Intent

Intent, what exactly does that mean? Here is what Dictionary.com said

in⋅tent
1  /ɪnˈtɛnt/ [in-tent]
–noun
1. something that is intended; purpose; design; intention: The original intent of the committee was to raise funds.
2. the act or fact of intending, as to do something: criminal intent.
3. Law. the state of a person's mind that directs his or her actions toward a specific object.
4. meaning or significance.

in⋅tent
2  /ɪnˈtɛnt/ [in-tent]
–adjective
1. firmly or steadfastly fixed or directed, as the eyes or mind: an intent gaze.
2. having the attention sharply focused or fixed on something: intent on one's job.
3. determined or resolved; having the mind or will fixed on some goal: intent on revenge.
4. earnest; intense: an intent person.

So what does that have to do with anything? I am here to tell you it has to do with everything! Believe it or not, your thoughts have control over what your life is like, more than you realize. It is even thought (no pun intended) that our thoughts create our reality. I don't know if I believe that completely, but I do believe that our thoughts and intentions do create or affect much of our reality. How often have you been in a situation where you had a negative thought, "I'm not going to get that raise / That bird will probably poop on my newly washed car / I'll probably trip going up those stairs...", well without realizing it you are creating that reality, and chances are those things will happen just as you "predicted".

Now think of a time when you were doing something, like playing a sport or a video game, and you were "in the zone", you were perfect, you were on your game... you didn't "think" about it, you just did it. So what was the difference? Well, it's really no difference, it was intent all along, when you were thinking negative thoughts, or when you were thinking positive thoughts, they came true, yes, it is that simple.

So why doesn't it seem to work all the time? If you "wish" for a million dollars, to win the lottery, or something like that, and it doesn't work, I don't have an answer, but it works often enough, why not use it to your benefit? I can say that I personally believe we all have lessons to learn while living our lives, and I believe that some things that you want to happen would get in the way of something else you are supposed to be doing. I have a real life example, a number of years ago, my mother was killed in a car accident, she was a security guard for a big name company, they worked her far FAR too many hours, she was coming off shift, going back to the office, according to the witnesses, she apparently fell asleep at the wheel, she rolled out into an intersection and was hit by a taxi, she died shortly after that. After I investigated what had happened, I talked to a lawyer and the lawyer said that the company was at fault, working her so many hours, we had a case. So we sued, we fought this for several years, bantering back and forth, we were pretty sure that the company would eventually make an offer, we assumed it would be a large offer. Eventually my lawyer contacted an "expert" in the field of sleep deprivation and driving, he told us that based on what he could see, even though the company was in the wrong, there was no precedents for this and chances would be a judge would not award us anything. So I was given the choice to continue or quit, my lawyer clearly didn't want to continue, he had spent many years and lots of money out of his own pocket, (it cost me nothing), so I figured if he was willing to give up, we didn't have a chance so after discussing it with my sister, we decided to give up.

On the surface that sounds like a negative thing, my mother was dead, the company that was responsible got off with only a slight inconvenience, and we received no compensation. Now that I look back on all of this, as hard as it was, it turned out to be a positive thing not to win any money from this. Had I won the money, I was planning on buying a house, this was just before the housing crash, I would have been saddled with a house in a neighborhood that I wouldn't have wanted to spend the rest of my life in, I probably would not have been able to sell the house for any amount of money, and I would not have been in a position to buy the property where I live now. I am living the life I have always dreamed about, that probably wouldn't have happened if I had won that money.

Sometimes the things you think you want are not the things you need, plain and simple, and because we don't see the big picture, we can be our biggest stumbling block. Now comes intent, you have to find that place where you are "in the zone", it's not as hard as you might think, one of the ways I do it is by focusing on a specific thing, in my case, it's usually my hands, generally all I have to do is think about my hands and in a few seconds I begin to feel a tingling sensation in my palms. It doesn't matter where my hands are, if they are together or not, I still feel that sensation, I usually put my hands together in front of me, palms facing, hands cupped, but not touching. I imagine I am creating an energy ball that is floating between my hands. Another thing I do is I look "through" my hands, I see the space between my hands but do not focus directly on this, I look beyond my hands so that my hands go out of focus, then I "look" at my hands while they are still out of focus. I know this may sound strange, and even complicated, this is just how I do it, it's not necessarily how you will do it, this has evolved from simply trying to see the energy lines or webs coming from my hands into this set of steps I do.

Anyhoo, I will pray my intent into that energy forming in my hands and send it out to work. I was concerned about my son a few nights ago, he is in the Army and is stationed in Iraq. I simply placed my hands together without touching, the tingling sensation began immediately, I prayed my intent into that energy and sent it to my son. Now before we go any further, I must state that I am a Christian, and everything I do in this realm is in the name of Jesus, I am using the gifts given to me by God, I do not call on any other force, I believe all of this ultimately comes from God, I am merely tapping into this higher power. Now I can see two groups of people, those who do not believe in God or religion, this would be offensive to them, and those who are Church going Christians who would also be offended by my beliefs and think I am going to Hell for dabbling in witchcraft. All I can say is, I'm glad I don't have their limitations, I do believe that all things were created by God, therefore my gifts are also from God, the spiritual energies are also of God, or at the very least, a neutral force that can be tapped into and used either for beneficial or detrimental purposes, no different from any other gift or ability, some people play music, some people are artists, some people can see spirits and tap into the energies that surround each and every one of us.

As for the Christians who would condemn my actions and beliefs as demonic, I can only point you to the Bible, the parts that aren't usually read in Church, the parts that teach us how to test the spirits to see if they are of or from God, I don't know what else to tell you except don't judge me lest you be judged yourselves, those without sin get to throw the first stone and such... (sorry, I couldn't bring myself to say "ye" in the lest ye be judged line, I don't believe that throwing "old English" around or going "King James" makes my words any more Godly).

I digress, so back to the subject, intent, that is what prayer is, only we usually do it wrong, or should I say, there is a better way, a more effective way to do it, instead of whining and begging for what you want, try stating what you want to be true, thanking God for it and leaving it alone to happen. Say you are not happy with your appearance, you would like to lose a few pounds, you might be thinking or saying:

Why am I so fat?
I wish I wasn't so fat.
I wish I was thinner.
I wish I could look like _______.
Why can't I look like ________.
Why can't I be thinner?
I'm so ugly. fat.
I'll never be ________.

Now, when you say these things, even in your mind, you are stating your intent, if your intent is negative, or detrimental, then that is exactly what you will achieve. Now let's turn those statements around and make them positive or beneficial:

I am thinner
I am thin
I am healthy
I am happy with my appearance
I am happy with myself

or how about, "I thank you God for this body, bless it and balance it for health and happiness, in the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen." BTW, "amen" simply means, I believe, I agree, or so be it.

I could go on, I think you get the picture, you need to state, in the positive, in the now, how you want things to be, as you re-format your mind to think in the now and in the positive, your body and health will catch up with what you are stating. You can do this for anything. You are planting the seeds of tomorrow, just like any gardener, that gardener wouldn't go out into the garden and expect to see plants growing there unless he/she had planted some seeds, once you plant those seeds, you know that plants will grow, sometimes weeds (detrimental thoughts) will try to grow, you have to remove those weeds, do it while they are small and easy to pull out, if you allow those weeds to grow, it will crowd out the beneficial plants you want to grow and it will be harder to remove without damaging the beneficial plants.

Intent, grow some beneficial intent today!

One of my favorite mantras I made up when I worked for Curves goes like this:

I am happy
I am healthy
I have everything I need

I am happy
I am healthy
I have everything I want

I would say this 10 times in a row at least once a day, out loud, eventually your beneficial intent will overcome the detrimental intent, good things will happen, give it a try, what do you have to lose?