We are finding out quickly that monitoring our intention is tough work. But this IS THE WORK we have to do if creating our future is the goal. Monitoring intention and creating the future awaiting you is like breathing!
Remember the richest man in history with the hanging gardens of Babylon.? He said as a person thinks in their heart...that is in fact who they are. It's easy to get stuck.
You have to monitor intention!
Let's get down to business...
That which is cycling through our minds is creating a certain sort of energy that is either transformative and opens us, or is distracting and closes us to what is emerging around us.
I will pause while you right that down on an index card to carry around or put in your iPhone reminders so every hour on the hour you are made aware yet again!
Intention is the activity of mind, energized by the passion of the heart, that wills for something to happen. It is our wish, our purpose, our drive behind the initiation of the action. Usually we define intention as something we consciously decide upon and choose with a desire for it’s fulfillment.
My experience in helping people is that we often simply don’t know what to focus on. We are experts at what we DO NOT want…but not as clear about what we really are seeking. As we start to listen to our self-talk, that incessant thought stream that runneth on and on and on, we start to notice where we habitually put our attention. And knowing where we put our attention is like knowing where we spend our money. There is an ah-ha that dawns when you realize that all those Starbucks trips add up, or all those Amazon orders really did make a budget dent. When you nail that down there is a liberating sense of “I know I can now control that!”
Where our attention is focused takes more work than simply looking at your American Express statement or your debit card invoice. Where does your endless stream of thoughts take you? What is the focus? Is it your body, some irritating relationship, the dead end feeling you have in your job?
Everyday we largely focus on what we don’t want.
This is an important realization. Stop and think about this. “Man I don’t like this extra 10 lbs around my middle,” “Sheesh, she is really a pain in the neck to work for, wish I had other options,” “I wish I had time to do something I really enjoyed instead of this rat race I feel trapped in.” These are all the negative things we don’t want. They create negative feelings in us, and those negative energy signatures impact our blood chemistry, how we view our relationships, our job situation and ourselves. And in the midst of all the negative focus those thoughts do absolutely nothing to move us toward something else.
Can you catch that running train of constantly charging thoughts and actively move them away from autopilot to something specific and focused?
This is why the suggestion of listing your limiting thoughts and isolating what you really want is so important. Life change is free, you don’t have to have a book, a coach, or a clinic. Though most people deeply serious about it do have coaches and read books.
While life change IS free, the work necessary to do it is hard. There is no way around it.
I recently had a google hangout reading group on the topic of meditative practice…and one of the mantras this group has adopted is from something I say all the time…
Knowledge helps - practice transforms.
WB Inner-Action
What practice are you engaging that is in line with the things you want and is putting to rest the negative things your thought stream is constantly rehearsing?
What observer practice, or meditative practice are you engaging that empowers you to turn your thought stream on and off or direction it where you wish?
Are you curious to learning more about that? Takes steps to do something? Incorporate a practice to really change?