The Power of Setting Intentions with Patrick Dossett

Memorable Moments:

• 2:49 We really believe that if we can help individuals show up better in their lives for themselves, then they are by proxy gonna lift everyone else up around them.
• 3:11 We’re talking just a couple of minutes each day, but around some very foundational areas of wellness, things like hydration, gratitude, movement, nature, rests, social connection. Maybe what we might say are the macronutrients of wellness, [it’s] things that our grandparents told us, Hey, go outside, drink more water, you know, do these things. These are good for you. But for whatever reason, we’ve maybe grown disconnected from our capacity to engage them in such a way that really is meaningful and transformational.
• 5:48 You might be doing something as simple as drinking water and thinking you’re working on hydration, but you’re also working on what happens when you pay attention to a small thing you do every day and how it affects you and the knock-on effects of that are you start to have awareness around “well, what are the other ways that I’m directing my attention and effort? Am I being present to my family? Am I being, how am I moving my body throughout the day? What am I putting in my body? How is it making me feel?”
• 10:39 Oftentimes when we’re under the greatest amount of stress or we find ourselves navigating particularly challenging circumstances, that is the time when we have to pay even more attention to self care. Because if we stop caring for ourselves, we can’t really progress and care for anything else [or] do anything else that we care about.
• 11:05 At the end of the day, you’ve got to be your own best teammate. You’ve got to be kind to yourself. You’ve got to extend yourself grace and recognize that you’re human and that life is hard. But no matter what you’re facing, there’s still an opportunity to move closer to the things you care about. 
• 12:31 We walk our members through the science of setting an intention and how to set an intention for what is it you hope to achieve as a result of going through this program. Where do you want to be in a year’s time? And if you achieve that, why does that matter to you? Why is that going to inspire you to do the work between today and tomorrow and the end of this program? And, if you do that and you achieve it, what happens? What’s different? How is it going to make your life better? But how also, is it going to make the lives of those around you better?
• 13:50 I can’t overstate the importance of intentionality and really, look, there is no one way to achieve optimal wellness. There are some overarching principles and you all, you all are familiar with these. But there’s no one way.
• 16:18 Past the age of about 25, there are really only two ways to change the brain. One is through a short, intense experience. It could be positive or negative. So birth of a child, loss of a loved one, car accident, food poisoning, getting married, but by definition, these are the peak experiences. These are things that they’re either really high or they’re really low, but they are the exception. The norm is what happens throughout. Between the peak and the trough, right? This is where most of our life is lived. And there is this, the second model for brain change really is around small, consistent actions done with awareness of cause and effect. 
• 17:52 When you take time to pause and reflect on like, “wow, today was really hard. And even though it was really hard, I was able to do X, Y, and Z.” And sometimes X, Y, and Z aren’t going to be big things. Maybe they’re small things, but I think the small things that we do in the face of challenge or adversity are sometimes the most impressive things. 
• 18:12 And so taking time to register those wins and affirm them and celebrate them helps build a robust circuitry in your brain to recognize these wins more. And those wins can serve as fuel to help you build positive momentum. It’s going to only increase your ability to get progress towards what you care about and give you that confidence and almost buffer you against uncertainty or setbacks that are bound to come.
• 18:44 The great thing about registering these wins or recognizing them is much like the practice [of] gratitude. The more you practice it, the easier it gets and the more attuned you’re going to be to, “oh, these are things that I’m doing really well.” These are things we’re celebrating or these are things worth being grateful for and it can fundamentally change and alter the way you move through your day and the way you experience life.
• 22:41 I think the most powerful intentions recognize that we are social beings, right. That when we’re serving causes outside of ourself, when we’re recognizing that we’re connected to something greater than ourselves, that is when we feel our best. 
• 23:05 I find for our members, is that once they start engaging in self care and start [what we] like to say is “elevating their baselines” or feeling like they are improving their own mental and physical health, then they have more capacity to engage others around them. 
• 24:53 Something that if you’re in service for any length of time or in uniform for any length of time, that sense of mission and service, and again, serving causes that are bigger than yourself, just become a part of the fabric of who you are and so I knew when I left the military that I wanted to do something big and continue to serve big missions and I didn’t have to carry a gun to do that.
• 26:56 You can focus on the negative and downside risk and harm reduction, or you can focus on what are the things that bring out the best in you and being in pursuit of whether they’re it’s habits or mindsets or things in your environment that are in line with the way that the brain and body are designed.
• 29:01 I think the thing that matters most to me is that I continue to find every opportunity I can to move closer towards the things that I care most about…making sure that I am taking every chance that I have to to move closer towards those things every day and when I don’t and when I fall short, to be kind to myself and to re-engage as quickly as possible.

Dear Mind, You Matter is brought to you by NOBU, a new mental health and wellness app. To download NOBU, visit the app store or Google Play. 

This podcast is hosted by Allison Walsh and Dr. Angela Phillips. It is produced by Allison Walsh, Ashley Tate, and Nicole LaNeve. For more information or if you’re interested in being a guest on this podcast, please visit www.therecoveryvillage.com/dearmindyoumatter.