Intention:

• In 2000, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt wrote The Power of Focus – How to Hit Your Business, Personal, and Financial Targets with Absolute Certainty.
• In 2004 Dr. Wayne Dyer wrote The Power of Intention – Learning to Co-Create Your World Your Way.
• In 2006, Rhonda Byrne wrote The Secret which included interviews with modern-day philosophers and life coaches.
• In 2010, Richard J. Leider wrote The Power of Purpose – Find Meaning, Live Longer, Better.

My favorites are The Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier in 1925, originally titled The Book of Life; and The Master Key System by Charles Haanel, written in 1917.

Deepak Chopra, Oprah Winfrey, Gary Zukov, and a multitude of others have written extensively about the power that intention can have in our lives. Amazon alone sells over 5,500 books on the subject!

What does the Bible say about all of this?

Ask — Believe — Receive

Note the order of the words. I had seen them before, but when I finally paid attention, I was confused. How could I believe something before it happened?

Prayers usually include asking ‘God’ for something for ourselves or for others, but logic dictates that we give thanks for it only after we have received that something.

But no — that is not the way we are supposed to do it!

Rather, believe it — then you will receive it.

What!?

How do we do that I ask you! Apparently it’s easy — just use intention. See your something as having already happened, giving thanks for it as real — and then it happens.

Hmm…

But I will tell you this. I’ve tried it and intention can work. Why do I say can and not does? Because if I get in the way I sabotage it. Negative thinking, doubt, and fear will kill it every time, or at least move it farther away from happening.

When has it worked for me? Parking spaces in downtown Boston, the sale of my car the day before our big move from RI to FL, and two bricks. But that’s another story.

OK I’ll tell it.

I built a small wall around a tree in my yard but I was short two bricks. Every time I passed by the wall, I chuckled and pointed at it, saying – “I need two bricks.” Then one day while on my usual morning walk, there at the base of a neighbor’s tree were the exact two bricks I needed. Now these aren’t ordinary bricks – they are man-made pavers of a particular design and color. An exact match! And only two! The neighbor had placed them at the street for anyone to take.

As I look back, I did have a lighthearted desire every time I passed by the empty space on the wall. Perhaps that’s a clue.

They say that asking the Universe for what you want is like ordering from a catalog. You place your order, imagine it’s completion seeing it in your mind, and voila’. There it is. It’s how intention is supposed to work. Like me and my two bricks.

However, the one thing that apparently is necessary, is that you don’t keep worrying and fretting that the ‘thing’ isn’t happening — as we frequently do when BIG things are wanted — like a job or money. It was easy for me to dismiss the need for my two bricks for they were little — but if I wanted a new job or $10,000 that’s a different feeling.

Uh oh. There’s the rub.

Feeling is necessary. But the right kind of feeling. Feel good like I did about my two bricks, or expectant like I did when I needed those weekly parking space in downtown Boston, or knowing like when I just knew my car would sell in the nick of time.

Have I failed at any of my attempts? Maybe. I say maybe because they also say that when your something doesn’t materialize, it’s because something better is around the corner. I hope so – no, I know so!

The skill is in believing.

So what have I learned that might help you?

• Know what you want — absolute clarity is necessary. Focus the lens of your mind on your goals.
• Be lighthearted in your desire — exchange all doubt for surety, replace negativity with a smile.
• Convey to the Universe what you want, but don’t ask like a wimp! Be specific and set a time-frame with expectation.
• See its completion in your mind.
• Then say Thanks! and release your desire into the ether of the Universe — as I (unknowingly) did with my need for my two bricks. Luckily it was for a good thing. But…
• Be mindful and on alert for those times you message the Universe unknowingly with your doubts and fears.

So what’s next? I’m creating with my writing. As I work on this blog which I hope — no I expect — will establish me as a health and wellness writer, I am also finishing up a two-part book on helping employers manage their workers’ compensation claims. Employers will see how easy it is to help their injured workers recover more quickly while maintaining full salary, at the same time they reduce expenses and maintain productivity. There is no reason an employer cannot be both a business person and an employee advocate.

I will follow that with a poetry/photography/philosophy book and then something more cerebral on marketing and human psychology. Lots going on. Lots of expectations!

Come back soon for Should I Buy Organic? It’s time once again to switch to the biological you — for all things wellness. Thanks for visiting!

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