Setting Intentions for 2025": Healing Trauma, Reducing Anxiety, and Manifesting Your Goals!

Jan 8

As we welcome 2025, the new year offers a perfect time for reflection, growth, and intention-setting. For many, this means finding ways to heal trauma, reduce anxiety, and turn dreams into reality. If you're struggling to achieve your goals because of unresolved trauma or persistent anxiety, this guide can help. Let's explore how you can harness intention-setting and manifestation to create a transformative year ahead.

Intentions vs. New Year’s Resolutions

Intentions and New Year’s resolutions may seem similar, but they serve very different purposes. Resolutions are often specific, rigid goals—like losing weight, eating better or saving a certain amount of money—that tend to fizzle out by March. And that’s okay! Sudden, drastic changes are hard to sustain. In my experience, any habit I’ve successfully started or stopped has either evolved naturally over time or come from hitting a breaking point where change felt non-negotiable. One of my favorite sayings sums it up perfectly: “Anything I’ve surrendered usually has claw marks in it.”

Intentions, on the other hand, focus on your energy, mindset, and direction. Think of them as a compass guiding your actions and decisions in alignment with your highest self. Unlike resolutions, intentions are broader and more flexible, allowing you to stay committed without guilt if you slip up for a day or even a week.

Setting intentions is also a more powerful way to manifest your goals because they help you connect with why you want a specific outcome. They leave room for unexpected opportunities or something even better to unfold—possibilities beyond what you originally envisioned. With intentions, you’re not just chasing goals; you’re creating a foundation for personal growth and transformation.

Healing Trauma to Manifest Your Goals

Trauma can create significant barriers to pursuing your goals, often showing up in your body, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Many clients share their struggles to take steps toward desires like a new job, a creative career, or dating. Often, unresolved trauma—especially complex trauma from repeated adverse events—leaves the body feeling unsafe, making forward movement difficult. Healing trauma creates space for positive change.

One powerful tool I use in therapy is EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which targets Negative Cognitions—deeply rooted, often subconscious beliefs formed during traumatic events. These beliefs act like faulty coding in your system, influencing how you see yourself and the world. Examples include:

"I never get what I want."

"I’m not safe."

"I’m broken."

"It’s not okay to speak up for myself."

While clients often know these beliefs aren’t true, they can still feel true, creating blocks that prevent progress. I explain it like this: It’s not that the belief IS TRUE, but that it FEELS TRUE and that’s what is holding your body back from taking action or is influencing how you respond. EMDR helps reprocess these beliefs, gradually reducing their emotional charge. It doesn’t erase the memory, but it reduces its power, allowing you to take steps you couldn’t before.

In addition to EMDR, I recommend body-centered practices like breathwork, yoga, dance, and exercise. These activities help you reconnect with your body and release stored trauma. Spending time in nature is another powerful tool—it reduces anxiety, fosters calm, and provides a grounding sense of peace and connection.

Is Anxiety Making You Feel Like You’re Falling Behind?

Let’s face it anxiety is THE WORST. Always feeling like your “wound up”, can’t sit still, your mind always feeling like you have to do something or there’s something you’ve missed. It’s exhausting. Here are evidence-based strategies to help reduce anxiety and create space for calm so you can better reach your goals:

Morning Gratitude Practice: Begin the day by listing 3-5 things going well in your life. Reframing gratitude as “What is going well in my life?” may make it easier to identify the positives. If you can think of more things to be grateful for BONUS! Write ‘em down!

Morning Pages: Write a few free-flowing pages each morning to clear mental clutter and reduce overthinking.

Breathwork: Practice deep breathing exercises like box breathing (inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4). This helps calm your nervous system.

Mindful Meditation: Dedicate 5-10 minutes daily to mindfulness meditation. Apps like Headspace or Calm can guide you through it.

Set Boundaries around work or tasks, allowing time to unwind. Maybe set a time to put down your phone for an hour or two.

Setting Time for Intentional Rest like reading, listening to music, or spending time outdoors.

The Power of 3’s is a good method of breaking down tasks. “What are 3 things I can do today toward my goal”, “Who are 3 people I can reach out to this week”. Breaking tasks down to only 3 items can help reduce feeling overwhelmed and eventually shutting down because “It’s all too much”. If you do more than 3 things, Great! Bonus! If you do less, perfect, you can try again tomorrow.

Anxiety doesn’t have to control your life. With mindful actions, you can calm your mind, ground your body, and create the clarity needed to move forward with ease.

Manifesting Your Goals For 2025

Step 1: Set Your Intention

Manifesting begins with clarity. Start by setting an intention that feels meaningful to you. For example:

"My intention for 2025 is to connect more deeply with others and feel a sense of belonging."

This is a wonderful intention—broad enough to guide you yet specific enough to provide direction.

Step 2: Define Success

Ask yourself, "How will I know when I've achieved this?" Defining measurable outcomes helps turn your intention into actionable goals. For instance, to feel more connected and belong, you might aim to:

Build a friend group that feels supportive and easy to be around.

Take a painting class or join a writing group you've been curious about.

Identify two people you can call when you're feeling lonely or need support.

These tangible goals act as a roadmap, giving you achievable milestones to celebrate along the way.

STEP 3: Visualize You Having What You Want

Visualize Your Desire: Picture your desired outcome as if it’s already happening. Be specific—see the colors, hear the sounds, and feel the emotions of achieving your goal.

Feel the Energy: Tune into the feelings associated with having what you want—joy, excitement, peace, or fulfillment. Let these emotions wash over you.

Release Control: Visualize letting go of your desire and trust that the universe will deliver it in divine timing.

Anchor with Gratitude: End your visualization by expressing gratitude as though your manifestation has already come to fruition

Repeat this practice as often as feels right to reinforce your alignment with your manifestation goal.

Step 4: Create Action Steps

Break your goals into smaller, manageable actions. Success often comes from consistent, simple steps that build confidence over time. Here are some ideas:

Make a list of actions and set weekly goals.

Use phone reminders to stay on track.

Partner with an accountability buddy who can help you stay motivated.

It’s important to find what works best for you. Maybe vision boards inspire you, or perhaps checking off a to-do list gives you satisfaction. Honor your unique way of processing and taking action—there’s no need to compare yourself to others.

I often say, "I want to set people up to win." Breaking larger goals into smaller, achievable goals does just that. Each small victory builds confidence and retrains your mindset that success is possible. Over time, these consistent wins rewire your brain, so it begins to trust that you can achieve what you want. You create a positive cycle of momentum and belief in your ability to reach even bigger goals.

Remember: it’s okay if you don’t fully reach your goal right away that’s okay. Did you make progress? That’s a win in itself. Celebrate those small victories—they’re proof you’re growing and getting closer to where you want to be.

Why Choose Therapy to Support Your Goals?

If trauma or anxiety is holding you back, therapy can provide the tools and support you need. As a California-based therapist specializing in trauma healing, anxiety reduction, EMDR therapy, IFS therapy, and helping you manifest the life you want, I work with clients to overcome barriers and achieve their full potential. Whether you’re looking to heal from past wounds or create new pathways to success, therapy can help you align with your highest self.

Are You Ready to Make 2025 Your Year?

Start your journey today. Healing, growth, and goal achievement are within reach. Contact me to schedule a session and take the first step toward your healing journey and getting the results you’ve been looking for.