JANUARY THEME: Setting Intentions

“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands — your own.”  ~ Mark Victor Hansen

The beginning of the year often comes with exhilaration as we make bold plans to establish new habits, renew promises to ourselves, and look for areas for growth. But even as the possibilities excite us, fear may shadow us as we worry about what challenges this new year may hold and whether or not we are up to the task to meet them. As caregivers, we know all too well how quickly change occurs.

This is why we start with setting intentions. The simple act of establishing clearly what we will do this year can help guide us to our values and the actions we can take to realize them. We can manage our expectations while staying open-minded to the opportunities that come our way. By using "I will" statements rather than "I want" or "I won't" phrases, we can shape our intentions with the strengths we already have and desire to build, and, as a result, guide our decision-making and behavior to align with our goals.

3 TOOLS FOR SETTING INTENTIONS

1. Find Your Inner Peace. Start with the person you are in this moment. Remind yourself of who you are, what you value, and how you can leverage your strengths.
2. Remember, You Have the Power to Design Your Own Life. You get to decide what your life becomes! Reflect on your values and strengths to see what areas you would like to focus on this year.
3. Practice Self-Compassion. Obstacles are bound to happen! Be gentle with yourself and remember that you are doing everything you can in this moment with the knowledge and resources you have. Progress is the goal, not perfection. You got this!

Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

THEME AFFIRMATIONS
Use affirmations to inspire you or reframe your thoughts

• I am always finding new ways to be in this world

• I embrace myself, faults and all

• I stay open-minded to the possibilities that surround me

• I set intentions that guide me to be my best self

APPS FOR GUIDED MEDITATION

• Coach.me - This app allows you to track your habits and set targets and reminders for your goals. When you reach certain milestones, you can get “high-fives” from your friends and the coach.me community.

• Griply - This app allows you to build the habits you need to achieve your goals.

• The Hopeful - This app provides writing prompts, inspirational quotes, and mood trackers designed to help you with a wide range of mental health topics.

• Lifetick - This browser app allows you to create SMART goals that relate to your core values. Additionally, you can keep a journal and chart your progress!

PODCASTS 

• Happiness Break: A Meditation to Inspire a Sense of Purpose - This podcast episode provides a short exercise to help you find your sense of purpose.

• From Late Bloomer to Liberation Champion with Bishop John Bryant - This podcast episode interviews Bishop John Bryant on his experience going from being a late bloomer to championing spiritual and political liberation.

• Daily Shift 28 — You Don't Have to Be Hard on Yourself to Grow - This 2-minute podcast episode challenges the idea that we have to be hard on ourselves to grow.

• Building atomic habits with James Clear | from ReThinking with Adam Grant - This podcast episode discusses how we can change and form our habits.

BOOKS

• Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books - This book by Hwang Bo-reum examines how we can reflect on the ways we read.

• House of Day, House of Night - This novel by Olga Tokarczuk delves into the experience of a woman as she listens to the stories of the dead and living in her remote village.

• Feast on Your Life: Kitchen Meditations for Every Day - This book by Tamar Adler shares the power of cooking.

• We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope - This collection of stories and essays explores topics of disability justice, environmental activism, and more.

ARTICLES

• How to Create a Vision Board - This article provides tips and tricks for creating vision boards that outline your goals and intentions.

• Manage Expectations So They Don’t Manage You - This article shares three steps we can take to manage our expectations.

• How to Be Open-Minded and Why It Matters - This article explains the benefits of being open-minded and how we can be more open-minded in our lives.

• The Power of Setting Intentions & How to Set Mindful Ones - This article explores how setting intentions can support our wellbeing.

As we assess the support landscape for caregivers, both in Ohio and nationally, we are seeing an increased need for caregivers of those supporting loved ones living  with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. We invite all stakeholders to complete this short survey as we plan for the possibility of adding an additional group and/or additional support for this targeted population. As any additional support is outside our organization's current program budget, we will need to charge for any additional services. Your insights will inform our future program offerings. Please share far and wide! 

From our friends at the BeST Center!

The BeST Center is a Coordinating Center of Excellence located at Northeast Ohio Medical University that identifies, disseminates, and supports the implementation of evidence-based and emerging best practices for psychosis. 

The Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment (BeST) Center, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Ohio, and Courage to Caregivers are excited to bring Psychosis Recovery by Enabling Adult Carers at Home (Psychosis REACH) to Ohio and hope you will join us for this exciting training opportunity!

Psychosis REACH is a program designed to teach care partners the same skills and strategies used by clinicians in order to care for loved ones living with psychosis. The training consists of an online course, completed at your own pace, followed by a live virtual training. Here's a flyer with more information on Psychosis REACH.

Limited seats are available. There is a 2-step process for signing up: (1) First complete this brief survey to apply; then (2) At the end of the survey, you will be given a link taking you to the University of Washington’s online learning system - enter your name and email address in the Canvas online learning system in order to be registered.

February's Book Club will be Friday, February 27 at 11 am ET on Zoom.

We will be discussing the TED Talk: The Gift and Power of Emotional Courage.

If you're interested in receiving our Monthly Book Club reminders and weighing-in on the selections - join our 

Book Club mailing list here. 

Courage to Caregivers Breathing Practice for February: Rectangle Breathing

As we support caregivers to make breathing and meditation a practice, we're pleased to share our Breathing Meditation Facilitator Cathy and her monthly breathing practice how-to videos. You can join us for February's Breathing Practice - Rectangle Breathing - with this practice, we can re-align the breath during stressful moments. This breath is particularly helpful for heightening awareness and for sharpening focus all while calming the body. You can watch February's instructional video for Rectangle Breathing here, and remember to subscribe to our 2026 Monthly Breathing Practices playlist to stay updated each month. You can also subscribe to our Breathing Meditation playlist, where we have four years of our weekly breathing meditation recordings, and follow along on our Spotify Breathing Meditation playlist. 

The mission of Courage to Caregivers is to empower and equip carers to navigate their journey. We envision a world where healthy carers lead to healthier families and communities. We're in the caregiver burnout prevention business!

©2026 Courage to Caregivers, Inc.