Living Intentionally: A Short Step-by-Step Guide to Healing, Confidence, and Self-Love Essentials with Resources

Living Intentionally: A Short Step-by-Step Guide to Healing, Confidence, and Self-Love Essentials with Resources

Living intentionally is about aligning your actions with your values, nurturing your well-being, and creating a life you truly love. Below is a step-by-step guide to help you set strong boundaries, practice self-love, and heal past traumas and insecurities, ultimately building your confidence.

Please note that we are NOT paid to share this information and genuinely want you to live a more peaceful and abundant life, it's essential!  Wishing you a very prosperous self-care journey.

FYI, We apologize for the formatting issue in advance.

1. Define Your Intentions

·         What do you want from life? Identify your core values and priorities. Write down your core values, goals, and what brings you joy.

  • Create affirmations that resonate with your intentions. Example: "I am worthy of love and respect."
  • Visualize the life you want to live daily.

2. Cultivate Self-Awareness

  • Spend 10-15 minutes daily journaling about your thoughts and emotions. Ask yourself: What do I feel today? Why?
  • Practice mindfulness or meditation to tune into your inner self. Apps like Headspace and Insight Timer are great resources.

3. Set Strong Boundaries

  • Assess current boundaries and their origins.
  • Recognize areas where boundaries are missing or weak.
  • Learn to say "no" without guilt. Practice phrases like:
    • "I’m not available for that right now, but thank you for understanding."
    • "I need time to think about that before committing."
  • Recognize energy-draining relationships and gently distance yourself where needed.
  • Start with a few key boundaries that you will implement immediately.
  • Communicate your boundaries clearly and directly.
  • Be firm but respectful when boundaries are crossed.
  • Remember that setting boundaries is an act of self-care, not selfishness.

 

4. Practice Self-Love

·         Carve out time for yourself regularly to engage in activities that make you feel good about yourself — exercise, creative hobbies, or pampering your skin and hair.

·         Treat yourself with kindness and understanding.

  • Speak kindly to yourself. Recognize and replace negative self-talk with affirming language. Example: "I am doing my best, and that's enough."
  • Use loving-kindness meditation for your inner child.
  • Acknowledge your progress in boundary-setting and self-love.
  • Recognize that healing is a journey, not a destination.

5. Address Trauma and Insecurities

  • Seek professional therapy or consider working with a licensed therapist or counselor. Platforms like BetterHelp, Talkspace, or in-person therapists can provide support.
  • Consider somatic therapies or EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to address deeper traumas.

·         Find an accountability partner to help maintain boundaries.

·         Educate yourself on trauma recovery and self-esteem building techniques.

6. Build Confidence Daily

  • Celebrate small wins, no matter how minor they seem. Reflect on your achievements weekly.
  • Step out of your comfort zone with small, manageable challenges.

7. Commit to Daily Practices

  • Start each day with gratitude: Write down 3 things you're grateful for.
  • Incorporate small rituals like deep breathing or stretching into your daily routine.
  • Reflect weekly on your progress and adjust as needed.
  • Some techniques that you can try are Guided Meditation, Scripting, Journaling, Rhythmic Breathing, Mirror Affirmation Manifestation, 55/5 Method or 3-6-9 Method.

·         Stay committed to your personal growth and healing process by celebrating yourself along the way.

Resources for Continued Growth

Books

                 

  1. "The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brené Brown – Embrace vulnerability and cultivate self-worth.
  2. "Set Boundaries, Find Peace" by Nedra Glover Tawwab – A practical guide to setting boundaries and protecting your energy.
  3. "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay – Explore affirmations and self-healing techniques.
  4. "Drama Free" by Nedra Glover Tawwab – Navigate difficult family relationships with grace while protecting your peace.
  5. "Manifest Now" by Idil Ahmed –This empowering guide teaches you how to harness the power of manifestation to create the life you desire; this is a personal favorite.
  6. "Power of the Psalms" by Anna Riva – A powerful spiritual book to help you with daily meditation; for work, health, love, protection, success and more. Another personal favorite.

More Book recommendations are available on our blog posts.

Podcasts

  • "Unlocking Us" by Brené Brown – Deep dives into emotional resilience and connection.
  • "REAL AF with Andy Frisella" – Empowers listeners with practical strategies, raw motivation, and no-nonsense advice to build mental toughness, achieve success, and live authentically.
  • "Therapy for Black Girls" – Practical mental health advice with a focus on Black women.
  • "The Mental Wealth Show" by Rich Jones – Provides Black men with insights on mental health, self-improvement, and financial literacy, promoting growth, healing, and self-awareness in a positive and empowering way.
  • "The Mel Robbins Podcast" – Actionable tools and relatable stories to help overcome self-doubt, heal from past traumas, build confidence, understand mental roadblocks, and create a life filled with purpose and self-compassion.
  • "Jay Shetty's Podcast" – Empowers listeners to cultivate stronger boundaries, work on self-love, and unlock their full potential.

· "High Level Conversations" – Inspires transformative thinking with profound insights on personal growth and community impact. 

  •     "The Ace Metaphor Audio Experience" – Empowers you to cultivate healthier relationships and embrace self-love through candid and relatable advice. 
  • "The Daily Stoic" – Insights on living intentionally using ancient philosophy.
  • "The Art of Manliness" by Brett McKay – Fostering healthy masculinity, personal growth, and intentional living.
  •          "Lisa Nichols" – Be inspired to get the step-by-step tools you need to transform your life, so that you can live in abundance, no matter what.
  •          The Calum Johnson Show – Curious questions from a curious mind with the most remarkable people on the planet, living happier, healthier and wealthier lives.
  •          "Women of Impact with Lisa Bilyeu" –Build your confidence with one badass guest at a time!
  •          "Earn Your Leisure" – Unlocks financial literacy and wealth-building strategies to help you achieve generational prosperity.
  •          "Reality Revolution" by Brian Scott – Explores the new movement to hack reality exploring experiential quantum physics, reality transurfing, quantum jumping, meditation, hypnosis, manifestation, mindfulness, neurolinguistic programming, epigenetics, EFT, coaching, and so much more.
  •          "In Her Power" by Bec Stewart – Go-getter’s podcast about all things’ personal development, life, career, wellness and pretty much everything else in between! 
  •          Evan Carmichael – Inspiring interviews with entrepreneurs and experts, providing valuable insights and strategies to help viewers build successful businesses and turn their dreams into reality
  •          Crush Medical Debt with Dr. Virgie – Learn everything medical experts really want you to know and how to really address medical bills. (Another personal favorite.)
  • Bossy Bruja Prayers – BOSSYbruja’s prayer invocations and guided meditations.
  • Additional Podcast Options for #EveryBodyBlack

    Films

    • "Heal" (2017, Netflix) – A documentary on the mind-body connection and self-healing.
    • "The Pursuit of Happyness" (2006) – An inspiring story of perseverance and resilience.
    • "Inside Out" (2015) – A Pixar film that teaches the importance of understanding emotions.
    • "The Secret" (2006) – Documentary based on the law of attraction to shift your mindset to bring abundance and positivity into your life.

    Affirmations, Meditations, Hypnosis, & Subliminals

    • Rockstar Affirmations – Empower people worldwide through affirmations to help with creating the belief system and thought patterns we need to manifest our desires and to reach our goals.
    • Growing Forever – Powerful affirmation videos for self-improvement.
    • Rising Higher Meditation – Quality reprogramming and meditative content that assists you in transforming your life experience into one filled with joy, peace, abundance, and bliss on all levels.
    • YouAreCreators – The largest Self-Help/ Personal Development YouTube channel in the World teaching you how to create your reality!
    • High Frequency Guru – Law of assumption style self-hypnosis (rampage) Affirmations + subliminal frequencies for self-concept, mental transformation, subconscious mind reprogramming & advanced manifesting techniques (affirmations, repetitions, revisions & guided meditations)
    • Jason Stephenson - Sleep Meditation Music – Through the use of #meditation, guided visualization, inspiring talks and relaxation music, you're about to open yourself to changes of immense harmony for your body, mind and spirit.
    • DhyaanGuru Dr. Nipun Aggarwal – "If the problems are within, the solutions are within too..." Bringing peace and healing by strengthening your minds.
    • MotivationHub– For those that are courageous enough to take a stand towards changing their lives and chasing their dreams.
    • Bob Baker Affirmations – Designed to inspire and empower you through affirmations and guided meditations.
    • Marisa Peer – Reframe your issues and turn your lives around using Rapid Transformational Therapy® (RTT®).
    • Manifesting Moon–Meditation, chant videos (Chantress) Plus Magick and manifestations to change your life.
    • Elmer O. Locker jr – Custom meditations and lectures based on Neville Goddard's teachings to help people manifest their desires and improve their lives through the power of imagination and positive thinking.
    • Dauchsy – Helping you unlock the unbelievable power of your own subconscious mind by using guided meditation and positive affirmations.
    • Be Inspired – An open-minded channel for those who are seeking knowledge and meditations.
    • Trigram Healing – Where you can find mind training to help you install the mind programs that you want to reach your goals.

    Reiki

    • Healing & Beyond – A Lifting & raising the vibrational frequencies of all that is by bringing joy, love, peace & harmony to as many souls as possible.
    • Divine White Light – Remote Reiki videos to help you discover and experience the powerful healing benefits of Reiki energy from the comfort of your own home.
    • Alchemy Healing – Reiki Master offering energy healing sessions to help raise the collective vibration.
    • Via Frequency – Inspires wellness through the power of holistic medicine, consciousness expansion & self-love.
    • RestRelaxationReiki – Offers teachings and energy to assist with manifesting a better life. "Reiki promotes relaxation, stress reduction and may improve overall health and well-being."

    Manifestations & Scripting/ Journal Tools

    Enlightening Tingz

    • Queen Afua – Holistic, spiritual, health and wellness teachings.
    • Tiffany TV – Growing together, collectively.
    • Dani The Alchemist – Powerful spiritual laws that will transform your life by learning how to tap into your inner power and manifest your desired reality using various principles.
    • Infinite Waters (Diving Deep) – Helping you become your greatest version.
    • 19KEYS – Where the culture comes to learn.
    • Mindvalley – The world’s most powerful life transformation platform teaching the art of truly living extraordinary, fulfilling, and happy lives. (Another personal favorite.)
    • Transformation Church – A Lifting & raising the vibrational frequencies of all that is by bringing joy, love, peace & harmony to as many souls as possible.
    • RC Blakes, Jr – Discussions of relationships, self-love principles, healing, self-actualization, expansion, men’s topics and the journey healthy women take to Queen Consciousness. [Take what applies, leave what does not.]
    • Grace For Purpose Prayers – Whether its day or night, you will find a prayer that will uplift you, bless you and empower you.
    • Rev. Ike Legacy – Late Reverend Ike, teaching, motivating and inspiring us to harness our amazing God-given mind power to achieve health, happiness, success and prosperity.
    • Sarah Jakes Roberts – Empowering women across the globe as they erase limits and challenge the norms of what it means to be a modern woman of faith.
    • ONE | A Potter's House Church – Led by Pastors Touré Roberts and Sarah Jakes Roberts, empowering people to live fearlessly, love generously, grow exponentially, create intentionally, and serve humanity.
    • Proctor Gallagher Institute – Proctor Gallagher motivates you to achieve success by providing insights, inspiration, ideas, systems, and actionable strategies that will empower you to grow, improve, and thrive in today’s ever-changing world.
    • Abraham Hicks Teachings – Esther Hicks manifestation techniques, Teachings of Abraham.
    • Latoya Okeia – Providing daily encouragement, motivation, and inspiration for the Divine Ones!
    • Angel Numbers – If or whenever you start to see synchronicities you can research what they mean here or elsewhere.

    Therapy Resources for U.S. Citizens

    Natural Hair Care for 3A to 4C Hair Types  

    • Princess B Essentials – Natural hair care products made with ayurvedic, and herbal ingredients sourced from Africa, India, the Caribbean and the United States, to nourish your hair to its healthiest state for women, children and men. Feel like royalty, ease your worries, accomplish your goals and transform your curls, waves, coils and kinks today.

     

    Living intentionally takes practice and patience, but with time, you’ll find yourself more empowered, confident, and connected to your true self. It’s a form of self-care and self-care is essential! Remember, this is a gradual process. Be patient with yourself and focus on progress, not perfection. Healing is not linear so celebrate every step forward!

     

    If you would like to keep a copy of the suggested resources mentioned within this blog, please download the document here. (Yes, for FREE).

     

     

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