I was having a discussion with a friend yesterday and the subject of intentions came up. I have quite a different perspective on this, so as our discussion developed I realised that I should probably blog about this as well. You don’t have to agree with my perspective. It is completely alright to disagree. But this might give some food for thought that was never provided on your existing menu. So here goes.
A number of years ago I had a business meeting with my friend in his backyard pool. This was a time that I realised that business meetings can take place in locations other than offices and board rooms. We were skinny dipping. Yep, the strangest business meeting I have ever had to date. Nonetheless, while skinny dipping we were also discussing some ideas for projects that each of us had in mind and how, if at all, we would possibly blend some of these. As it turned out, we did not. But the meeting brought up some interesting discussion. He asked me, “So where do you see yourself in five years?” I know that this is a question that is often asked by motivational presenters and life coaches and such. I personally find it to be a silly question. So I answered him in my typical fashion, “I don’t know where I am going to be in the next five minutes…so how would I know where I will be in five years?” He was shocked. He had always thought that I “had my stuff together” so it would be an easy question for me to answer. My response to that was, “It is exactly because I do have my stuff together that this question is irrelevant to me.” Suddenly we were speaking different languages altogether. Thus we did not partner up in any projects.
So here is where I am coming from in this. If I am going to set a goal, then I am going to do everything possible to control everything around me to make sure that goal is reached. I am not a control freak. So setting goals does not work for me. BUT, if I set an intention, then I take immediate and constructive action to manifest that intent.
Let’s look at this another way. I might say that my goal for today is to get over to the mall to pick something up. Great. Unfortunately, that goal may be met with the demands of many other things in life. Before I know it I am freaking out because the day is wearing on and I have still not gotten to the mall. I get bitchy and belligerent and my day, and that of everyone around me, gets totally ruined. I go into my control freak self and try to micromanage everything and everyone around me so that I can reach my goal. I don’t like my control freak self and prefer to never do business with him.
Now, if I were to decide that I intend to get to the mall to pick something up, that is a different story. I intend it therefore I go into immediate action and get it done. The manifestation part of it all becomes extremely easy. For me intentions are the foreplay to actual actions. Goals, however, are laced with control. I know that for some this is all semantics. Substitute one word for the other and voila! There ya go. For me it is not. Here is why. I do not set a goal to still be breathing five years from now. My intention is that this will happen and so I do everything in my power to ensure that I will do that. But it is really ridiculous to set that as a goal. I can’t control what other people do that will or will not ensure that I am still breathing five years from now. But if my intention is that I will be, then I put into immediate action everything that it takes to have that happen. This will include things like lowering stress levels, balancing work with actual life, eating healthy for my body, enjoying relationships and nature and everything else that I could list for days on end. I actively do these things. If it were just a goal, then I could assure everyone that by this time tomorrow I would no longer know or care if in five years I am still alive and kicking.
A lot of times people think that they can state an intention and it will magically happen because the Universe listens to our intentions and immediately responds with “YESSSSSS!” I don’t believe that. Intentions are useless if they are not followed by immediate and direct action. We cannot sit on our laurels and expect the Universe to just spoon feed us. The Universe, I have discovered, despises freeloaders. So each and every day I decide what I intend to get done and what can wait. Those things that make the cut are the things that I put immediate action into, even if it takes all day. And by the end of the day, I have my list accomplished. But if I don’t intend to accomplish any of it, then none of it will happen.
I know that for many who are reading this, this will come across as right next door to blasphemous. I do invite you, however, to closely look at how you function with your intentions and what you do if you do set some goals. See what actually works for you and what does not. I know that a lot of people would find my not knowing what the next five minutes will be like to be unnerving and “irresponsible”. It really isn’t. It is called living in the present. Doing that is what makes me able to follow through with immediate actions to manifest all that I intend to manifest today…every day. It keeps me completely focused on the task at hand. It also helps me to notice everything around me in the moment, which many think is my “psychic self” in action. It isn’t. It is just my observant self in action…always.
Goals? I don’t really care. Intentions? I am all over that.