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Setting Intentions to Clear the Mind
Clear Your Mind
Do you ever feel like your brain might burst? Right this minute, my mind is simultaneously processing way too many thoughts:
Need to walk the dogs.
Text my friend back.
Tomorrow’s physics final.
College applications.
Need to make lunch.
What time do I have to wake up tomorrow?
It seems as though my mind is always on overload. But I’m not actually getting anything done. Why is this?
It’s because our brains aren’t meant to hold this much information. Science shows that we can only store a maximum of three or four things at once in our conscious mind, also known as our “working memory.” When we hold on to more than this, our brains become like messy rooms—cluttered and full of junk, so we can’t find anything. No wonder I feel so overwhelmed and disorganized.
I Intend
Another way we can be clear is by setting intentions each morning. Intentions are state- ments for how we would like to go about our day. Unlike a goal, an intention doesn’t require any steps to reach a certain objective. It’s simply a way to be.
Intentions work like magic. They affect our behavior, how our day goes, and even what things “happen” to us. Here’s how to get started:
- Make your intentions at a set time each day, such as right after waking up. Take a deep breath. Notice how you feel. Do you have pain anywhere in your body? What is the first thought that pops into your mind? Is your brain racing with stress or worry? Pay attention to all of it.
- Ask yourself, What do I want to bring into this day? Breathe and listen to your body’s answer.
- Roll over, grab a pen and notebook, and write down three intentions for the day. Be sure to state them all in the affirmative. (For example, “I will practice forgiveness” rather than “I will not hold a grudge.”) Here is a sample:
I will be patient with myself.
I will listen intently to others.
I will speak out of kindness.
- Read over your list. Let your intentions seep in. It might help to read them out loud. When you feel satisfied, seal the practice with another deep breath. Throughout your day, whenever you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed or stressed, think back to those statements.
This is an excerpt from the chapter “Be Clear” from Whole Girl: Live Vibrantly, Love Your Entire Self, and Make Friends with Food by Sadie Radinsky.
Sadie Radinsky is a 19-year-old blogger and recipe creator. For over six years, she has touched the lives of girls and women worldwide with her award-winning website, wholegirl.com, where she shares paleo treat recipes and advice for living an empowered life. She has published articles and recipes in national magazines and other platforms, including Paleo, Shape, Justine, mindbodygreen, and The Primal Kitchen Cookbook. She lives in the mountains of Los Angeles. For more, visit wholegirl.com.
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Planting a Moon Garden
What does the moon have to do with flower essences and ritual? As we discussed in an earlier chapter, the moon represents a time before the dominant culture came into power. While the moon has no gender, it is a metaphor for the divine feminine and a symbol for the creative, the intuitive, the unconscious, and the shadow. Before the Gregorian calendar came into use in the sixteenth century, many cycles of time were measured on a lunar basis, as are the Islamic, Chinese, and Jewish calendars today. All ancient agriculture was organized around lunar and astrological transits, which is one of the basic practices of biodynamic farming today. Many of us feel a fascination with the moon, and I feel it beckons us back to a different consciousness, where much healing potential awaits.
Creating altars or sacred spaces outdoors can be another place for ritual work. While I can’t have a moon garden in the city, I can have a few lunar plants in my windowsill to catch the moonlight.
Not all flowers bloom in the sunlight. Some plants prefer the darkness, opening to the night. Moon plants can be cultivated in any terrain. Many night bloomers are also very fragrant. I consider all plants medicinal to some degree; however, some of the moon garden plants may be more therapeutic than others. These can also be plants that you use for making your own flower essences. Or, if you like to make dried sticks of herbs to burn, you can use the plants from your moon garden, such as mugwort.
You can see the lunar signature of mugwort by observing the underside of the leaf, which is silver. The Latin name for it is Artemisia vulgaris; Artemis, if you remember, was the Greek goddess of the moon! Plants with light and white blooms work best, as well as gray and silvery leaves.
Here are some perfect moon garden plants:
The video on how to make your own flower essence medicine can be found here.
This is an excerpt from The Bloom Book: A Flower Essence Guide to Cosmic Balance by Heidi Smith.
Heidi Smith, MA, RH (AHG), is a psychosomatic therapist, registered herbalist, and flower essence practitioner. Within her private practice, Moon & Bloom, Heidi works collaboratively with her clients to empower greater balance, actualization, and soul-level healing within themselves. She is passionate about engaging both the spiritual and scientific dimensions of the plant kingdom, and sees plant medicine and ritual as radical ways to promote individual, collective, and planetary healing. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her partner and two cats. For more, visit moonandbloom.com.
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Lavender Rose Chocolate Truffles
Lavender Rose Chocolate Truffles
From the book, Whole Girl by Sadie Radinsky
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 cup coconut cream, from the top of a chilled 13 1/2-ounce can of full-fat coconut milk
- 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
- 2 drops food-grade pure lavender oil
- 1/4 cup cacao powder
- 2 Tbsp dried rose petals, crushed
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Scoop the coconut cream into a double boiler. Heat the coconut cream until it’s hot to the touch, then pour in the chocolate. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Stir the chocolate and coconut cream together until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture forms a shiny ganache.
- Remove the ganache from heat and stir in the lavender oil. Place the bowl of ganache in the refrigerator to chill for 2 hours, or until completely solid.
- Line a plate with parchment paper. Scoop the chocolate mixture into 16 pieces using a tablespoon, and place on the plate. Don’t worry about forming the pieces into spheres yet. Place the plate back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to firm up.
- Pour the cacao powder and crushed rose petals into 2 small separate bowls. Roll the refrigerated chocolate blobs into balls, then roll them in either cacao powder, rose petals, or leave them plain. Serve.
- Store leftover Lavender Rose Chocolate Truffles in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 1 week, or freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost before serving.
This recipe is featured in the young adult book, Whole Girl: Live Vibrantly, Love Your Entire Self, and Make Friends with Food by Sadie Radinsky.
Sadie Radinsky is a 19-year-old blogger and recipe creator. For over six years, she has touched the lives of girls and women worldwide with her award-winning website, wholegirl.com, where she shares paleo treat recipes and advice for living an empowered life. She has published articles and recipes in national magazines and other platforms, including Paleo, Shape, Justine, mindbodygreen, and The Primal Kitchen Cookbook. She lives in the mountains of Los Angeles. For more, visit wholegirl.com.
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Release emotional baggage and reclaim your joy
If you or someone you know suffers from any form of depression—from feeling exhausted or blue to not being able to get out of bed—I am excited to share something with you that can offer a new approach to this huge challenge facing so many people today. Depression happens on a “spectrum” and can have a huge impact on our daily lives. I see depression as the literal depression of self—a side effect of being buried under the sometimes-overwhelming thing called “life.”
In my latest book, How To Heal Yourself From Depression When No One Else Can, I’m bringing my tried-and-true methods to one of the greatest challenges of our time.
My work has helped thousands of people overcome emotional and physical challenges when nothing else has worked. Today I want to share with you one technique that we use in several different ways together in the new book: The Sweep Technique.
The Sweep Technique is a script that you repeat in order to clear subconscious blocks and beliefs. It can be done by simply reading the script out loud or in your head a few times in a row.
The Sweep Script
Even though I have this _______ (describe what you want to release such as “feeling depressed and fatigued”), I acknowledge it’s no longer working for me.
I give my subconscious full permission to help me clear it, from all of my cells in all of my body, permanently and completely.
I am now free to thank it for serving me in the past.
I am now free to release all resistances to letting it go.
I am now free to release all ideas that I need this in order to stay safe.
I am now free to release all ideas that I need it for any reason.
I am now free to release all feelings that I don’t deserve to release it.
I am now free to release all conscious and subconscious causes for this energy.
I am now free to release all conscious and subconscious reasons for holding on to it.
I am now free to release all harmful patterns, emotions, and memories connected to it.
I am now free to release all generational or past-life energies keeping it stuck.
All of my being is healing and clearing this energy now, including any stress response stored in my cells.
Healing, healing, healing. Clearing, clearing, clearing.
It is now time to install _______ (insert a new, healthy energy such as “the energy of moving forward,” “the feeling of being content,” or “the belief that I can feel better now”).
Installing, installing, installing. Installing, installing, installing. And so it is done.
If you’d like to join me for more healing in the new book, I will walk you through using more of this technique, along with others—to release emotional baggage, reconnect with yourself, and reclaim your joy.
Love,
Amy B. Scher
This originally appeared as an author letter by Amy B. Scher, author of How to Heal Yourself From Depression When No One Else Can: A Self-Guided Program to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t.
Amy B. Scher is an energy therapist, expert in mind-body healing, and the bestselling author of How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can and How to Heal Yourself from Anxiety When No One Else Can. She has been featured in the Times of India, CNN, HuffPost, CBS, the Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Curve magazine, and San Francisco Book Review. Scher was also named one of the Advocate’s “40 Under 40.” She lives in New York City. For more, visit amybscher.com.
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