Introduction: what is the power of intention?
Everything you achieve is a result of the power of intention. If you have a clear intention you find that that intention comes to fruition very quickly. Even the act of drinking a glass of water is a result of feeling thirst, deciding to drink water, walking to the water cooler, and then drinking it.
Drinking water is a simple enough task that you don’t need to pay attention to the mechanics of the intention part of it. That’s simply because there is no gap between your intention to drink water and the act of drinking the water. You don’t need to “believe” that you will be able to drink water. In fact, that sounds ridiculous! Why on earth would anyone need belief and intention manifestation to drink water!?
Clarity and the power of intention
However, for most of the things that we want, there is a large gap between the intention and our belief in the possibility of that intention manifesting in our world. In other words, we don’t believe that our intention (or wish) can come true. And because we’re unsure, we don’t consciously make clear intentions.
Not being clear about our intentions is also an intention. Not intending anything means we are open to random stuff happening in our lives. So that is exactly what happens, reinforcing the belief that we’re powerless, and that our intentions mean nothing.
The other side of the coin is that not having our intention manifested or our “wish granted” becomes so painful that we choose not to make a wish, rather than go through the trauma of failing at working to manifest that intention. This is also known as the fear of failure.
All our childhood messages rush up from our memories and we remember the emotional roller-coaster of failing at something. We remember the derision and taunting – internal or external – that we received when we failed at something. Or we remember the way our inner child reacts to wanting something and not getting it. We revert to the way we learned to respond to wanting things. We decide that it is better not to want than to feel pain again.
The Law of Attraction and the power of Intention Manifestation
There is a lot of literature out there about the Law of Attraction and intention manifestation. You may agree with it intellectually but in practice, you find that when you set intentions, nothing happens.
There could be many reasons for this. One reason is that your intention is not aligned with what is really in your heart. There is an incongruence between your intention and your current state of being or state of beliefs. There is doubt or conflict about your intention and that causes confusion inside you. This confusion prevents you from getting clarity about your intention.
It is also possible that deep down, you don’t really care about your intention. For instance, if you set an intention to manifest a million dollars, but deep down you don’t really care for money then that intention is not aligned with your set of beliefs, with who you are at the core of your being.
Let’s leave aside for a moment the whole Law of Attraction and intention manifestation process and let’s talk about the impact of simply creating clear, aligned intentions and working for a certain period towards establishing those intentions.
If you have a powerful, congruent desire for something and you can clearly articulate that desire, then the possibility of that intention being manifested goes up multi-fold.
Getting clear about your intention
What do you need to do to create an intention and manifest it? The first thing you need to do is to ponder on the intention itself. Be clear on whether the intention is truly something that you want.
Ask these questions:
- Do I really want this?
- Does this intention cause conflict in me?
- Can I see myself being this or having this?
- Is it in line with the value system that I hold?
- Am I willing to do what it takes to get this?
- Do I believe that I have what it takes to get this?
- Am I worthy of getting this? If not, why not?
- What prevents me from getting this without having to through the process of intention manifestation? Why do I need the “additional” help?
- Am I willing to change and grow to help manifest my intentions?
- Is it really possible for me to manifest this intention while still staying in exactly the same place mentally, physically, emotionally, or financially?
The larger the gap between where you are and where you want to be in terms of intention, you’ll find that it is that much harder for your intention to manifest.
Writing down your intention
Once you are clear about your intention and it is aligned with your values, write it down. Use positive terms in the present tense.
Acknowledge the possible changes that are a consequence of your intention
Your intention may require you to leave your old habits and patterns behind. You may need to exercise courage. You may need to become disciplined. You may need focus and positive energy.
If you really want your intentions to become a reality, you will need to acknowledge and embrace these changes. There is no way to keep your old ways and experience a new reality.
Implementing intention manifestation
Once you have a congruent intention which is stated clearly and unambiguously, it is important to practice strengthening that intention in a variety of ways.
- Speak your intention out loud: Speak your intention out loud every morning and repeat it 10 to 15 times. The act of speaking it out loud has a direct impact on your belief system. Speaking out your intention becomes your mantra, which is an ancient practice used to harness the power of words to effect massive changes.
Repeating your intention out loud works on two levels. You hear it and you exercise your vocal cords and energy saying it, so it has a greater impact than saying it silently in your mind. - Say your intention silently in your mind: This is a variant of speaking your intention out loud and is useful whenever you want to reinforce your intention in places where you cannot speak.
- Intend after meditation: Speaking out your intentions or holding your intention after you meditate is a powerful way to create impact and change your reality. After meditation, you are particularly open and pliable to suggestion, so this is a great time to establish your intention
- Visualising your intention: Your visual sense is the most powerful, so visual your intention, especially if it is tangible. Close your eyes and imagine it, see it clearly in as much detail as possible, imagine the sounds, smells, and touch associated with it. Do this daily.
- Create a poster: Creating a poster depicting your intention and the text of your intention very clearly printed on it in as large letters as possible. Keep one or more copies of your intention poster where it is visible to you all the time. Put it on your wall, on the desktop of your PC and your phone, as the wallpaper on your laptop. There are many ways to make your intention poster visible to you throughout the day.
- Create an audio recording and hear it: Create an audio recording of you speaking out your intention. Mix it with some upbeat, motivating background music. Start listening to your intention audio for half an hour a day, at any time you are alone and undisturbed.
- Write down your intention: writing down your intention 10 to 15 times daily is an excellent way to reinforce it. Here again, you use your muscles as well as your eyes so that acts to create a doubly impactful effect.
How the power of intention works: Manifesting an intention is like a game
Most literature about the Law of Attraction and the power of intention states that magically somehow, the universe conspires to grant your wish or your intention. If simply setting an intention and not having to work towards it is something that you have experienced repeatedly, good for you!
Personally, that model seems like the world view of a child asking a parent for something and the parent granting that wish. In my opinion, setting an intention is only one half of the game. The other half is action. No matter how many opportunities you perceive, unless you do something about them, nothing is going to happen and your intention is unlikely to manifest in any form.
I prefer to think of getting something that you really want as being part of an elaborate game. If you’ve played games of any sort, you realise that the most fun games are the ones that challenge you just enough. Those games are not super easy, because then they would be boring. They are not super hard either because then they wouldn’t be fun. They are outside the bounds of your skill and capability, but not too far outside.
Similarly, intention manifestation may be something a little more mundane than making grand wishes with hand-wavy gestures. In practice, there need not be any magical process where the universe grants all your wishes. the simple act of clearly identifying an intention and repeating it verbally, visually, or through writing imprints the importance of your intention on your mind-brain system.
This continuous imprinting causes a change. First, it opens you up to the possibility that you can achieve your intention. In other words, your belief about the possibility of your intention coming true begins to change. This change in belief helps you to observe and recognise opportunities in your environment that you might have otherwise missed.
The new car appearing on the road
Remember how you liked a car before you bought it, or you were planning to buy a particular car and then you suddenly found that the roads filled up with that exact same car model? It was not that those cars did not exist before and the universe suddenly manifested them.
What it meant was that your perception changed, and you were open to perceiving the existence of those cars on the road, or maybe even actively looking for them. Those cars became important to you and you began to see them everywhere.
Similarly, repeating your intention changes your lenses of perception and makes you more open to perceiving opportunities that exist all around you. The belief that your intention is changing to reality will spur you on to take positive action towards your intention, which in turn will cause that intention to manifest.
You can achieve whatever your heart desires. That is the power of intention.
