Thought for the day - Intentions

[Suzibpnp]

Action expresses priorities.
Mohandas Gandhi


Intentions reveal the best of who we would like to be, or how we would
best like to act in a situation…
( little clarity here… by saying BEST, best is meant as level of
measure … not, best, as in highest moral fiber…). Be it a lifestyle
action…(exercise more, save more money, write more…paint more...eat
less …work more…work less), or a relationship action …(do X for
someone…stop doing X to someone) we often start out with the greatest
of intentions … but somewhere along way…somewhere, they can get a tad
diluted or even completely neglected.

Why is that? We know what we want… we know how we want to perform in
a certain way...we acknowledge what we are going to do, what our
intentions are...and yet??? Our intentions change?? Did we set too
high expectations in the first place? Most likely no…most likely our
intentions were not supported by our priorities. At first glance, we
might say, “no, I really wanted to do….but …..got in the way”. More
often than not what prevents us from achieving our intentions is
current behavior patterns. By allowing something else to take
precedent over our intentions, what we often find is our reluctance
for change.
By identifying change, (reluctance of) as the source of the impediment
we can begin to rewire the flow of thought, conscious and unconscious
to be in line with our intentions.

Take for example, exercise, you have an extremely busy lifestyle,
work, social obligations and what time is left you prefer to enjoy
quietly with family and friends. However you are often tired but you
know that you need exercise to feel your best, so you tell yourself
you will begin to exercise everyday after work. Now although your
intentions are sound and justified, unless you begin an inner dialogue
with yourself identifying the needed change ( time spent with family
and friends verses time spent exercising) and can convince yourself
that the change will be more beneficial to your overall life…as
committed to your intention as you believe you are …most likely it
will not come to fruition.

For our intentions to yield results we must employ our inner GPS and
clearly identify and acknowledge the obstacles, the current
behaviors that may impede our success. Then decide if the
compensation is worth changing them.

Think of an intention as a new enthusiastic Chairman of the Board and
your inner thoughts and behaviors the reluctant “Old Guard”…they have
their comfort zone and are quite happy there. To turn the tides you
must have their support...and that will be gained through
understanding of how things are currently operating then identifying
the advantages of the change and show a solid plan on how to
implement the change.

So with your next intention...no matter the level of intensity make a
list of what changes you would need to make in order to complete your
intention…(thought changes, lifestyle changes, concrete changes..)
look at how the changes will affect you…weigh them and if the payoff
from the implementing the intention out weights the results from
keeping things as they are…you have a strong chance for success!!
Good Luck.
Suzi