THE PROCESS FOR "INTENDING"
When I think of "intending", I think of the kid who squeezes his body and scrunches his face real hard to create something merely by intending it or "wishing it into existence". (A little like the mythical parts of The Secret.) I would suggest you use a better method, one based on what actually works and one which is based on the mechanics of reality.
Intention has become some mystical thing and, at the level of believing that it is such, it is the source of much misunderstanding and ineffectiveness.
Intention is just part of a process to, assumedly, get more of what you want and/or less of what you do not want.
The process looks like this:
1. Decide what I want to have come about
2. See the benefit well enough with a high enough priority to "want" to go after it and expend the energy and effort.
3. Communicate that sufficiently to the primitive mind
4. Chemicals are then emitted to cause the seeking of what you want or the diminishing of what you don't want.
5. The chemicals cause enough of a sensation to cause your body to do the action.
6. You (mostly) then get the results (if you've done the process right!).
If you don't get the desired results, you go back and correct the process, or system, so that it proceeds to get what you want. (Simple, but few bother with the corrections, so they continue to not get the right results. On the other hand you might observe what occurs in Living Life As A Life Success Champion.
(Incidently, intention is not the process of battling against demons or little entities within your body or mind. It is, again, simply a mechanism that you will employ well or not well.)
Essentially, your "job" is to manage the elephant (of your primitive mind) and to train it (via repetition, plus a little more), and then motivate it with a primitive reward, to take you where YOU want to go in life. YOU have no choice if the elephant chooses to not go the right way, so you better make sure you have completed the training well!!!
Therefore it is up YOU to do what it takes mechanistically (systematically) to "enroll" the elephant in doing something that has it heading in the direction you want but to get the reward it wants. See Managing The Elephant In Your Life.
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THE "POWER OF INTENTION"
We talk much about the "power of intention".
And we don't talk much about what it takes to create powerful intention in ourselves as human beings operating in a human environment.
But I was setting up an "impossible standard" for myself, which leads to depressing thoughts, as one always falls short of an impossible standard! (See
POWERING "OVER"
The unwise attempt to "power over" something, trying to fight against something in such a way that one wins but with alot of force and effort. (Imagine trying to outpower an elephant. It doesn't work as a strategy!)
The wise do not assume that intention will win against powerful forces, so they simply remove "the other side" (the opposition), by "curing" it through "doables". (See Problem Solving.)
INTENDING IS POSITIVE BUT NOT SUFFICIENT
In "The Secret" there seemed to be an implication that if one fully intended to have a result "manifest" itself, the thing would happen. Well, bull-bleep!
Setting an intention is good in focusing on getting a result (which is the first step) and in raising the commitment level. From that viewpoint, one will tend to be more powerful. A viewpoint creates a way of looking at things such that one will tend to be more (or less) oriented to doing what makes that thing happen. (See The Potential In Choosing States Of Being.)
But the next steps must be taken, including setting up "doable" actions. (Read Success, particularly the Steps Necessary For Achieving A Result. Even Jack Canfield, part of The Secret group, says in order to get what we want we have to take the necessary actions. (Well, duh!)
CHANGE INTENTIONS TO....
Read the sidebar and step up your languaging to a higher level.
Each day, when grounding and centering to launch the day, say "I am100% committed this day to be ____________________. I am 100% committed to complete _______________________."
If you truly want something, always follow any "want" statement with a true commitment that is unconditional, period!!!
DO YOUR AIMING AND COMMITTING EVERY DAY
If you have no aims for the day, you will pretty much go nowhere and live life at a much lower, random level.
So, aim, aim, aim!!!
And then commit to do 100% of what it takes to achieve those aims! (100% commitment is a commitment to do what is decided to be best to do, so it may be changed only if there is another better thing to do. This excludes, of course, taking the easy way out, succumbing to comfort or escape or wimping out, or giving in to circumstances...)
NOTICE THAT YOUR "PROCEDURE" MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
If one has intention (the "want' motivation) that is not enough if there is no easy path through the jungle. Intention is a "forwarding" energy, but as soon as it meets a wall it is stopped and/or as soon as there is an opposing force pushing against it, it will be stopped or diminished. If you're tired, for instance, your body/mind witll be motivated to solve that in some way, so it'll take away the forwarding energy you want so that it can solve the problem or need that conflicts with us (that is the very definition of Resistance, which we often erroneously see as some mysterious opposing entity or mystical force). (On the latter it is useful to know how we falsely make up such beliefs. You might read the summary of The Believing Brain, to be clear about this.)
RELEVANT READINGS
In order to implement effectively in any "mind" area, one needs to understand the mechanisms and how they work:
Self Control - The Means To A Great And Happy Life - Without it you give up control to other forces, circumstances, people, etc. You cannot do well without developing this means to getting what you want in life!!!! And, it isn't hard, if you do it the right, "doable" way. This is the means to implement your intentions, so it is part of the overall intentions process.
