A Life Built on Intention

A long, long, long time ago I went to a seminar that was extremely unusual.  I had no idea what I was getting into - my neighbor recommended it and since I felt like I was living in hell emotionally I went.  It was definitely a transformative experience as I guess it was for a lot of people.  The thing is, there was no follow up to speak of to help use what we had learned. As a result, like a lot of things, my awareness faded to some sparkles on the background of my life.

Just the other day, though, I heard the word, "intention" which was the center of the seminar's teaching.  I was reminded that my normal way of living was to kind of float through the day or struggle through the day, whichever seems to be the way it had to be.  Of course I had goals that I worked on, but I only thought about "intention" when I was working on those goals.  The seminar taught me to have a CONSCIOUS intention for everything.  All of us have unconscious intentions and those intentions may or may not be in our best interests.  Conscious intentions cause me to give prayerful thought to why I'm doing whatever it is I plan to do.

Questions to answer in order to set an intention:  What is my intention for this day?  What is my intention for the conversation I'm having with_______?  What is my intention for this trip to the grocery store?  And so forth.  It's best if I don't have an intention like, "to get it over with."  Often that's the kind of unconscious intention I have and I don't get that great of results that way.  What if my intention were "to have a peaceful, loving day."  Keeping that intention in mind will bear amazing results.  So will all my thoughtful intentions.