Resolution is something between a goal and an intention. This year, instead of making New Year’s resolutions you won’t keep, spend some time with intention, which is the magic underpinning of resolutions and goals.

Intention carries great weight and has the power to transform and change your circumstances. How is this so? It is because intention springs from a deeper part of ourselves that is connected to purpose and passion. Intention is there whether we are conscious of it or not. Our heart holds close, nurtures and protects what is most dear to us. A powerful intention is one where the head, heart and body align behind it to bring it to fruition. Once an intention is birthed, it remains there, humming in the background, informing every choice, and every action.

Understanding how our brain works, specifically the origin of emotions, can supercharge our probability that intention becomes reality, if we use the knowledge to change the way we think and feel. It is said, we are what we think, but research has shown that what we think originates in what we feel, and feelings originate from bodily sensations that the mind is trying to interpret and act on. It goes much deeper than thoughts alone. This has to do with what’s called affective realism.

Affective Realism

Lisa Feldman Barrett, in her TED talk entitled Cultivating Wisdom: The Power of Mood said we believe what we feel. Our brain is wired to see the world through affective realism. Calm or agitated, pleasant or unpleasant; these are the criteria by which the brain judges sensations which arise within (introspection) to determine what is needed to bring all systems into balance. In turn, these judgments create concepts which form our version of reality.

According to Lisa Feldman Barrett and associates, “Your brain is always trying to maintain allostasis, and so it is always modeling the interoceptive state of the body. Therefore, affective feelings are a property of consciousness, and affect is at the core of all mental events that your brain constructs”. In other words, your brain constructs stories about feelings to explain the state of the body so we will react and restore balance.

What does this have to do with intention, resolution, and goal setting? Everything! What we can learn from the scientific discoveries about emotion and the origin of feelings gives us greater power of choice in our lives through interpreting our feelings in a different way. Instead of being at the mercy of our reactivity, we can re-train our brains to interpret internal and external input differently.

How do we do this?

By pausing, deepening the breath, and getting curious. These three steps are an intervention that allows for choice of an alternative assumption. We get to choose whether or not a sensation becomes an emotional upheaval or just a simple stomach ache from eating too much at the party last night. With this new understanding about where emotions originate, we can choose different stories to tell ourselves about feelings that constantly arise and subside.

With the power of choice, we can enlist the help of positive emotional states to add substance to intention about who we want to be and what impact we want to make.

Resolutions often originate from a should: I resolve to be more thoughtful and less angry. I resolve to lose weight. I resolve to get in shape, read more, eat better, get more sleep. If these resolutions aren’t grounded in an underlying value being served, which steeps them in passion, most will have faded away by March.

In contrast, energy and attention follow heartfelt intention. Intention arises from the depths of our heart, encapsulating our innermost desires. Intention honors our core values. In my experience, intention comes unbidden, in a spontaneous moment of clarity, a bubbling up from my heart saying yes, this is what I want to have, be, or do. This is what holds meaning and value; this is what lights me up.

Action Step

Set up an internal atmosphere to cultivate true, heartfelt intentions. To do this, clear space and time to allow thoughts and feelings to arise. Be in nature or find a place to be in solitude. Listen for sounds of silence. Sit quietly or walk, noticing your surroundings. Once the inner chatter slows, have a notepad handy, or dictate into your device to record as your purest intention becomes clear. The one that you feel in your bones is real.

May your days be filled with purpose and passion, and your intentions drive the impact you want to make.