And so I've created a special Facebook group called the breast cancer recovery group. And that is for all of you who've downloaded any of my free programs, my mindful meditations. If you're on my email list, then you know that you've downloaded one of my programs. And so I am going to be sending out a link on November 12. To anybody who is on my email list to come and join this group, the breast cancer recovery group where you can still embrace that community we can share with each other. This is not a medical group. This is a recovery group. This is a group about living a mindful intentional life, how we find happiness, how we get past the struggles and move on to a happy and fulfilling life. We have a very special connection as breast cancer survivors and being with like minded women, it changes everything and it helps you to feel less alone and less isolated because of this experience. So look for that email. And if you're not on my email list, go to my website, download my free guide care four steps to healing after breast cancer and become a part of this community. And get all the good stuff that I share with my community of awesome breast cancer survivors through my weekly emails. I thank you again for listening so much. And thank you for putting your energy into my intention of making choices every day that support other breast cancer survivors around the world. I'll talk to you again next week. And until then, be good to yourself and live an intentional life
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in your head. Use your courage to the test laid all your doubts your mind is clearer than before your heart is wanting more your futures you know you've been waiting on
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