Possibilities, Intentions, Dreams and New Beginnings

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“Nothing is impossible, even the word says I’m possible.” ~ Audrey Hepburn

One of my favourite quotes is “If you change nothing, nothing will change” - Unknown.

It’s amazing how we go through our lives day after day thinking the same thoughts and doing the same things. It’s very common for me to ask a friend how they are and hear, “oh, you know, same old, same old…”.

Why do we accept that? Why do we think that’s okay? The answer is simple - our brains like routine, they thrive on routine, and the part of our brain that experiences fear goes into high alert whenever something different is on the horizon.

And then suddenly one day we wake up and realize that we’re getting older and we aren’t living the life we want, the life we were meant to live. We lose a job and realize we want a different career, or perhaps the strain of caregiving for and witnessing the illness and death of our parents shakes us to the core. Or our children grow up and don’t need us anymore. Or we get older and are forced to make changes, such as a retirement.

It could be anything, but something wakes us up to the knowledge that we’re not living in integrity - we’re not living our lives with purpose.

So how do we change that? It all starts with our mindset. Remember, our thoughts create our lives.

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This week I’m starting something brand new - something I never dreamed in a million years I would do. A podcast. That’s right - me doing a podcast! In the podcast, called The Journey Within Podcast, we’ll be diving deep into mindset and thought work including an exploration of the mind/body connection with meditation, mindfulness, slow mindful yoga and writing practices. By connecting your mind and body and learning to listen to yourself with compassion, you’ll discover things about yourself that you’ve never known before.

I often talk about setting intention so I’d like to share with you my word of intention for this year. Every day I pull out a card from a meditation deck of cards that I have and each card has a word that I use to set my intention for the day ahead. At the beginning of January I pulled a card to set my intention for the year ahead.

The card I pulled said “May you know possibility”. Possibility. What a wonderful word! I think of that word every day and it inspires me as I explore all the changes I’ve made in my world this past year.

Possibility is defined as “a chance that something may or may not happen or exist”. What I love about the word possibility is that it allows me to change my thinking from “I can’t do whatever” to “It’s possible”. Instead of saying “It’s probably not going to happen” you could say “It’s possible”. 

What if we opened our minds and hearts to everything that may be possible for us? What would that look like? More importantly, what would it feel like? If we believe something is possible then maybe we’ll take a small step towards making it so.

Think about it. Last year at this time I would have never dreamed that I’d be starting a podcast. I would have said it was impossible. Well, when I set my daily intention to one of “possibility” all that changes.

Here’s a Meditation for Possibility you can try:

  • Sit comfortably wherever you are, close your eyes or lower your gaze, and begin to notice how you feel.

  • Feel your feet on the floor. Feel your heart beating. Begin to notice your breath. Don’t try to change it, just notice.

  • Let’s take three deeper breaths together - a long inhale and exhale through the nose.

  • You may notice your mind doing it’s thing - thinking. Just let those thoughts go by as if they’re on a cloud. Let your breath return to normal.

  • Now repeat to yourself, “May I be open to the possibilities around me”. “May I be open to the possibilities around me.” Let the words move through your mind and through your heart.

  • Notice how you feel as you repeat those words. “May I be open to the possibilities around me”.

  • Gently open your eyes.

What did you notice? 

What dreams are possible for you?

I’d love to hear from you so please send any comments or questions to me at sharon@sharonashtonmindfulyoga.com. Feel free to share this email with anyone else who may be interested.

Are you interested in life change & mindset coaching? If you are interested in exploring new ways to bring joy into your world and live your best life, please email me to set up a complimentary 30 minute coaching session/discovery call at sharon@sharonashtonmindulyoga.com or visit my website coaching page.

If you’re interested in more inspiration and community around positive mindset, slow mindful yoga, meditation and mindful writing practices, come join our private Facebook group here:

You can access your free Find Your Inner Coach Guide including a guided visualization and journal prompts here:

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"I felt at complete ease with Sharon from our first conversation. She has a wonderful, gentle but firm way that made me focus on my thoughts / feelings so I could remove / change to move forward with a completely different feeling to what felt like obstacles. It was great having regular coaching that gently kept me accountable to actioning and moving towards my goals. Sharon has vast experience in so many areas, I felt that makes her an amazing coach.”

Michelle Carney, East Galway, Ireland

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Stepping Into Life’s Adventures

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Writing as Meditation