8 Tips To Set Intentions For a Successful Authentic Life

What does it mean to set intentions for a successful life?

What does it mean to live authentically?

Here are 8 tips on how to set intentions for an authentic life. As you answer the questions, consider what it means to live an authentic life and how mindfulness — present moment awareness — helps. These tips are based on 20+ years of training and experience as a mindfulness and meditation teacher, my own career re-births and journey from trauma, PTSD and chronic fatigue syndrome to happiness and health, and conversations with experts. I share my own reflections only as an example of how to apply tips.

1. Identify your values. Keep this simple. If you have one week to live, what’s most important to you? What people, places, experiences do you want in your life? Simply, what is most important to you during this limited time frame? For example, I value my closest family and friends, my communities and sharing the hard-earned knowledge that I’ve gained healing my own body, mind and heart. I value most serving others by sharing what I’ve learned to promote health and happiness.
2. Get present. Use mindfulness techniques to connect with who you are and what you think and feel, right here, right now. Mindfulness is interpreted many ways. For me, the easiest way to think about it is, “What are you noticing right now?” Try some of the meditations below to connect with your present moment experience. This helps you let go of past conceptions of your identity that may no longer fit who you are today. In my case, I genuinely wanted to be an attorney. Following my education and licensure, I worked as a lawyer and faced a serious illness. I then re-evaluated how I wanted to spend my professional efforts. When I originally wanted to be an attorney, I wasn’t wrong, I simply outgrew that interest. Today, I continue to be passionate about sharing what I learned about healing and creating health and happiness.
3. Feel it in your bones. Our body is constantly giving us information. We’ve all had that ‘gut feeling’ — the sense that what we’re doing feels right to us or not. When we’re living authentically and in harmony with our values and purpose, we feel connected physically and emotionally. As Oprah Winfrey says, “…ask yourself: What is my truest…