Setting Intentions — Blog — Courage to Caregivers

JANUARY 2025 Newsletter: Setting Intentions in 2025 to Guide Your Personal Growth 🌱

"I don't have any control over what actually happens except for that I have full control over my will for myself, my intention, and why I'm there. That's all that matters." ~ SZA

Each new year greets us with possibilities. Possibilities for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our communities. In December, we examined how we can take advantage of hope and opportunity and channel our inner calm to prepare us for the challenges that come our way. Now, at the beginning of 2025, we are ready to reflect on what we already have inside of ourselves and SET INTENTIONS that turn our possibilities into reality.

So how do we begin? Setting intentions does not need to be difficult. By looking at the strengths and skills we already have within us, we can recognize the tools we can use to foster our growth such as creativity, compassion, and dedication. Additionally, we can use "I will" statements rather than "I want" or "I won't" phrases so that our intentions can be shaped by what we already have and provide us the opportunity to grow. By crafting clear intentions, we can guide our decision-making and behavior to align with our goals.

3 TOOLS FOR SETTING INTENTIONS

Find Your Inner Peace. Start with the person you are in this moment. Remind yourself of who you are, what you value, and how you can leverage your strengths.
Remember, You Have the Power to Design Your Own Life. You get to decide what your life becomes! Reflect on your values and strengths to see what areas you would like to focus on this year.
Practice Self-Compassion. Obstacles are bound to happen! Be gentle with yourself and remember that, you are doing everything you can in this moment with the knowledge and resources you have. Progress is the goal, not perfection. You got this!

Check out our entire January newsletter focused on Setting Intentions here.

A Radical Question

“To be radically open-minded, you need to be so open to the possibilities that you could be wrong that you encourage others to tell you so.” ~ Ray Dalio

One of my goals is to participate in a collaborative leadership opportunity each year. It supports my personal growth, which in turn helps me be a stronger leader for Courage to Caregivers. In 2024 I was part of a Transformational Leadership Cohort for peer supporters in Ohio, which combines cohort workshops and individual coaching to develop leaders' inner strengths. The workshops build a foundation for systemic change, emphasizing peers' roles in the workforce, while coaching helps participants achieve their personal leadership goals.

One question we considered that applies to all pivotal moments in which we are involved – moments of change, conflict, or creating new outcomes – is:

What am I contributing?

Setting IntentionsKristi HornerJanuary 23, 2025Open-Mindedness

Expectations, Dreams, and Reality

“Manage expectations, but never lose sight of dreams.” ~ Michelle Obama, Becoming

My understanding of habits and expectations were transformed after reading Gretchen Rubin’s “Better Than Before” about making and breaking habits (SO many great strategies to build self-awareness and establish strategies that work for me). And then I quickly followed with her book ”The Four Tendencies” about understanding how you respond to inner and outer expectations. I’m linking her websites here as Rubin offers loads of resources and tips!

Setting IntentionsKristi HornerJanuary 16, 2025Managing Expectations

Preparing for a Journey Like No Other

"Tell your story because your story will heal you and it will heal someone else.” ~ Iyanla Vanzant

When I was expecting our first child, 34 years ago, we purchased a book titled “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” by Arlene Eisenberg. It had been recently published and was dubbed the “pregnancy bible.” We devoured it, quickly followed by “What to Expect the First Year.” We read the books, took all the classes we could, and followed the doctor’s orders (my husband had a LOT of questions). Even though we had plenty of experience as babysitters, camp counselors, and Sunday school teachers, we were as nervous as we could be – we (still) can’t believe they let us take home our little bundle of love. Yet, with all that preparation, we didn’t have a road map for what would come. (Back then, we would have gone to AAA and asked for a Triptik.)

Setting IntentionsKristi HornerJanuary 9, 2025Mapping Your Journey

JANUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER: Manifesting a Practice of Setting Intentions

January is often a time of reflection, and a new year offers new beginnings. Throughout January we have been focused on our theme of SETTING INTENTIONS. An intention is a personal commitment from YOU to YOU - how do you want to BE/become? Setting intentions requires a great deal of self-awareness. We started with mapping your journey, then explored expectations and open-mindedness, and rounded out with moving from survival to thrival.

Here are 5 tools for setting intentions in 2024:

Start with mindfulness and come as you ARE. With a focus on inner peace, notice and connect with the most authentic version of yourself - with intention.
Next, what's most important to you - what are your core values? And leverage your strengths!
Then, remember, YOU are the designer of your own life. Who do you want to BE/become? What do you want more of?
Cultivate the power of intentional thinking - your mindset matters - how will you show up in 2024 for YOU?
Practice self-compassion as you plan for obstacles - be gentle with yourself - I have confidence you're doing the best you can in this moment with what you have. Focus on progress, not perfection.

Check out our entire January newsletter focused on SETTING INTENTIONS here!

“I Managed to Thrive Today”

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.” ~ Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Let’s face it, living in survival mode is the most natural thing in the world. How many times have you ended the day saying, “I managed to survive another day”? Sometimes, that’s the best we can hope for.

But when it comes to our ongoing growth and development, mere survival doesn’t mean we’re making progress. Although striving to survive is natural and necessary, we need to find ways to move beyond survival mode and do what we need to thrive. This involves understanding our emotions and directing our responses more toward self-compassion, self-health, and self-growth.

Setting IntentionsKristi HornerJanuary 24, 2024Survival to Thrival

To Achieve Your Goals, First Examine Your Expectations

In our conversations with caregivers, expectations come up all the time. Most of them have something to do with our loved ones, and many can be classified as “stealth expectations,” which we may not even realize that we have, even though they do exist. Such expectations can be harmful – to ourselves, our growth, and those around us – so this week, we’re discussing how to manage expectations.

Spiritual Wellness, Setting IntentionsKristi HornerJanuary 11, 2024Managing Expectations

Creating a Personal Guide Map

“One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through, and it will be someone else’s survival guide.” – Brené Brown

The beginning of a new year is a great time to celebrate for a couple of reasons. First, we can look back at the prior year and reflect on all the things we achieved and how much progress we made along our journey. Even though we may have faced challenges along the way, my guess is that there are many things – big or small – that you can point to that helped you grow throughout the year.

Setting IntentionsKristi HornerJanuary 3, 2024Mapping Your Journey

January Newsletter: Setting Intentions - Make it a practice in 2023!

Throughout January we have been focused on the theme of SETTING INTENTIONS. An intention is a personal commitment to YOU - how do you want to BE/what do you want to BECOME?

Setting intentions requires a great deal of self-awareness. We explored mapping your journey as a caregiver - managing expectations (of ourselves and others) - and open-mindedness.

"Self-awareness is important when setting intentions. It’s the ability to possess the knowledge, understanding, and recognition of who you are. Knowing yourself means being mindful of your disposition, character, motives, strengths, weaknesses, passions, and desires. Self-awareness allows us to identify what makes us unique in terms of our thoughts and actions. Having all this information can be empowering; you are more likely to be introspective and ready to decide on your intentions when you know yourself, which is an important element of healing and transformation." ~ Diana Raab

What if setting intentions feels HARD? Maybe you're worried about not living into your intention? Or perhaps you're concerned about facing your fears or are feeling discouraged or even disappointed?

We all get off track sometimes. Practice self-compassion - be gentle with yourself. You've done hard things before - you can do it again! Take a pause - consider where you went off course - and commit to trying again tomorrow. Recommit in a kinder and gentler way.

Today, I will be more present.

This month, I will practice patience.

This year, I will celebrate my progress.

Remember - it's not about perfection - it's about PROGRESS.

I am a perfectly imperfect perpetual work in progress.

Check out our entire January Newsletter focused on Setting Intentions here.

Open Mind … Open Heart

“Until the mind is open, the heart stays closed. The open mind is the key to the open heart.” – Byron Katie

This week, we’re talking about open-mindedness, and how we can grow and improve as people by simply being willing to consider information that challenges our existing thought processes. When we open our minds to the fact that there are beliefs and viewpoints that are different from ours, we may also discover that those beliefs and viewpoints could be an improvement over the ones we currently hold. When that happens, we grow.

Setting IntentionsKristi HornerJanuary 18, 2023Open-Mindedness

Expectations Don’t Bring Worthiness

This week’s topic is a new one for us, but it plays a hugely important role in our attitude toward ourselves, our relationships, and our place in the world, even if we may not realize it. Have you ever thought about how you respond to expectations? As we’ve heard from many of our participants, caregivers often get wrapped up in the expectations that they have of themselves, that they have of others, and that others have of them. This week, we’re discussing how to manage those expectations.

Setting IntentionsKristi HornerJanuary 12, 2023Managing Expectations

The Next Stage of Your Journey

At the start of a new year, we all tend to both reflect on the prior year and look forward to the coming year. My guess is you’ve grown in many wonderful ways since the beginning of 2022, and that’s worthy of celebrating! But perhaps you also feel stagnant or stuck in some ways, and those would be good things to work on in 2023. And we hope this month’s theme of setting intentions and this week’s topic of mapping your journey will help you continue your process of self-growth and dreaming BIG.