Magsimula sa Sadya: Starting the year with intention
What is the value of reflecting on your intention when thinking about your goals this year?
Mabuhay, kapwa ka-Ugnayan!
Kamusta ang simula ng taon mo?
I’m Jen, one of the creators of Ugnayan: Cards for Connection, a tagapagpadaloy, word nerd, salad stop, cat mom, and more, and I’m breaking into the new year and writing our first official monthly(-ish) Pahayagan ng Ugnayan or newsletter. :) Woohoo!
We begin by highlighting the first theme in our Ugnayan deck: Sadya or Intention.
Join me in reflecting on what it is, why it matters, and how we can bring it more into our days. (Because how we live our days is how we live our lives.)
sadya
n. purpose, intention, aim
v. sumadya (-um-; past tense) to have gone to a place with a definite intention. (past tense)
Halimbawa / example: Sumadya sila sa Rizal. They went to Rizal.
v. magsadya, sadyain (mag-:-in; future tense) to go to a place with definite intention (future tense)
v./adv. sinasadya; to do intentionally
Peter Wohlleben, a German forest scientist and author of The Hidden Life of Trees, wrote that roots are the most important part of a tree, and most likely where the tree equivalent of a brain is located. It’s where it stores its experiences, and the lessons from those experiences. It is the most permanent part of the tree, and is responsible for all chemical activity in this living and life-giving organism.
Similarly, for us humans, our purpose and values stem from our life experiences, and the lessons and meaning we make from them. And how we define and live out our purpose and values helps us self-evaluate: Am I living out my own definition of a good life?
Ano ang halaga ng Sadya?
What is the value of Sadya?
Intentions are like the nutrients of our personal root system.
They are the daily water and light we need to nourish our being.
Taking root in intention can help us:
Live authentically day-to-day, in alignment with our values
Ground ourselves in the meaning1 in our journey (process) and not just the destination (outcome)2
Gain autonomy or choice in how we move towards our growth and flourishing3
Values measure the quality of our lives, meaning helps us find joy or significance in our day-to-day (whether in big moments or in “mundane” ones), and autonomy or choice give us greater agency, ownership and accountability in the trajectory of our lives.
Paano ako kikilos ng may Sadya sa araw-araw?
How might I move with Sadya in my everyday life?
Shempre, bilang tagapaglikha ng Ugnayan Cards, we lead with questions. Naniniwala kaming ikaw ang may hawak ng sagot dito para sa sarili mo.
So on top of the Sadya questions in our deck, here are some other questions you can reflect on to connect with your Sadya.
Halaga | Values
Anong tema o halaga ang mas gusto mong isabuhay sa darating na taon?
What theme or value would you like to live out more in the coming year?Paano naipapakita sa kilos at gawain ko yung pinahahalagahan ko?
What do my values look like in action?
Kahulugan | Meaning
Pag pinagnilayan ko ang araw ko ngayon, paano ko sadyang naisabuhay ang mahalaga sa akin?
When I look back on my day today, how did I intentionally live my values?
Pagpili | Choice
Ano ang sadyang hinindian ko ngayong araw para mas makapaglaan ng oras at puwang para sa mas makabuluhang gawain para sa akin?
What did I intentionally say no to today, so I could dedicate time and space for what really matters to me?
Before closing this month’s newsletter, here are some resources that might help you connect more deeply with sadya or intention. I’ve included some links in the footnotes below to help you dig your toes deeper into this month’s theme.
And more than just the word theme, you can also connect more with the nature-inspired image we have for this month by going out and experiencing trees in nature on your next muni-muni or pagninilay. You may be surprised to notice that there are also more trees in the city when you pay attention! You can also learn more about The Value of Forests (and the people who protect them) in this Muni on This podcast episode.
Finally, if you want to move more intentionally towards your own flourishing in the year ahead, we’d also like to invite you to join [Likha Ginhawa: Ugat] A Pagbubuo x Ugnayan creative wellbeing journey, beginning on February 3.
Likha Ginhawa is a shared journey to discover tools and practices for creative wellbeing. It is intended as a personal and collective exploration, intentional grounding, and joyful pursuit of wellbeing and growth, however you define it for yourself. Sadya is the first workshop in the Likha Ginhawa journey this year. You can learn more and register your interest here.
Sa patuloy na pakikipag-Ugnayan,
Ang inyong tagapagpadaloy,
Jen Horn | @pagbubuo @jenhorn_
Our search for “the good life” is not just a search for a “happy” life in the hedonic sense, but also a meaningful life — one where we belong to and serve something we believe is bigger than our individual self. I write more about the relevance of meaning over at Pagbubuo in the post on Making Meaning of Our Past, Present & Future Story.
I write about the difference between goals and intentions in my Pagbubuo post on the Value of Cultivating Intention.