Dear One,
With heartfelt intention of sharing illuminating ideas for alleviating challenges and elevating you, I offer ‘Intention Setting.’
“Setting Intentions is the act of stating what you Intend to accomplish through your actions,” per Coralie Sawruk.
Intention Setting directs Thoughts for Action to follow. Intentions bring forward vision to help, form, and execute plans.
“When your Intention is clear, so is the way,” per Alan Cohen.
Initially, Intention Setting was a halfhearted, ummm, maybe distressed attempt to extricate me from illness and loss which I didn’t really believe in.
I persisted in practicing Intention Setting because wise authors and sages suggested it works. Continuing this, I found it’s a strategic wisdom nugget.
It helps:
• line up thinking with end in mind – not a guarantee alas it assists,
• set tone, either internally or with others, and start off on a ‘right’ foot,
• clarify purpose,
• reminds, verbalizes, wills direction and next step aimed for,
• helps with Focus, and
• directs perception” per Jaco Snoek.
For me, where Intention goes, energy flows. This may work beneficially via elevating, triumph leaning Intentions … or … detrimentally via shadowy, toxic trending Intentions.
When aligned with the Divine and Gut Knowing – verbalized, written, or silently in a meeting, meal, Zoom, or appointment – Intentions can elevate feelings.
Examples of Intention Setting, per Coley Lane Bouschet in “Life Goals Mag.”, are:
• “To give back to the community,
• To answer the call of service,
• To be afraid and do it anyway,
• To Accept whatever happens,
• To Pause before responding in conversation and lead with empathy and Love, or
• Clarity, Self-Care, Realness, Rest, Simplicity…”
When I drop the ball occasionally and don’t do it or remember it after the fact, I aim to begin again in practicing Intention Setting regularly.
The Power of Intent article describes The Intention Experimentwhere Lynne McTaggart “explored the science of Intention, drawing on the findings of leading scientists around the world. … Cutting edge research conducted at Princeton, MIT, Stanford, and other universities and laboratories reveal that Intent is capable of profoundly affecting all aspects of our lives.” Wow.
Here’s a real-world story – approved to share – on Intention Setting’s benefits.
A critical, potentially tense business meeting was called. Upon telling my business partner in another endeavor (and my better half), I’d like to start this with Intention Setting, his reply look indicated ‘that’s nuts.’ I calmly persisted. Since he’d previously experienced positive results from Intention Setting, he – reluctantly? – agreed. At the meeting’s start, I Set Intentions with Gratitude for everyone’s time and willingness to meet, Graciousness for civil discourse (yep, I really said that), Acceptance of anything brought up so we could work it out, and Humility – as the more we learn, the more we realize we have to learn.
Taking this risk, my heart pounded, fears grumbled. Then…
Our colleagues immediately, authentically replied with openness and appreciation, noting they’d really like to resolve matters. Relief by all was palpable. Smooth discussions followed and issues – amazingly – ironed out. Relationships improved even. A better than expected outcome per my business partner too.
Oprah describes the rather awesome (in the true sense of the word) power of intention in What Happened to You? “An Intention precedes every thought and every action, and the outcome of our experiences is determined by your Intention going in.”
May Intention Setting assist you in aiming towards and achieving what makes your heart smile,
Judy
Original Email Date: May 28, 2021
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