roadblocks-600Most of the time my esteemed colleague, Lynn Sumida and I brainstorm our blog content in broad strokes, and then Lynn crafts the ideas into something filled with wisdom and insight. Today, I’m  jumping in and sharing some ideas. We’ll let Lynn back into the conversation next week. Maybe.

We decided to focus on intentionality throughout the month of May. The first week I wrote about intention in broad terms…and that an intention is more than simply an idea or a wish. Last week we enlisted the help of Bill Chalmers to talk about the immense value of his decades-old practice of writing intentions every day—often more than once in any given day, depending on what he’s working on.

Today, we want to get down to the nitty-gritty of it all and look at something that we all know is there, but don’t want to talk about—why we don’t write intentions, even when we know how valuable they are. This is what Bill would call an “open-kimono” conversation. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Read on…

This week we’re asking the question, “What Gets In Our Way?” We ask that question about a lot of things around here. While sitting and brainstorming on this, it occurred to me to simply look at myself, and I’d have all the “grist for the mill” I need. I’m my own classic example of someone who knows better, but doesn’t (consistently) do what he knows.

My Intention to Write Intentions

The fact of the matter is that although I know a lot about the power of specific, written intentions…and I’ve heard countless stories from my dear friends and colleagues (Bill, Lynn and Karen) about the power of writing them as an almost spiritual practice…I’m inconsistent in putting pen to paper. So, what’s that all about? What gets in my way? What keeps me from doing what I believe is good for me?

For those that know me well, you know that I have a background in church. In fact, I was an ordained minister for a period of time (I’ll gladly regale you with stories of my clerical past if you want to buy me lunch sometime). One of the things I learned along the way was there are different levels of knowing something. You can know something… or you can KNOW something. Know what I mean?

A Language Lesson from Antiquity

There are two Greek words found in the New Testament which are translated into a single English verb, “to know.” They are “gnosis” and “epignosis.” The difference is night and day.

“Gnosis” refers to the knowledge that we acquire through study. It’s knowing about something. It’s facts, and figures and volumes of information.

“Epignosis,” on the other hand, is the knowledge that we acquire through experiencing something. It’s knowing by doing.

To put a point on it (no pun intended), it’s the difference between knowing how babies are made…and having the experience of making love.  Can you feel the difference?

And That Relates How?

So back to the reason for telling you all that…

I, like many people, know all the reasons that I should be more conscious about using intention to create the life I want. But it’s somehow gotten stuck in the knowing part of my brain, and failed to make the 18” trip to my heart-brain so that I can really KNOW the power of it.

The bottom line is that I’ve given it mental ascent, and haven’t focused on making it a part of my daily practice. Like so many things, it’s partially a discipline thing. The tipping point is to move from embracing it as an idea (my head), and embodying it as a practice (my heart).

So What’s Blocking the Path on the Head-Heart Highway?

While doing some soul-searching, I hear echoes of my mother’s voice revisiting me from my youth. “Paul, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Ever hear that one? So, am I afraid that I’m hell-bound if I write intentions regularly? No, I don’t think so. I don’t even believe in hell anymore! It does pose another interesting, deeply seated suggestion though: having a good intention (idea; gnosis) is not enough. To make something happen…to create something wonderful truly requires INTENTION (engaged creativity, passion, focus; epignosis). That’s what she was really saying.

So I find myself still stuck in an old pattern around this whole intention thing. The pictures and ideas in my head have been updated to a new, more powerful understanding of what intention is. I can talk about it, write about it, even teach about it. Now it’s time to update my experience of it. It’s time to engage my creativity, passion, focus and energy. It’s time to embody it.

The Keys

Here’s the first key to really embodying this idea.

Last week, Bill Chalmers talked about the essential nature of writing out our intentions (yes, with a pen). There is an important visceral experience that locks our intentions into our physicality when we do this. Then, as we read them it further reinforces what we’ve already begun to create. And here’s another layer: reading them OUT LOUD. What began as a thought, and extended through our hand clutching a pen pressed to paper, is vocalized and spoken (the POWER of speaking our word) and received by our own ears. Talk about engaging every facet of our being! Our minds, our arms and hands, our eyes, our voice and our ears! That’s the process of taking an inkling…a wisp of an idea…and turning it into something powerful, creative and declarative.

The second key is easily said, and sometimes more difficult to execute. Practice. Just do it. Create a habit. You’ll be so glad you did.

Writing, Reading, Speaking… POWER

There’s another benefit to this whole writing, reading and speaking process – t slows us down. We live in such a fast paced world where the order of the day is to skim all the data coming at us in a hope that we’ll notice what’s really important. We’re afraid that if we’re not skimming everything that we’ll miss something. The problem is that we get get locked into skim mode, and we’re losing the ability to go deep and focus. We’re seeing it show up in our children and the way they learn. And it’s not just our kids… it’s showing up everywhere. We tend to only read the headlines.

Slowing down…becoming clear about what we want to create in the hours which lay ahead, allowing it to be expressed as words on paper, and then speaking it into the world—and having it heard and received by our own ears and brains ignites the gestational process which creates miracles.

So, having a clear, focused intention may not be the whole story…but it goes a LONG way toward moving in the direction that I want to go.

If We Really Believed…

I was in Seattle last year to hear Dr. Joe Dispenza speak at an event. He asked this question: “If we really believed that we have the ability to create our day down to the finest detail… if we really believed that we have the power to set in motion the creative forces of the universe through the power of conscious intention, why wouldn’t we do it?” The answer is pretty clear. Because we don’t really believe it works.

We’re facing a significant paradigm shift. I understand that there are many people who don’t quite believe that we can create our reality by what we think, or the way we think, but more and more science is supporting this idea. The cutting edge of consciousness research is showing the profound effect that our thoughts (and intentions) can have on our personal experience, the ways our bodies work, and even on the environment around us. A couple of great resources to check out are The Institute of Noetic Sciences, and Heartmath. If you think of a continuum we are being challenged to move from a belief that reality is fixed and unchangeable to the understanding that we are, moment by moment, creating and influencing reality.

Going Down…

Okay…down one more level. This is where I’ve ended up this morning. Maybe it’s familiar to you, too.

The bald-faced truth is that I forget… I go unconscious, and I just don’t do it. I really think it’s my system’s way (my ego, if that’s clearer for you) of protecting me. In some warped, weird, cross-wired way it’s afraid that if I write intentions and they don’t manifest or come to pass, then I’m a failure. Here’s the rub though: If I don’t write intentions and use the creative power that is available to me… then I’m failing to be and experience everything that life has for me. I fail anyway…except with almost certainty.

So… I can either go for it, and risk failing (?? is that really failure? We can talk about that another time)… or I can fail by default. That’s the choice. This morning I’m at a clear choice-point.

Given that choice, what would you choose?

Okay, I’m off to find that Personal Intention Worksheet (here’s the LINK AGAIN). Now…how do I want to show up today?

Have a great week…be intentional about it.