25 November 2006
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
How much power do you have in your life? Probably somewhere between absolute and absolutely helpless! It all depends, you say. Depends on what?
| "All power corrupts, but we need the electricity." Unknown |
Where does your power come from? It comes from the power to choose. And every choice you make is an expression of power. Choose right and life seems to "fall into place". Choose wrong and subsequent events seem to be a struggle.
Intentionality
What gives rise to your choices? Your intentions. Every intention you have, either consciously or unconsciously sets into motion a series of causes and effects, a kind of ripple of energy that influences everything around you. "What you intend is what you become"!
But this is all a bit "New Age-y" isn't it? Surely what happens to you is simply a function of what you do in any given situation? Well, not according to research conducting by Glen Rein, PhD as far back as 1992 (Love and Holoenergetic Healing in: Leonard Laskow, : Healing with Love: A Breakthrough Mind/Body Medical Program for Healing Yourself and Others, San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco). Rein conducted several double blind experiments on the effects of focused intention on human cell cultures. Measurable and significant differences could be detected in DNA replication, conformation and electrical properties consistent with different conscious intentions held by a trained healer. If intention has the capacity to influence human DNA at a distance imagine what your intention is doing to the cells of your body right now!
| "When you choose to create with the intentions of love, forgiveness, humbleness and clarity - you gain power." Gary Zukav (1990), The Seat of the Soul, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster |
Intention is defined as a mental state directed towards a specific goal, whereas intentionality is a property of observable actions. We can be seen to behave intentionally. An action may be considered intentional if you:
- Have a desire for an outcome,
- Have a belief that the action will lead to that outcome,
- Have a desire to actually perform the action, and
- Have awareness of fulfilling the intention while performing the action
This is what gives intention the characteristics of a vector. Intentionality has both a force and a direction. Acting intentionally may be the resolution of several competing intentions which leads to a resultant action not necessarily consistent with what you expected! So, ask yourself the following questions to get clear on what you really mean to happen before it happens:
- What do I desire for that outcome?
- Will this action lead to that outcome?
- Will I do this action?
- Am I aware of my intention while engaged in the action?
Performance
Intention is the axis which drives our beliefs and values, thoughts and feelings towards the performance of a behaviour. Intention arises from identity and the stories we tell ourselves about our life's meaning. We express these stories through relationship with others and they in turn influence the direction of our intentions. And then we are helped or constrained in manifesting our intentions through the particular systems we move through, family systems, social systems, work and decision-making systems. So that what emerges as a pattern of behaviours or a performance is fundamentally driven by our core intentions.
In this way performance is kind of like balancing a set of "spinning plates". You have to keep "spinning" the identity, relationship, and systems "plates" to create some kind of stabilizing gyroscopic force! But if the "stick" is wobbly - if the intention is off-centre- then the whole performance can come crashing down!
The great secret to life - and to balancing plates! - is to be mindful of your intentions. Check the clarity of your intentions by asking yourself the following questions:
- "Who will be affected (by my action)?"
- "What do I stand to lose?"
- "How would I feel about someone close to me taking a similar action?"
- "What additional knowledge about the situation (if known) could change my action?"
- "What does this (situation) remind me of (from my past)?"
- "How have I handled similar situations before?"
- "Who do I choose to be?"
| "The lesson which life repeats and constantly enforces is 'look under foot.' You are always nearer the divine and the true sources of your power than you think." John Burroughs, US essayist & naturalist (1837 - 1921) |
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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