When choosing to walk in the direction of joy, the first step that jumps out at me is to celebrate. Celebrate small things, all things, regularly. I want to listen for things to celebrate. The sweet, good, wonderful things that are happening to each of us every day that we just gloss over. I want to listen for them, make sure to notice them and then celebrate!

The lettering I used here comes from this pin.

The image is a cupcake.

Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

Here we are, at the end of March. For this week, even though most of the week will be April, I wanted to set one more brave intention. I figured after daring to be open, releasing what I was holding on to, and stopping to listen, it was only fair that I also chose to leap. Even though most of this word is not about action for me this year, I still feel like even small, tiny leaps to honor what I hear will be worthwhile.

The lettering I used here comes from Calligraphy Alphabets Made Easy.

I don’t know if the image worked well but it’s intended to look like a woman leaping. Half the fun of it was trying.

Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

Another step in brave listening is releasing what I am holding on to. For me to be able to really hear, I need to stop the noise and I need to release the thoughts, ideas, beliefs I am holding on to. Part of listening and hearing is not carrying preconceived ideas. So this week’s intent is to release.

The lettering I used here comes from Calligraphy Alphabets Made Easy.

I chose to do a balloon because it’s a great representation of releasing something I might cherish and hold on to and releasing it in the short term feels a bit painful.

Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

Here we are. Another month, another intent to Listen. I decided that March was the month to start being brave. Paying attention to the quiet voices. Trying new things. Taking leaps big and small. Listening without fear or worry.

I think that sometimes when you’re living life, it gets easy to just do the next thing. Sometimes I don’t even think too hard about what I want and/or whether it’s the Right thing. I’m not saying I make bad choices, but more that I am not engaged when I take action. I do the next thing there is to do. I do what must be done (what I think must be done.)

For me, being brave, is about listening to the voices that are not the loudest. Listening to other ways of doing something. Listening to the quieter voices. Listening to what my soul whispers. Listening to what my body craves. The voices I don’t make time for. The voices I am purposefully avoiding.

Being brave is hard. Being brave requires intent. My plan is to dedicate march to practicing courage with my listening.

Here’s the lettering I used and for my sketches I decided on some arrows. Now sure why. Maybe I was thinking about the Hunger Games when I drew this…

Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

Continuing with the theme of Listening Deliberately, I thought a lot about what I would like to focus on this week. Slow down is what came up. Maybe I should have switched last week’s intent with this one since it feels like slowing down should come before making a choice does, but alas this is how it showed up and I’m sticking with it.

Maybe it’s the universe’s way of telling me that I will have to slow down this week if I want to be deliberate. I am not the kind of person who slows down very often. I don’t mean the lack-of-focus: I can sit still and read a book for four hours straight. But when I am doing a task, I tend to rush through it. I tend to want to “get it done.” It’s not even getting it over with as much as it is being able to check it off my list.

Considering the size of my list, if I want to check things off, I am not slowing down very often.

And yes, when you don’t slow down, you miss things. You miss important things. You are not being deliberate. You’re not even present, how could you be deliberate? So the intent for this week is to slow down. Way, way, way down.

Let’s see how I do.

This week’s lettering is here and I chose the meditating girl for my sketch because meditating is an excellent way to slow down.

Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

A new month means a new intention. After January’s intentions to be calm, I thought being Deliberate would be lovely for February. My intention with being deliberate is about taking ownership and control over my life. Even though listen sounds like a passive word, like it’s something that’s happening to me, I think of it as a very active word. When I chose listen for 2014, my intent was to move into the realm of listening actively. I think the word deliberate lines up wonderfully with that overall intention.

My intention this month is to really pay attention to what and who I am listening to and be deliberate about those choices. I think that if I don’t pay attention, I won’t notice, and my hunch is that I am listening to what’s urgent (or what feels urgent) over what’s important.

So time to get deliberate.

In this week’s sketch, I used a little lovely angel for no reason whatsoever except that I liked it. I wanted her to have some shimmer so I added some stickles after I colored it. The lettering I used is from a computer font called Feel Script.

Here’s to a month of listening deliberately.

Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.