Tabula Rasa (Latin) — the concept of the mind as a “blank slate” or “scraped tablet,” ready for new writings and perceptions.
The New Year is often characterized by renewed motivation, reimagined goals, and a heightened desire for change. While resolutions tend to focus on outcomes, intentions focus on process—and that distinction matters. Therapy can be a powerful way to support New Year intentions by helping you build a solid foundation for your ideal self. Areas of growth may include career evolution, relationship goals, or healing the parts of yourself that are often neglected, such as your emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.
Rather than striving for perfection, setting intentions invites curiosity, compassion, and sustainability into your growth.
The first step to living with intention is identifying your motives. A helpful way to uncover them is by asking yourself questions like:
“How do I want to feel when I wake up in the morning?” or
“What do I want to feel when I walk through the door after a long day?”
These questions shift the focus from how you want your life to look to how you want your life to feel. Often, we have a clear image of what we think we want, only to realize that achieving it doesn’t feel as fulfilling as expected. By recognizing this disconnect, you can begin forming intentions rooted in emotion rather than appearance—cultivating a life that feels aligned, not just impressive.
Living intentionally also means being mindful of your environment and relationships. If you intend to invite more peace into your life, consistently surrounding yourself with chaos will inevitably work against that goal.
When reassessing friendships, it’s common to feel torn between honoring long-standing relationships and embracing new intentions. Being intentional doesn’t require cutting people off; instead, it allows you to reconsider how much energy you invest in each connection. Some friends may be perfect for a night out, while others are better suited for a coffee catch-up or a gym session.
Recognizing how different relationships influence your daily patterns helps you identify which versions of yourself you want to nurture—and which ones may be ready to let go.
When setting intentions, attainability is key. While it’s healthy to challenge yourself, setting goals that are too ambitious can lead to burnout, discouragement, and eventually giving up altogether. Sustainable change is built through small, consistent habits—not drastic, life-altering shifts overnight.
A useful way to assess an intention is to ask yourself whether you’ve practiced it before. For example, if you’ve never been intentional about jogging six days a week, starting with two or three days may be more realistic. However, if you once maintained that routine and are motivated to return to it, adjusting your intention makes sense.
By taking manageable action and following through, you reinforce your sense of competence and self-trust. Over time, that confidence becomes the foundation for bigger, lasting change.
