Setting your intention before any activity – meditating, writing, planning, meeting, discussing, researching and learning – is an essential ingredient to creating and manifesting a desired outcome. You are working with the universe to get what you want.
When you set an intention you are telling your brain what overarching message to send to your entire being. Your brain is then able to organize all your cells, and your energetic system, to coordinate all of you to intersect successfully with the universe, to manifest the intention.
As you experience the power of your intention, and the way the universe responds to the energy that you send, you develop Trust in the universe. This Trust nurtures your relationship with the universe. The universe, etheric, or the unknown then becomes a loving place where anything is possible. You become empowered and begin to trust in yourself as well as the universe.
Your intention tells the universe what you want. Just as importantly, by formulating your intention, you tell yourself what you want. You groom your own energy to be on the look-out for the particular opportunities that you seek. We all know that we have to operate by selective attention, because we are subjected to so many stimuli at every second of every day. By informing ourselves, and grooming our energy, to recognize the exact stimuli, or opportunities, that we seek, it seems like “suddenly” what we want becomes available to us.
Intention seems to work like a magnet, attracting to us what we desire. Actually, opportunities abound, and what we want is all around us. Intention is an organizing principle, and organizes these opportunities so that we can intersect with them in a meaningful manner.
This is better understood by an example of the converse effect, the effect of getting something we had the intention not to get: Every day, the opportunity to have a car accident abounds. However, our intention is to avoid having a car accident — and so, despite all the abundant opportunities for a collision to occur, our intention to stay out of harm’s way, keeps us safe. Then, on an unfortunate day, when our attention is distracted, our energy becomes misaligned. We are not sufficiently present in our bodies — disorganization takes over — and we fall prey to a car accident.
Intention is a “broad” sweep that allows for what we do not know. When you come from knowing, and try to control (micromanage) all the details, you come from a place of fear or insecurity. When you work with the broad sweep of Intention, you do not need events to go only one particular way to be successful. In intention, you release the fear, or whatever causes a narrow focus, and allow for events to happen, in whatever way these events choose to unfold.
When we look back, we are filled with awe and wonder at how things worked out to fulfill the intention, wonderful ways that we could not have begun to imagine.
How to Build the Force of Intention in Your Life and Work
- Begin with an intention that will deliver a concrete, easily observable, easily measurable outcome.
- Set yourself up for success: The force of intention needs to be built step-by-step, not by gigantic, impossible leaps. Ensure that your intention is within the scope of your current energetic capacities.Examples:
- Money: If you are currently earning $2,000.00 per month, with intention you could realistically extend this to $2,500.00 but not $1,000,000.00, or even $10,000.00. Once you have manifested the first step of $2,500.00 you can intend for the next step of $3,000.00 … and so on.
- Time: If you are terribly messy and want to tidy your space, you need to form a realistic intention that is manageable both time and energy-wise. Begin with the intention to tidy one section, or corner of the room. Be kind to yourself and only intend to demand an hour or less of your time.
- Understand and respect the hidden and unconscious aspects of yourself that can “fight” with your intention. Remember that 95% of our functioning is at an unconscious level and so for consciousness to “win” we need to respect our unconscious aspects and learn to work with them methodically. The unconscious aspects of ourselves may fight our conscious intention if we step too far outside the comfort zone of the unconscious aspect.
- Choose a “small” intention on which to practice the process: A “small” intention is one that expresses something that you do genuinely want to accomplish, but does not hold a big emotional charge and is not loaded with anxiety. Good examples are making a phone call that you have been delaying, running an errand that is playing on your mind, paying a bill that will soon be overdue.
- Examine your intention to ensure that it is reasonable and realistic: Use the parameters already described to do this, and also do a time estimate for how long it should take for you intention to manifest.
- Choose your best time of day for putting your intention into motion: Two obvious choices are first thing in the morning and last thing before going to sleep. You may however have another more personal powerful point in the day – whilst exercising, during your meditation practice, after breakfast, directly after a massage or bodywork … these power times are individually determined.
- Put your intention in motion: At your “power time” put your intention into motion by voicing your intention to yourself. You can do this out loud, you can do this in writing or you can think your intention – the important part is putting your intention into words and then telling your entire being these words in a single-minded, coherent and understandable message.
- Observe what happens next: Once you have put your intention in motion, watch and see what happens. If you like writing, keeping a log will definitely empower the process, but it is not a requirement.You are on the lookout for 3 dynamics:
- The first dynamic is how you sabotage and undermine the actualization of your intention. We are all subject to inner conflict and ambivalence. We give ourselves mixed messages constantly. The most prevalent, and amusing (though not really all that funny,) is the claim to want to lose weight instantly being followed by the action of eating ice cream.
- The second dynamic is how we miss opportunities. It is surprisingly hard to recognize all the opportunities for fulfilling our intentions that are coming to us. We tend to see things through one particular lens on a habitual basis. Spend time reviewing your day and assessing whether you could be perceiving some conversations and events in a different light.
- The third dynamic to observe, is how the intention begins to actualize. Do not dismiss anything positive, no matter how small. The fulfillment of an intention begins with just a little spark, and it is your responsibility to fan that spark into a powerful flame, and then feed that flame into a blazing torch that lights your life path.
- Celebrate the actualization of your intention: Make absolutely sure that you do not dismiss or diminish the accomplishment, or in any way deny the success. This is one of the major ways that people undermine and disempower themselves. No matter how small the success now seems to be, reward yourself, your nervous system and your energetic system with a celebration of good feeling. Also be acknowledging and respectful of the universe that has synchronized with you to honor your intention.
- Become intentional on a daily or weekly basis: Once your first intention has manifested, choose your next intention. Build slowly and systematically, enjoying success. If you are not having success, you must analyze why and modify your intention(s), and perhaps your behavior(s), accordingly – we should not expect to do things the same way, yet get a different result. If we want change … well, we must change.
