Ever had an intention and failed to bring it into being? Yeah, I know the feeling. When I approached intention from a surface level, instead of a roll up your sleeves kind of project, it never materialized. I discovered that there's more to it than affirmations and visualizations. In order to bring intentions into being elbow grease is required.
Intentions are a vision you create to make something happen in your world. You are looking to alter reality. Reality is cobbled together internally, from your early influences, your current environment, and your creative mastery. It is more flexible than you realize, once you claim your creative capacity.
Often, there's a good bit of deconstruction that's required. Chances are your current worldview doesn't support your intention. Otherwise, you'd be living it. Energy is required to rearrange reality and focus is the altar of your intention. You must bring yourself fully to it. Invest in it wholeheartedly. Honor it with your actions. It's a full-time gig.
“Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
Franz Kafka
The gravitational pull of the world is fierce. In order to break out of the humdrum orbit of ordinary living, you'll need to be relentless. It's a worthwhile endeavor! Ready?
3 Practices to Boost Your Focus
If you’re struggling to focus on your intentions, you're in good company. It’s a common predicament. There are so many distractions! The good news is that focus is something you can expand. Here are 3 practices that will help you strengthen your focus:
- Mindfulness. Mindfulness is an exercise for the mind, just like working out is exercise for the body. When you create intentions you are looking to re-arrange reality. Reality is interpreted through your mind. The more you flex your ability to focus, pay attention, and be aware, the more that focus is available for you to direct. Mindfulness is all about being present in the moment, focusing on your current environment rather than letting your mind wander to other things and other places. Mindfulness will deliver the mind-muscle to craft a new reality. This is where ALL the magic happens!
- Reduce Distractions. This is the nitty-gritty part of the playground. There is a lot going on in your mind. Once you begin noticing you'll wonder how you get anything done with all the noise going on in there! The best way to control distractions is to remove them from the picture. This might look like turning your phone off, silencing email notifications, and eliminating negative influences (sometimes even people). You can even go deeper with this like removing social media from your phone, unsubscribing from emails you don't read and put into practice, etc. Go deep, darling! (This is an ongoing gig, hence the practice.)
- Notice What's Good. This is a deceptively simple practice that will boost your intentions to a quantum level. You may not realize it but you have a lot of negative thoughts lurking in that brain cavity. If you journal regularly you'll notice it. But, I'm going to recommend that you journal on what's new and good to really flip the script! This is a practice I picked up at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I couldn't believe how hard it was to find new and good things every day. It was a slow start but it builds up just like an avalanche. The media might have you believe it's all cataclysm and chaos out there, but the truth is there's more good than bad. It just doesn't sell as well. Start shifting your default view to what's new and good and you'll have plenty of fuel to power up your intentions.
You'll experience an extraordinary shift in your state of being from practicing even one of these. Add them all to your daily do and you'll be soaring towards your intention at the speed of light. Let's do it!
Art by AquaSixio on Deviant Art
