The Journeys Life Gives Us - and the Intentional Ones We Choose
“Our intentions are the basic infrastructure of our lives, out of which all of our inventions and actions arise.”
~ Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
We often speak about life as one long journey.
And in many ways, that is true.
But when I look back on my own life, what I see more clearly is that this larger journey is shaped by many smaller journeys within it - some that unfold with life itself, and others that we step into deliberately, for a defined period of time.
I have come to think of these deliberately chosen experiences as intentional, time-bound journeys.
They are not small in impact.
They are simply contained in time.
The journeys that unfold with life
Some journeys are inseparable from life itself.
Motherhood is one of them.
So is a major career change.
So is migration, illness, loss, or caring for others.
These journeys are rarely time-defined. They evolve, overlap, and accompany us over years - sometimes decades. Some we choose. Many arrive without asking. We do not complete them so much as grow within them.
They shape us slowly, often quietly, changing how we see ourselves and the world we move through.
Intentional, time-bound journeys
Alongside these long life journeys, there is another kind of journey - one that is often overlooked, yet deeply formative.
Intentional, time-bound journeys have a beginning and an end.
They invite commitment rather than permanence.
They ask for presence rather than achievement.
They are entered consciously - even when life itself has prompted the need for them.
Looking back, I can see how intentionally chosen journeys have been some of the most formative in my life.
When intention meets experience
As a young adult, after watching the movie Seven Years in Tibet, I chose to travel through India and Nepal with a dear friend for six weeks. I carried an 8-kg backpack, had no mobile phone, no plan, and a €500 budget for the entire journey.
That intentional journey expanded my awareness profoundly - not only through cultural encounters, but through exposure to entirely different reference frameworks for understanding life, particularly within Buddhism and Hinduism. It shifted how I perceived presence, meaning, and suffering, and planted questions that would resurface much later.
Years later, I chose to work in rural health with the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Australia - another time-defined immersion that reshaped my understanding of medicine, humility, and human connection.
As life evolved, my journeys did too.
Some became quieter.
Deeper.
From small shifts to deep transformation
Not all intentional journeys have the same impact.
Some create subtle shifts - a recalibration of attention, a new habit, a clearer sense of direction. Others instigate deeper transformations that change the course of what follows.
My Sophrology journey began as a way back from burnout - and became a profound re-education in how consciousness, body, and energy interact. What started as support in a difficult period gradually revealed itself as a new way of understanding health, resilience, and how we meet challenges in life.
Another intentional journey was The Path of Curiosity and Wonder, a shared, time-limited process with Tiu de Haan and six women, where we gently explored what was truly ours - and what we had absorbed through social conditioning and expectation.
These journeys did not end with answers.
They revealed next steps.
When journeys open new paths
Some intentional journeys naturally lead into others.
I am currently on such a path - deepening my understanding of the human energy system through advanced, master-level training in Sophrology and certification in Eden Energy Medicine. These are not simply educational steps; they are lived, time-defined journeys that continue to refine my awareness of energy, regulation, and consciousness - including my own.
At the same time, I am on a very real intentional journey as an entrepreneur - building a new business that bridges public health, Sophrology, and energy-based practice. This journey, too, has its own thresholds, uncertainties, and moments of profound learning.
In this way, intentional journeys often act as gateways. They do not always resolve something - they reveal what is ready to emerge next.
Why intentional journeys matter
What makes intentional, time-bound journeys so powerful is precisely their structure.
They create a container:
a beginning,
a middle,
and a return.
Much like in shamanic journeying, one sets an intention before stepping onto the path - not to control what will happen, but to stay attentive to what unfolds. You travel with awareness, take in what arises, and return with a shifted perception - of yourself, of life, or of what matters now.
These journeys are not quick fixes.
They are commitments - entered consciously and experienced fully.
An invitation for the year ahead
As a new year begins, you may find yourself standing at a quiet threshold.
Not asking what you should improve or fix -
but wondering what kind of intentional journey would best support you now.
Not as a resolution.
Not as self-optimisation.
But as a consciously chosen, time-bound space for awareness, recalibration, and growth.
Life will continue to bring its own journeys - some welcome, some challenging.
Yet we also have the possibility to step into certain journeys deliberately, sensing our timing and committing to them fully.
This year, my own focus is increasingly on holding such journeys for others - creating intentional, supportive containers where people can step out of autopilot, stay with a process long enough for something meaningful to shift, and return with a changed sense of self and direction.
So as you look ahead, you might ask yourself:
What journey am I ready to step into now?
What would it mean to choose it consciously - and stay with it from beginning to end?
Because often, it is these intentionally chosen, time-bound journeys - held with care and lived fully - that quietly reveal not only who we are becoming, but what is ready to emerge next.
With Love and Presence, Anna