Long ago I gave up on New Year’s resolutions. Having a very specific goal like losing 10 lbs. or exercising every day doesn‘t seem to work for me. But setting a “feeling” intention works better. I put it to myself as an emotional direction, something like wanting to experience being more peaceful in the coming year or becoming more flexible. If I can feel an inner resonance with a direction, I have more chance of embodying my intention.
Phrases Posted on Facebook, January 2023
A good way to tend to an intention is to find a word to symbolize it and to write that word down, sprinkled here and there in the calendar for the year. Perhaps then intention could be spelled in-tendtion.
We can’t go where we can’t imagine. An intention needs not only to be imagined as possible but also felt as already accomplished.
It’s good to know that in conceiving of an intention it becomes a living thing. We embrace it, and it embraces us right back.
Starting with small intentions that we fulfill builds muscle to fulfill bigger things. We learn to trust ourselves. That’s the magic.
“Just for today”, we can say as we hold our intention close to our hearts and act on it. The long journey is just one day and then another.
Sometimes we unconsciously intend something dark. We give ourselves a false, deprecating self-assessment. It’s fear at work, a kind of preemptive strike so we won’t be hurt too much if it turns out to be true. At least then we can be right about how wrong we are.
Longing for something that belongs to us is at the heart of intention. We need to listen to the still small voice inside and obey its promptings.
In the course of time we might discover that our intentions need tweaking. At the beginning, we sort of got it right, but time might reveal a slightly different rending. With a course correction we can be even more faithful to our longings.
Imagine that at the heart of life is a love stream. When we intend something both true and good for us and for others, we are placing our intentions in that love stream. It picks up our ardor and returns it to us creating more embodiment than before.
I like to think that an intention can be like a colorful background, the way a room is painted. You may not be aware of it as spell out every moment, but you can feel it as an atmosphere, a vibration or a mood. This is wordless and very powerful.
Real intentions lie in a land beyond what we think we want. A true intention rises out of the core and with it we accept the work and the costs of executing it. It’s more like a deep certitude and not an ideal image we believe we are drawn to.
Some of us have given up on intending anything because we have a hidden belief that we will fail in the end so what’s the use? Of course, that is an intention in itself, and one that will succeed. Isn’t it better to roll up our sleeves and feel good about risking engagement because we are willing to invest in our lives?
The most dynamic and fundamental intention any of us can have is to be present to our moments, the here and now of our lives. Easy? NO. Life-fulfilling? YES
Here is a lovely last quote for this month from Roger Tell: “It’s about direction, not perfection.” For me that’s a comforting thought.
