Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - Intention-Setting is Not New Age Goo | Bonus Meditation with Dawn Mauricio

Episode Date: November 5, 2023

Setting intentions regularly can be an incredibly effective and deeply satisfying tool to map out how you want to live your life.About Dawn Mauricio:Dawn Mauricio discovered the practices of Buddhist meditation in 2005, and from then on, did what any well-intentioned perfectionist would do — plunge in head first! Since then, she's graduated from several teaching programs, including Spirit Rock's four-year Teacher Training. Her teaching style is playful, dynamic, and heartfelt, and she teaches extensively in her home-country of Canada, as well as the US, to teens, people of color, and folks of all backgrounds.To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Daily Intention Setting.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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now extended through December 5th, head to www.1peloton.ca slash offers. All access membership separate, Terms Apply. It's the 10% happier podcast. I'm your host, Dan Harris. Hello, everybody. Happy Friday, time for a bonus meditation. It probably will not surprise you to hear that I initially had a reasonably negative response to the idea of intention setting. I didn't know what it actually meant. I wrote it off as gooey nonsense, which turned out to be typically unwise dismissiveness on my end.

I now understand intention setting a little better, and I think of it as a useful setting of a direction for your day. So first thing in the morning or really any time, you can just make a promise to yourself that you're going to do your best to be, for example, more mindful, nicer, less rushed, whatever. I have personally gotten a lot out of this practice and there's a bunch of science to suggest it has many benefits. So now, right now, in fact, we're going to do a meditation specifically designed to help you set an intention. Our teacher, DuJour is Don Mauricio, a graduate of Spirit Rocks, four-year teacher

training. She's based in Canada, but teaches all over the US as well. Here we go now with Don Mauricio. Hi, this is Don. You might have an idea of what qualities you'd like to live your life by, but you may not deliberately choose them in advance. This meditation uses visualization to help you map out how you want to live, even if just for today, to give you agency over how you act and react. Let's begin. Set yourself up in a supportive practice posture, whether that's seated, standing, or lying down.

If you like, you can close your eyes. Otherwise keep them slightly open with your gaze downward. Take some time to notice how you are settling into this moment. Starting with mindful intention can impact the whole flow of your day. Now drop in the following question. What quality do I most want to engage in today? Some examples include patience, generosity, kindness, strength, take some time on your own and choosing the quality. What quality do I most saying to yourself, today I am going to be in fill in your intention. This simple inner statement can act like an anchor, helping

you remember your intention throughout the day. Today I am going to be... Now think through what you have to do today. Visualize or imagine how the quality that you want to cultivate today would look or feel meetings and interact in your relationships. What do you notice as you imagine yourself embodying this quality throughout your day? Now identify what might be the most challenging part of your day, a difficult conversation, an unpleasant task, this time embodying today's special quality. How does it feel to embody your intention? Once again, feel into your body sitting, standing or laying here. You don't need to wait for the beginning of the year to choose how you'd like to live. You can do so daily, even a few times throughout the day. Gently open your eyes or lift your gaze. Slowly taking shapes and light. Thank you for your practice. Until next time. Thank you Don and you can find more meditations like this one over on the 10% happier app, just download the app wherever you get your apps to get started.

We'll see you right back here on Monday for a fresh episode with Lisa Genova, some very, very helpful information about what you can do to prevent Alzheimer's and dementia. If you like 10% happier, I hope you do. You can listen early and add free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen and-free on Amazon music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at onegary.com slash survey.