Familiar to those who practice yoga is the invitation to set an intention at the beginning of class; directly after settling on the mat and preparing for an hour or so of engaging in a moving, or perhaps stillness, meditation.
As you are connecting with your breath, perhaps enjoying a healing essential oil burning in the background accompanied by soft music, or outdoors, surrounded by nature, the cue to set an intention is sometimes met with confusion or a feeling of stucknessin which you cannot come up with anything. This is similar to writer's block.
Helping to relieve the frustration is to conceptualize intention setting as the mechanism in which you provide your goal(s) direction. At that point, it will intuitively start to make sense.
Goals, especially life goals, are all the things you wish to do or accomplish in your life; they're the items on your bucket list.
BE MINDFUL OF INTENTION.
Intention is the seed that creates our future.
-Jack Kornfield
Sankalpa
Intention setting, from a yogic perspective, refers to a goal that is consciously decided upon ahead of time. This is also known in Sanskrit as sankalpa.
Sanmeans connecting with your highest truth and kalpa means vow.
When these words connect, it becomes a promise one makes to living life at its highest and most purposeful level. Whereas we are all familiar with the ritual of the New Year's resolution in which we generate a set of goals for the upcoming year, the advantage of intention setting is that it is the mindful renewal of such resolutions each and every day. Each day, we begin anew, deciding our destiny by aligning our mind, soul, and body with what we wish to cultivate or manifest.
Karma
In both Hinduism and Buddhism, Karma adheres to the law of cause and effect, and is the sum of an individual’s actions, but more specifically, it is the result of one’s actions as connected to intention.
Buddhist monk and author, Jack Kornfield, states that the most effective way to direct our karma is to clarify our motivation and set an intention.
Here are some examples of popular intention-setting themes:
gratitude
letting go
presence
love
forgiveness
releasing negativity
inviting positivity
healing
inner strength
The Time Machine Effect
The achievement of any worthwhile goal involves the ability to delay gratification. This powerful skill coupled with perseverance stack the odds directly in your favor. Delaying gratification simply means engaging in the act of resisting the impulse to grab an immediately available reward in the desire of obtaining a more-valued reward at some point in the future. Perseverance refers to a stick-to-itiveness quality, in which you have made the decision that giving up or giving in are not allowable options.
Analogous and applicable to this discussion is the time machine, a device often cited in science fiction allowing one to transport in time (either forward or backward).
Any desire to accomplish a goal requires the ability to have a “future-self” conversation in which you mindfully and consciously hold a vision of your future self in your day-to-day actions in order to arrive at the goal’s destination. This day-to-day action is where intention-setting enters the scene as it is in the stated desire of your future circumstances that allow for the manifestation of dreams into reality.
The 4-Step Process To Setting
Your Intention(s)
Build a strong system incorporating your goals, and your success will be inevitable. Systems provide the discipline, consistency, and organization that accelerate goal achievement.
1.Create a personalmantra or saying that will help you remain connected to your goal(s).
2.Practice gratitude. A daily gratitude practice will yield exponential rewards and it is through connecting with your gratitude that you will become a magnet for attracting abundance. Try it for 30 days and see the difference this makes in your life.
3.Capture it in writing. By writing it down, you are capturing your life, intentions, goals, and gratitude.
4.Review often and look for patterns. Journaling is a POWERFUL activity. Deep insights often develop from a journaling practice.
INVEST IN YOURSELF
You are your longest relationship. Psychological wellness is key to managing life, maintaining healthy personal and family relationships, performing well at school and/or work, and engaging in healthy habits that contribute to feeling energized and motivated.
If you don't carve out time on a regular basis to check in with yourself, then it will not take long before you sense a disconnection between yourself and your life's purpose, passion and destination.
The intention helps to bring a mindful focus to your life, as opposed to a mindless, attracted to anything that is grabbing your attention, mindset. Your alignment will help bring about refinement to your life. Alignment intensifies with expressed intentions.
The information presented in this blog is intended for general knowledge
and is not a substitute for either medical or mental health advice or treatment.
REFERENCES
Coelho, Paulo. (1988) The Alchemist.San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.
Kornfeld, Jack. (2009). The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology. Bantam Books.
The Yoga-Vashishta. Sura Books. 2003. pp. 148, 166, 175. ISBN 9788188157006
PROCEED AS IF SUCCESS IS INEVITABLE
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