Conscious Intentions revisited

In my last blog entry, I spoke of intention. I am not done with this subject yet. It is my intention to make sure you get this, because I believe intention is the most powerful tool anyone has at their disposal to make their life as they would wish it to be.

Most people don’t believe they can really influence the events in their lives. That belief is an intention in itself. It goes something like this, “I intend to not believe I can actually make a difference in my life, so stuff will just happen and I get what I get, and sometimes other people are to blame and sometimes not, but I have no control over such things.”

Does this resonate with you?

Now imagine changing that belief. With conscious conviction state emphatically, “I intend to create joy in my life no matter what. I intend to take responsibility for it all.” Congratulations. You have just consciously given yourself permission to get the good stuff no matter what. And not only that, you have intended that you have full control over what it is. And whatever it is will come. But the thing about conscious intention is you have to pay attention; be in the moment in order to get the pay off. You have to be conscious. Otherwise, the unconscious intentions that are still deeply entrenched within will take over. But it’s not because you can not actually consciously create your life as you wish. It’s because you stopped paying attention (aka went unconscious).

So take note of what’s going on around you every moment. Be aware. Be conscious! When something enjoyable happens, acknowledge it and congratulate yourself for consciously intending that to happen. When a situation occurs that would normally irritate or frustrate you, tell yourself you intend to not react to this because you intend to enjoy yourself no matter what.

Carl Jung said, “What you resist, persists.” Judgment, disapproval, believing someone is wrong are all just forms of resistance as is any negative emotion, which is why the conditions you judge, disapprove of, see as wrong, or feel bad about continue to persist. Trying harder or putting up more of a fight will cause them to persist that much harder or that much more. Drop your fight, lose your judgment, and stop pushing so hard against someone or something, and you will find that you feel peace replace the push. You may think if you stop fighting the other person wins. But the truth is if you stop fighting, intend for nothing but good to come out of it, then you win. And please intend that it be about you winning and not about the other person losing. Try it. It may surprise you.

So when you win on Roll up the Rim, tell yourself you intended that. When you don’t win, tell yourself you intend to enjoy your coffee whether it has a Toyota Senza attached to it or not (this would be the ‘no matter what’ clause coming into play.) Before a meeting, intend to be of service whether that means listening, sharing your knowledge, being understanding, or just enjoying the fact you are learning new information. When your dog chews on one of your favorite pair of shoes, be conscious of how angry you are, and then allow yourself to feel good that you get to go buy a new pair. Or that you love your dog so much you’d give up all your shoes to have him. Or that you realize feeling angry only serves to make you feel bad and won’t bring your shoe back or make your dog change so you might as well laugh.

Whatever it is, go consciously find that new and improved perspective. I double dog dare you. When you succeed, reward yourself with a new pair of shoes.

You can do this. Just intend to.

And that’s my perspective…