Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Intention

I have decided as part of my blog to comment on each of Preston Smiles's ways to Love Louder. He has written an intriguing little book or 33 Ways To Amplify Your Life. The full title is Love Louder: 33 Ways To Amplify Your Life. I bought the book recently and was going to just fly through the pages, but the first one rang true... so I am devoting a bit more time to it.

Love Louder - Amplifying My Life

Day 2 - Intention

"Intention is the beginning of every idea... the common misconception is that we can intend something and just sit back and wait for it to happen... (it) is not wishful thinking, airy fairy thinking, but rather like an arrow flying toward a target when we are clear and focused."

Preston Smiles concept in Love Louder is that is to live a purpose-driven life. That means being intentional with our thoughts, words and actions. He compares it to planting a garden and tending it. "Intention is the planting and your thoughts, words and actions are the nurturing." We can't plan one kind of seeds and expect something else just as "we can't plant the seeds of fear and expect love to magically appear in our lives."
It is all about what we focus on... if we want love, but focus on our fears and worries, love will never come... instead we worry and that interrupts our true intention.

Preston talks about our ability to use our reticular activating system. What the heck it that, you may be asking... well, it is a system that acts like a "filter between our conscious mind and our subconscious mind." That sounds a little hooey until he gives an example...

"have you ever noticed that when you're hungry, you begin noticing restaurants, billboards, and ads about food?... The billboards... have always been there, but now because of your reticular activating system, they come into your awareness more frequently."

So what has this got to do with intention? Well, consider when you worry about being late. You don't intend to be late... but your worry attracts everything that seems to work in concert to make you even later. Slow traffic, red lights, people getting in your way. I know that if I had left ten minutes earlier this stuff would not be bothering me... because I probably wouldn't be noticing it as much or at all. This happens whether we are aware of it or not. What we focus on becomes magnified and we notice it more.

He believes "when we to focus on that which is positive in our life, our reticular activating system will show us more of the positive." Now, that I truly believe.

That arrow that is pointed to the target is only going to hit what you are focused on... our intention must be "crystal - clear and in alignment with our thoughts and actions in order for us to hit the target."

Preston gives four steps to harness the power of intention:

1. Make it real for yourself.
Begin with small intentions in order to develop your ability to manifest your intentions on a daily basis. It must be something small and achievable. Baby steps toward a grander plan.

2. Schedule it.
Take five minutes in the morning to visualize what you want that day and also what you desire your larger dream or goal to look like. Bring in your senses - what does it look like, smell like, taste like, feel like, sound like if you already achieved that goal.
Then throughout the day take time to check back in to bring up the visualization again. This visual reminder is similar to a vision board to help keep the dream alive and present in your conscious mind. Preston suggests setting an "intention alarm" on your phone to remind you...

3. Take Action.
Intention cannot be reached with words and thoughts alone. It's not real until you put movement behind it. "Moving the intention into action magnifies the power of the intention and creates momentum and movement toward making it a reality." You can't just sit on your duff and expect things to happen for you, you got to get out there and grab it. Do something about it if you want it enough.

4. Sharing is caring.
Make your intentions known to others. It strengthens and builds momentum and it makes you instantly accountable for what you have shared.

Having said I intent to blog about these 33 Ways To Amplify Your Life, I feel compelled to read and comment. I read the section before bed and let it percolate... then in the morning, after breakfast, I come down and write my blog. For this I am following 3 of the 4 steps... the most challenging will be #2 Scheduling it... but in my own way I do that... just not as focused as he describes... but I'm getting there.

#LOVELOUDERCHALLENGE
Set an intention with one or all of these below:
Today I stand for...
Today I chose to... heal myself and rediscover who I am and what I want out of my life.
Today I am a possibility for...
Today I am a demonstration of...
Today I am committed to... writing this blog each day for each of the 33 Ways so that I may Love Louder and in sharing my journey I hope to inspire others to join me.

In doing this I will hope to visualize, write, share and act in ways that will gather all the forces of the universe to support my intention's manifestation.