Crafting Your Intentional Narrative Workshop 2023

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Undoubtedly, we live in a world of distractions. As a working professional, you might have a million things on your plate. So, when you are running around at this point, acting intentionally may not be on your top list of priorities. However, setting intentions helps us develop a healthy relationship with ourselves – just what we need to achieve that ever-elusive work-life balance.

Why Craft An Intentional Narrative?

Studies show that crafting an intentional narrative can be a useful tool for sustaining organizational innovation and framing new possibilities. Taking a little time and energy to discover what you truly want and create an intention is a powerful way to stabilize yourself in the world of distractions. Let us take a look at some benefits of crafting an intentional narrative.

Setting a plan to reach your goals

Crafting an intentional narrative provides accountability and supports us in taking control of our choices and life.

Developing a better sense of awareness

By crafting an intentional narrative, you are allowing yourself an opportunity to improve the quality of your daily life. Setting intentions helps us understand our daily routines and gives us a better sense of awareness to improve ourselves.

Working on your strengths and weaknesses

When crafting an intentional narrative, you are actually focusing on the direction you want to go. Intention setting allows you to work on your strengths and weaknesses, giving some room for personal development and growth. It helps you become more flexible about the changes you want to make.

Developing a healthy relationship with yourself

Crafting an intentional narrative helps you develop a healthy relationship with yourself by setting goals aligned with what you want for your life.

Setting intentions vs resolutions

When you set your goals, do you stop to think about how you will navigate through the practical and emotional aspects of your life as you try to achieve them? People set the following vague lofty goals as their new year resolution.

I want to lose 20 pounds
I am going to cook healthy recipes
I want to run like Usain Bolt
I will never eat chocolate again.

Surprisingly, it is not necessarily a lack of willpower or commitment that causes people to fall off the wagon. The problem goes far deeper but also has a reasonably simple fix. The problem with such goal-setting practices is that they are made in silos without considering that we will execute them in situations inherently impacted by many external factors. In fact, take a look at this metric from an article published in Inc. Magazine. So, how can an honest, upstanding goal-setter avoid becoming a quitter before the year is even over? The ‘Crafting an Intentional Narrative’ workshop is a good place to start if you want to stick to your goals this New Year. A resolution that stays with you forever and helps you become a better person. It is an excellent refresher workshop for those looking to achieve everything they hope for. The ‘Crafting an intentional narrative’ workshop is divided into 3 modules – Reflection, Exploration and Creation, which launches in January 2023. Before you give up on your goal planning, let us learn about a more intuitive and well-aligned method for creating and manifesting your desired goals into concrete reality – creating intentions. The work required for crafting an intentional narrative for your life is both external and internal – but you must first ask yourself questions that go deep into the heart of the challenges you are facing in your life at this very moment.

How serious is my problem? Am I getting too anxious about it?
Can there be a different perspective on my problem?
How is the problem affecting my emotional energy
How can I direct my emotional energy to more important issues?
How can I view this problem to improve my daily productivity?

Setting intentions vs goals

Intentions fundamentally differ from goals in one important aspect – strong intentions are powerfully aligned. An intention goes deeper than just writing your desires on paper. For those who can harness the insight, alignment and patience to engineer their internal and external world; it is the key they need to unlock a long-term habit of effortless excellence. That is not to say that a person with a clear focus and measurable goals cannot accomplish the same thing. Rather, the difference between goals and intentions lies in how each is aligned within our lives.

Goals are focused on the future.
Intentions are for the moment.

Goals are specific actions.
Intentions are aspects of your life specifically to achieve the goal.

Goals are often created in silos.
Intentions are deeply in tune with our inner and outer worlds

Goals initiate the process of conscious creation
Intentions facilitate the process of manifestation.

Let us dive deeper into manifestation and creation – and how we can harness the power of intentions for conscious creation.

What is conscious creation?

There is a fantastic piece on the prabodha.com website that details the Spiritual aspects of conscious creation. Some of the points below are inspired by this website. However, we have put it into a more practical format to help readers initiate immediate action. We, as human beings, are universally conscious beings with wants and desires that help shape the world around us. Our mind is a powerful tool that uses the power of manifestation and creation to turn our thoughts into reality. But what is the difference between manifestation and creation?

Manifestation

Our thoughts create the world around us through the power of manifestation. You attract what you think about. Positive thought attracts wholesome energy. Similarly, toxic thoughts will attract negative energy. In a sense, you manifest your personal goals with the power of your thoughts.

Creation

We spend so much time in our heads with our thoughts. Sometimes, we even forget that we possess the power of creation too. Creative power helps us form an intention and develop the will to manifest.

Intention

The intention is the active alignment of purpose, direction and outcome. Ever notice someone who seems to have tremendous willpower to keep achieving despite the odds stacked against them? That is the power of intention. This ‘willing intention’ moves power into action, materialization and creation. Creative energy is primal – the power that allows you to effortlessly manifest ideas into existence. Think back to a time in life when you accomplished something easily that you had previously thought would require much more effort. You had the effortless momentum when creating a particular outcome – an essential flow state. In this state of flow, your intention, purpose and creative energy align – the desired outcomes manifest effortlessly. Like a giant puzzle piece that only you can see, awareness of these areas allows you to bring about desired outcomes through conscious creation.

Three stages of creating intentions

Many people repeatedly try to use intention but are unsuccessful and do not know why. Sometimes, people need clarification about how they are broadcasting doubts and fears, which is having a negative effect – as is not being specific enough. The intention-setting workshop will focus on the power in our thoughts, words and actions. The module will also focus on planning and goal setting to attract different possibilities and how it helps improve our capabilities and strengths.

First module – Reflection

Knowledge allows us to light up our awareness and notice the little shifts in our inner and outer worlds. By removing the cobwebs that separate us from experiencing our authentic selves, we can take an honest stock of things as they stand in the present moment. The degree of knowledge determines the power in our thoughts, words, and actions and our capacity to manifest what we desire.

Second module – Exploration

Once we take stock of our world, exploration helps us consider different directions and outcomes to figure out which are most aligned with our lives in the present moment. This is to manifest expanding peace and well-being on all levels. Outcomes are seeing and identifying the possibilities and pathways. The act of planning and goal setting to attract different possibilities never happens in a silo. To create authentic alignment, we must act within the parameters of our unique situation, capabilities and strengths.

Third module – Creation

After we have explored the different possibilities and come to a suitable desired outcome or intention, we can set this awareness into motion by aligning our intention and will to create a tangible reality. Of course, no one has all the answers and there will always be blind spots that are only visible in hindsight but having a strong alignment, awareness and connection with our intended outcome can help us flow into the new reality – and even pivot with grace in a new direction if needed. So, what practices guide us as we work with people to help them craft an intentional narrative?

Tools for Crafting an Intentional Narrative

Talking Circles

In our previous workshops, we deeply rooted in indigenous people’s traditional practices. The talking circle acts as a communication medium for people prohibited from communicating with each other because of various social taboos to speaking or being heard. It has helped our participants speak openly without external or internal barriers.

Meditation

Meditation is a great way to increase self-awareness by removing all negative thoughts and reducing stress levels to achieve the desired outcome. In our workshops, we have conducted meditative practices that have helped increase participation and better focus from our audiences. Moreover, over 300 meditation practitioners have agreed that any type of meditation practice is consistently associated with changes in the morphology of the prefrontal cortex and body awareness regions.

Reflective Journaling

Reflecting on one’s practice through journaling may allow for introspection, concept attainment, problem-solving, action planning, and reorganization. Reflecting journaling has not been used only in the development of training but also in research and clinical practice. Taking our workshop for example, reflective journaling has helped our participants to improve their decision-making skills by focusing on key points during the workshop. These are just some of the practices we have adapted into our workshop on “Craft Your Intentional Narrative.” Workshop dynamics for every session are different and our practitioners are guided deeply by the energy dynamic each batch of participants brings to the session. Our workshop instructors are trained in both eastern practices as well as western healthcare and draw from nearly 30 years of combined experience in stress management research, improv theatre exercises, family and personal counselling interviews, ashtanga yoga, vipassana as well as reflective journaling and critical thinking. For more information on the workshop, you can go here. Read on for more resources on ‘Craft Your Intentional Narrative’.

Books for Crafting an Intentional Narrative

Here are some of our favorite books for people looking to craft their own life journey this year – with intention and purpose. Look, this is an eclectic mix of self-help books. If you have more to add to this list, please reach out to us at [email protected] – we will be happy to feature you on this blog with due credit.

Ultra learning

This book focuses on self-learning and aggressive learning. Rather than paying through the nose for immersion courses, you can take charge of your learning by using the techniques Scott outlines in this book.

Four-hour workweek

Tim Ferris, in his book Four-hour workweek, charts a path for people to get all the rewards of working without having to wait until the end of their career. Even the podcasts presented by Tim Ferris focus on getting rewards and pushing yourself to new challenges and goals in your life. This guy is a powerhouse for those looking to live intentionally.

Brave enough

Brave Enough is a treasury of wisdom, empathy and guidance, all in her characteristically authentic, tough-love, truth-telling, utterly charming voice. This book helps readers find a positive, driven life and how challenges can be converted into opportunities while keeping your mental health intact.

The obstacle is the way

In this book, Ryan Holiday focuses on how one can overcome all sorts of obstacles and convert them into opportunities and strengths. This book is about your reaction from ‘this is bad’ to ‘how can you make it good?’. This book explains that every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.

Create your best life – The ultimate life list guide

This book by Caroline Adams Miller and Michael B. Frisch weaves rich tales of goal accomplishment and happiness in with goal-setting exercises. This book creates an interactive and engaging way to view goals of life and achievement.

Join our ‘Crafting an Intentional Narrative’ Workshop

Are you keen on setting powerful intentions this year? For January 2023, we are re-running our ‘Crafting Your Intentional Narrative’ workshop.

The ‘Craft Your Intentional Narrative’ workshop is meant for individuals or small groups looking to create an extraordinary intentional narrative for 2023. Through our unique model of reflection → exploration → creation, you will gain the courage to take little steps towards your big hairy audacious goals. This workshop will help you establish:

A strong reflective journaling practice
A better understanding of your desires
A step-by-step roadmap for 2023
A blueprint for dealing with setbacks
Guided visualization exercise

Join us for a 3-hour virtual retreat as you engage in an open circle, journaling exercises, fireside chats and mini-meditations – and come away with deep friendships to begin your year!

Setting goals and achieving them is fundamental to the success of any venture.

However, cultivating an intentional approach can help you achieve the goal much more harmoniously.

Taking charge of your narrative can help you regardless of whether you are setting work goals or striving to overcome personal hurdles by helping you come up with a mentally, emotionally and some would say spiritually aligned action plan.

Time for a shameless pitch!

We are running an intimate group immersion looking to make 2023 a transformative year. “Crafting Your Intentional Narrative” is a course about <insert>

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