What is it? I feel like this word is thrown out there a lot. A father may ask “what is your ‘Intention’ with my daughter?”, but has anyone ever really stopped to think about what that word really means?
According to Oxford dictionary online the definition of intention is as follows:
a thing intended; an aim or plan.
the healing process of a wound
conceptions formed by directing the mind towards an object
I’ve always had my own concept of the word “intention” as I’ve heard it a lot growing up in church. Now I hear it all the time and it seems like the word is just trending (or maybe people are becoming more aware). “Do things with intention". “Put intention into everything you do” or something similar to that.
I have always been a very imaginative and “dreamy” person. My mind wanders and I daydream a lot. Thankfully this has made the concept of intention easy for me to understand and for me it’s like playing pretend and imagining the outcome I desire to have while preforming an action that will get me to that outcome. It’s not always physical or tangible.
Because I am open to dreaming and being playful with it, I do like to pretend (and have done this since I was a kid) that I have powers or that I have the ability to influence an outcome if I use my mind to help get me there. Yes, as crazy as that sounds, I like to imagine that, for example, when I am pulling out weeds in my yard I am healing and uprooting things in my life that no longer serve me, just as those weeds in my yard no longer serve me. Because I approach it in a playful “lets just pretend” kind of way, I don’t expect it to work, but I do put the “intention” behind it, just in case it does. “You never know” is always the thought that backs that thinking. Like “hey, if it works, cool. And if it doesn’t, at least I made pulling weeds purposeful and meaningful to me”.
I also do this when I cut hair or work with clients. I imagine that when we cut off all the dead ends we also breathe new life to the hair. I always tell my clients they will feel so much better after and that their hair will grow. Sometimes it takes a long time to see the results, but I have seen a handful of clients whose hair would not grow past their shoulders for years who, now, with a lot of commitment on their part and a lot of intention on mine, the results show what patience and perseverance can do. It took time, I will not deny that, but it was time that was used productively and with a goal in mind. We were committed and with that commitment we’ve seen results.
When you have an intention, things are not just gonna fall in your lap. It’s not magic, but it can seem that way sometimes because it does have influence over your results. I think, more than anything, it keeps you focused on the goal. What is your goal? That is your intention. What do you plan on doing? That is your intention. What do you want to happen? That is your intention and the results are manifestation, which is a topic for a different day.
For now, I am just going to reiterate “do all things with intention”. Be playful with it and imagine what you desire. It may have no impact on what you do, but what if, let’s just pretend here, what if it does?