It's Sunday and you know what that means - It's time for the Sunday Brunch. This week we have a great article from Mic on setting intentions as well as a delightful Banana Bread recipe from Lindsay. As always we have a brand new SB playlist, Song Of The Week, Book Brunch and a new section: MMMM That's Good Coffee (or Tea). So here you go - The brand spanking new edition of the Sunday Brunch:
Song of the weekWhy setting intentions is the way to achieve your goals
Career goals, life goals, business goals and, of course, resolutions.
There was a time, not so long ago, where I lived by goal setting — and told others it was the way to go. But I have to tell you a secret. I found something better to help achieve whatever you want to do and go wherever you want to go. Setting intentions. Sure, nothing beats a goal when you want to get things done. But an intention goes way deeper than that: it’s a powerful tool to boost your inner strength. And if you’re determined to grow through your actions, then an intention could be the key to unlocking a lifelong habit of excellence. Here’s why setting intentions is the way to achieve your goals. Goals or intentions? Let’s have a look at definitions. Goal: “An aim or desired result”. Simply put: what you concretely achieve. Intention: “Something that you want and plan to do”. In essence: the process you go through until you get to “what you concretely achieve”. I like to see goals as a practical, efficient way to see the future. Want to stay on track and hit a result? Then set a goal! Setting goals work so well because it’s part of a cognitive process of planning and analysing. It gives you full control on how you’re going to move from A to B. And your brain loves that. It rewards you with feel-good hormones such as dopamine each time you engage in the process. Sounds great? But in the meantime, life happens. You find it hard to increase willpower and self discipline and stick to the plan. When the time comes to evolve from motivation to resilience, it’s difficult to follow through. If you’ve ever been stuck and found it difficult to embrace a positive perspective, then setting intentions could be a magic shift for you. Because your intentions support goals from the inside. Setting intentions is the act of stating what you intend to accomplish through your actions. It’s a commitment to what you want the journey to be about as you move on or move up. When you are intentional about something, your focus is in the moment: who you are, what you do, why you do it. And it requires presence along the way, checking inside as you work on the outside. This is why setting intentions is the way to achieve your goals. Intentions bring a special quality of focus. They act as a powerful reminder of the bigger perspective. And they trigger introspection: result aside, what am I hoping to gain from the process? The difference between setting intentions and defining goals Let’s be practical. I will use this example because it was all over tik tok and social media over the summer: “I want to stand on my head”. Let’s set a goal: achieve headstand and balance on your head for a good 30 seconds. With that end result in mind, you’re going to practice hard, try (and fall, many times). Experience frustration (why others and not me) or even fear: what if the upside down is full of monsters? (Not kidding. For your brain, body upside down = scary thing). Weeks, months or years later, high fives and champagne out, you’re finally upside down, noticing that (1) there are no monsters out there and (2) you need to carefully adjust your eyesight otherwise you squint. How many of you would say “I made it!”? And think of the next thing to run after? How many of you rejoice and then deconstruct the process: building upper body strength, overcoming fear, or developing the grit to stick to something that matters to you? Now, let’s see what setting an intention would look like: simply to know how it feels to balance on your head. You’re likely to pay attention to each moment where you get one inch closer to the end result. Notice that split second where you could lift your feet off the ground? What was missing to do more than 1 wobbly second? Is it balance? Strength? Lack of focus? Fear of monsters in the upside down? Bear with me: we haven’t achieved the full 30 secs headstand yet. But part of the result is real already. You’re in it. You have a high degree of awareness of the whole process. You integrate the benefits as you work on your target, no matter what the end result looks like, no matter when it becomes real. Your intention supports your goal 100%. I’ll say it again, goals are great to get things done. But I know human nature well enough to tell you that they can be a trap. A trap where you focus so much on the outcome that you ignore the journey, its lessons, and the joy of going through it. That’s why I think setting intentions is the way to achieve your goals. How to work with intentions Let me share with you how I do it for myself. Usually, setting intentions is for me a process that follows 4 principles:
Each month, I have a bit of quiet time Then I have a look at my goals and I get to work with my intentions. As my holistic view of life is to align whatever I do with body, heart, mind and soul, I tend to do that with intentions, too. Here's a few examples: Goal: go to bed at early 4x / week. Body intention: I am rested and energised. Goal: Set boundaries in a relationship with a friend who constantly crosses emotional lines. Nicely. Heart intention: I am compassionate towards people who is not where I am at right now. Goal: stop for 5 minutes each day and do some breath work. Soul intention: I am in tune with my feelings. I remind myself about my intentions every day. I review progress on my goals every week. Setting intentions on the back of your goals can act like magic. Because you bring the wider perspective of growing through your actions. You get into a self-exploration routine. And you do so each time you analyse your results. How? By giving your inner a leader a voice to ask ”is there another way to do this?” each time you feel stuck. How do you go about your goals? Post your ideas in the comments on Facebook or right here on the blog.
The Book Brunch
Lindsay's Banana Bread
Ingredients
1 stick butter, softened 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar 2 eggs 1.5 cups flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 2 medium bananas, mashed (think baby food) 1/2 cup sour cream 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/8 tsp nutmeg Directions Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan (you can also line it with parchment paper/grease). In a standing mixer with a large bowl and paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars together. While that’s going, mash the bananas. (I put them in a bowl and gave Rowan a potato masher. He had a great time! Lol) Add eggs and vanilla to the butter/sugar. Mix well. Add in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, mixing until just combined. Fold in the sour cream and mashed bananas. Spread evenly in the loaf pan and bake for 45-60 minutes (ovens will vary), until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
The Sunday Brunch Set List
MMM That's Good Coffee (Or Tea)
Description
Kichwa Tembo means “elephant head” in Swahili, and this offerings present a classic, hardworking Kenya profile with citrus fruit like grapefruit, bright and tangy acidity, balanced sweetness, and some of the complexity expected from a Kenyan. Tasting Notes Rich, juicy and sweet with lots of caramelized sugar and grapefruit flavors. A great option for drinkers that prefer a full, darker coffee. Great morning coffee with a shot of cream and a little sugar. 
Hey we hope you enjoyed the latest edition of the Sunday Brunch. If you would like to contribute an article, recipe, book recommendation ETC, please message us on our Facebook page or Email us. We would love your creativity added to ours. If you would like to help support what we are doing here at Hope Community head over to our website and click the green give button. You can even set it up to do monthly donations. Thanks for hanging out and we will see you Tuesday evening!
(Lindsay said we had to include this pic of Mic with a cute cat from his mom's house - So Here you go!)
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