The Truth About Intention

Most people have incorrect ideas about intention. I certainly did. People throw the word "intention" around, after all, as if we all just instinctively understand what it is and means, and never actually explain it! So, I'm going to.

You see, in my experience, I’ve mostly observed (and done this myself) that people, when attempting to bring about something, focus on their intention, giving a great deal of deep concentration on a mental level, and in this, they expend a lot of energy in the process. You may even have heard the advice to “visualize or think about your desired outcome” and to try to “feel the emotion” you will feel when the desired outcome happens. 

These pieces of advice are, of course, on the right track, but there are missing pieces. In order to explain, I need to provide a little context. 

Humans are triune beings … three-part beings. Mind, body, and Spirit/soul/individual consciousness/whatever-word-you-prefer-here. Intention requires all three parts to vibrate in unison at a matching frequency in order to create reality. To keep it as simple as possible, I’ll have to grossly simplify some quantum physics here, but essentially … all possible outcomes of all possible decisions and events exist, and in order to ‘land’ in the one you most desire, you don’t want to “want” it really badly — desire, to the Universe is a statement of lack. All the Universe wants is to agree with you, remember? So, if you tell the Universe, “I want money” the Universe will agree that you want money and provide opportunities where you can experience that reality. 

Well, there’s more to the quantum physics that might help you understand what’s going on behind the scenes, so to speak. So, in quantum mechanics, there’s a thing called ‘superposition’, where an object (so far, humans have only accomplished this with a single atom, but we’ll get better over time) can exist in multiple places at once, and yet not really in any of them fully, not “locked” into any of them … in superposition, it’s still able to go to any possible place it can exist in. However, if an observer is present, or the environment interacts with the object, it ‘locks’ the object into place within a certain position, into something called ‘decoherence’, pulling it out of superposition and into a locked, single position in a single location — a single reality. 

Just like you, when you are looking forward to the future … there are a million ways things could turn out, but you have preferences, of course, and you attempt to guide your path toward them. So, in order to pull yourself out of superposition and “lock” onto a desired reality, you may decide to “manifest” something. In manifesting, we intend the things we want to happen, right, to avoid the desire trap. You say, “I am wealthy.” Except, your brain is too smart to believe that when you have twelve cents in your bank account til payday, and it refuses to be manipulated into buying your affirmation to the contrary. 

So, what can you do? Keep reading, and learn what intention really is, and how to use it to your benefit, and why everyone keeps saying that gratitude is a piece of it. No, there’s no sales pitch. No course. No coaching. Just free information. 

So, what are the three elements of intention? They are CLARITY, EMOTION, and ALIGNMENT. 

CLARITY comes from the mind, which is sparked by inspiration (a word that comes from the Latin, “to breathe in”, referencing the very breath of life itself, a function of the body), and some people think that inspiration is a matter of the Spirit, yet it is refined by the mind into clarity, into the vision of the desired outcome. If that is so, and I believe it is, then here, in this one element, we see all three parts (mind, body, Spirit) already present. 

EMOTION is a matter often associated with the heart, the center of the body, and the thing said to break, yet science says that emotion is actually governed by our limbic systems — an area of the brain which has the keys to our nervous systems, which causes our bodies to respond when we experience emotion, and can sometimes cause the mind to become a foggy mess of poor judgment until the emotion clears, despite knowing “the right thing to do” within our Spirits. Again, we see all three parts of the human being involved in a single piece of the intention puzzle. 

ALIGNMENT is the final piece, which originates with the Spirit, and for some (though not all), it is the most elusive. Though it originates in the Spirit, it is felt in the body, in the quiet certainty of ‘this is right for me’ and ‘this is wrong for me’. It whispers, unlike emotions which can often shout and take over … it is the quiet voice inside, often ignored by many. Eventually, we can forget what it sounds like if we ignore it for a long time, if we stop listening for it. Be reassured though … it is still within you, always whispering. You have only to learn to listen, using — you guessed it — your mind and body as tools. And here again, we have all three components of humans present within a single part of intention, by incorporating mind and body to help us first recognize and then “feel into” alignment. 

Hopefully, this rounds out the missing pieces in what you’ve been taught, in what has been shown to you, modeled for you as far as manifesting is concerned. Second, it allows you a fuller picture of how to move forward in your own manifesting journey. 

The essential steps are to get clear about your desired outcome. I find writing to be a great tool for this, but sometimes I just use my very visual imagination too, particularly when writing would be too slow. Then, “feel into” the future you plan to live. Remember, we’re not aiming for desire, as it reflects lack to the Universe. We’re going for intention … a solid plan. Certainty. This is where gratitude comes in … What is present here that you’re thankful for? Who is here that you are so grateful for? If you’re struggling to feel into the future you want to “lock onto”, beginning with gratitude is a wonderful way to make an emotional connection — but I caution you, gratitude is a practice. It’s crucial that gratitude be exercised often in order for you to be able to find it when you go looking for it. 

And then, allow the clarity and emotion to settle into you, to pour over your being like sun-warmed honey pouring slow over your Spirit, to ease into your very Being from the inside out, to settle into your heart, mind, and bones, until the certainty comes. The certainty feels a bit different for everyone, I’m sure … for me, it feels like a relaxing in my body that happens sort of all at once, almost like a melting sensation particularly in my lowest chakra, often accompanied by other physical sensations, and sometimes emotions related to my desired outcome and not my current circumstances. It is pleasure, and unmistakeable — as if a tuning fork has found its harmonic mate.

If certainty evades you, if it does not arrive, it cannot be forced. If your body is tense, if your mind wanders, if your Sprit is restless and unsettled — these things are communication. Perhaps the future you’re envisioning has elements which are out of alignment … a person who cannot come with you to the plan you have, for instance, or you might move away from the place you envision it taking place, or maybe you change careers unexpectedly due to a sudden opportunity, etc. Curve balls happen, the Universe is good at those! Sometimes we can get a small glimpse of these while trying to manifest and being unable to fully “intend” events as we plan them in our minds, though of course, we’re usually still flattened by the curve ball, sigh.

With practice and the implementation of these elements into your intentional manifesting, you may see results in your manifesting sooner than you’re expecting, and in ways you might not have anticipated. Small at first, then in more profound ways as you start to believe in yourself and the impact you’re having on your own life, and the reality you’re building. 

I want to take a moment to acknowledge that manifesting is one tool in the world we live in, and that a person who is living on a knife-edge of survival cannot be expected to manifest their way out of oppression. We must all work together to dismantle systems that “boot the neck” of those who starve, who freeze and sleep without shelter, the children preyed upon, the people who are victims of genocide all over the world, the people who are victims of all kinds of oppression. 

Manifesting a promotion at your job probably isn’t going to accomplish that, but it’s great practice, so once you learn how to use these tools I’ve written about here, I hope you’ll think about how to use them to help everyone, how to build a better world for everyone. The more of us working for a common reality where we’re all liberated together, the better.

None of us are free until all of us are free. 

Blessed be.