The denotative definition of intention is "a determination to act in a certain way: resolve." Before the new year came, this word revealed itself to me and I was shaken by it. It didn't mean making a resolution list but capturing the essence of the new year and what I wanted to work on in one to two words as well as making a vision board.

I was accepted and started a low-residency program on New Year's Day. The ephemeral ten days came and then went. During the ten days, I found myself wondering what intentional living looked like for me. Was it writing articles more often? Was it talking more about politics?

I started to think about how my body influences my voice and vice versa. Neither are the same; neither carry the same meaning to you, to your family, to a stranger. I was writing poems on my body, about my body. I was leaving behind the traditional structure of what a poem should look like to give my poems their own distinction from everyone else's.

Intentional living differs from person to person. But it is largely how to accept and live with yourself daily without too much self-criticism and self-hatred. It means to live mindfully, to be more thoughtful about yourself and the role you play in the world.

On the other hand, there is living for a purpose. Which sounds similar because they're both spiritual practices. However, living for a purpose is a search for something that gives you meaning. You can be passive or active in this search – but in the end, a purposeful life is something else that has given you meaning.

Most of the times, a purposeful life is often talked about in relation to a Higher Power. How can you live a life that honors that Holy Being? I never was a fan of living a life in clear opposition or as a direct result of something more elusive. As a woman with a mental illness, I needed to be rooted and grounded more often in routine to stay afloat.

Neither should be shame-based. Neither should evoke terror or fear or unsettle you. Intentional living is different than living for a purpose because it becomes about the small acts you perform, the conversations you have, the thoughtfulness behind the way that you deliver them.

Intentional living is about self-awareness – cultivating your identity in a densely populated world. It can be that reading the Bible makes you a better Christian; walking in nature makes you aware of your five senses and have a better understanding of that ecosystem.

It can also be about how you smiled at the bagboy at Publix when he packs your food. How you do (or don't) talk to your family based on how they treat you. Intentional living is about keeping your identity yours and no one else's.

To use a cliché – this is a new year, a new you. Think of the intention, whether it is a feeling, a word, a picture, that you want to shape you this year. I'm not saying that you'll be living happily ever after, but intentional living will help you stay true to yourself and your values.