What Now? Reinventing life one question at a time beginning with:
What Are Your Intentions?

If a guy hears that question, “What are your intentions?” immediately we think of a father and daughter scenario where the guy has his hands in his pockets, anxiously shifting his weight side to side while he waits for his date. I remember a time in high school when a baseball player who was already in college came to our door to pick me up for a date. My dad took one look at him and decided he was too old for me. He asked him the question, “What are your intentions with my daughter, young man?” (By the way, this was a first and only date and the meaning of my dad’s question was clearly a warning.) The guy uneasily replied, “I guess my intention, sir, is to have your daughter home by 11 o’clock, as you say.” My dad said, “Good, son, I’ll be waiting.”

Intention is a powerful thing and “there are many a road that have been paved with good intentions.” And, many a road that remains unchartered territory without them.

There are times in life where I’ve felt like a nomad wandering aimlessly through the desert of possibility. Having too many options can be as incapacitating as having too few, however, defining my intentions point me in the right direction and gets me started.

Intention is the first and fundamental step in the beginning to unravel the questions we have when we are standing on the precipice of the unknown asking, “What now?”

It’s easy to get lost in day-to-day life and routine and to live unaware of our habits and unaware of our intentions. When we don’t have our bearings then it leaves the door open for anxiety and fear.

We act on our intentions daily, stated or not, by habit and without realizing it. Something quite magical happens when we consciously state our intentions on a regular basis. “Intention” by definition is having an aim or objective or quality of purposefulness. It is the juice behind our disciplined actions and how we practice life.

Some of my favorite books, the early good reads from my college days, are The Game of Life and Your Word is Your Wand by Florence Scovel Shinn. These books taught me the power of the spoken word and the power of my thoughts to create my reality.

Every action is preceded by thought and to speak intentions out loud is a bit like fishing. As you stand on the shoreline edge, pole in hand, you cast the line and it lands in a point and time in the water, worm on hook. Our words are the bait for the universe, and our intentions, when stated out loud, are getting very specific about the actions that manifest a desired result—setting a point and time to follow through. (The follow-through is like reeling in the casted line with the bait gone and the fish on the hook.)

I was recently teaching this concept and a woman in our circle asked me, “How do I know which intentions to set?”

I suggested she look for the areas she’d like to change and how she’d like to practice life differently. For example, if you’ve never meditated but you’d like to start, then you state, “I intend to meditate for ten minutes every morning when I wake up.” Perhaps you’d like to watch less TV and read more. Therefore you would state, “I intend to read a book every week or two.”

Here are two powerful reasons to set an intention:

1. You put your stake in the ground with commitment by journaling and stating out loud, “I intend to…” and
2. You increase your chances of success to take positive action steps with a higher form of self-discipline – as Florence says, “Your word is your wand” to manifest your dreams.

There are two components to defining intentions:

First, there must be an inherent reward if you fulfill an action with a preceding intention. For example, as I meditate, I will in fact relax and quiet down. Relaxing is the desired result, and the intention to meditate is what gets me there. Secondly, intention defines life practice in the same way an athlete trains to prepare for a sporting event. The intention daily to lift weights, run or practice, trains the mind to be focused with intention and the body disciplined to practice.

Don’t worry! You aren’t taking all the fun and spontaneity out of your life by setting intentions because that could actually be your intention for the day: “I intend to live inspired and spontaneously today.” Often, my personal intention is to create an inspiration flow day.

We are all really good at setting intentions on an annual basis at the New Year, but a quick ten minutes of daily journaling makes all the difference to your ability to follow through with your new year’s resolutions with integrity and commitment.

Intentions are best set in the present and reset on a daily basis. Why? Because life changes and it’s best to be malleable like clay. Life remains more of an adventure as you wake up fresh with new aspirations, even if you intend to follow the same direction.

Every year I do a cleanse. Right now I’m deleting sugar from my diet. I write out my intention to give up sugar for today. It’s far more manageable to give up something or practice something when you are doing it short term, one day at a time, versus long term. I intend to give up sugar today. (It’s much easier to stay present in my intention if it feels attainable.) Truth is, no one shoots a one hundred percent on all of the best-laid intentions, but the average batting rate for hitting the home run is much higher with short-term intentions that help you stay the course.

When I want to really focus my attention with the super power of Intention, I access the feminine archetype of Artemis who stands confidently and courageously as the Archer. Bow in hand, arrow drawn back aiming purposefully in warrior pose, she lets go with pure intention.

I hope this helps you access the super power of intention; it has certainly been my intention to inspire you.