The Power of Intention
I love playing with the Power of Intention. In fact, I created Intention Cards so that my family and I can sit down every 3-6 months on a Solstice or Equinox and write down our new intentions. Then we place them on what I call the Spirit Tree on our dining room table so we can see them, reflect on them, and bring them into being. Instead of writing a whole new blog post, I thought I would publish an excerpt from my book, Be the Dolphin: How to Live a Heart-Centered Life. Check it out below.
Excerpt page 157: The other part of this important practice is the power of intention. I was raised believing that our thoughts create our reality. And over the years, I’ve sought out more and more spiritual teachers and they all say this same thing. One of my favorites is Mike Dooley who always signs his Notes to the Universe emails with “Thoughts are things so choose the good ones.” (Dooley, 2011) What I didn’t know until recently is that science is catching up to spirituality in beautiful ways. I loved The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown when that came out a long time ago so it was not a hard decision for me to buy another of his books, The Lost Symbol, when that came out in 2009. That book set me on a new adventure of reading about quantum mechanics and quantum physics. One of the main characters, Katherine Solomon, who does research in this area, fascinated me. It turns out that her character was in part based on Lynne McTaggart and her work with The Intention Experiment (who I quoted several times so far in this book). (McTaggart, The Intention Experiment, 2007) I bought her book next and read it with underlines and sticky notes everywhere. I was fascinated. The power of intention was being proven in the world of quarks and quantum particles. It floored me. I went on to read several more of her books and although I am definitely no expert, I have enjoyed the dazzling repercussions of such research on the power of intention.
I got so excited about this topic that I gave a speech at my Toastmasters Meeting called “Quantum Mechanics, the Power of Intention, and Jell-O” based upon Ms. McTaggart’s work in this area. Basically, it went like this. I started by describing four important things about quantum mechanics that I discovered by reading Lynne McTaggart’s The Intention Experiment. I am paraphrasing the introduction from that book here as best as I understand it. The first was that atoms behave like messy, tiny clouds of probability. Every subatomic particle is not a stable thing. What I found fascinating was that atoms exist as a potential of any one of its future selves as if the atom is standing in a hall of mirrors staring at himself and all his possible selves. McTaggart describes reality at the quantum level as unset Jell-O. (McTaggart, The Intention Experiment, 2007) Have you ever made Jell-O? It’s just liquid waiting to be put into a container until it sets and then it will hold that shape. This is what matter is at its smallest level—unset Jell-O.
Now we need to visit the work of Einstein. He discovered something he called “spooky action at a distance” or what others call entanglement which (from what I can understand) is when two particles that have been together and are then separated, react as if they are right next to each other. So you take two particles that have been together and then take one of them and put it in another room. Now if you change the magnetic orientation of the particle in this room, the particle in the next room will also change its magnetic orientation, as if it is still right next to the particle in this room. That is spooky.
The third thing I found interesting from McTaggart’s book was that at this subatomic level, matter consists of little packets of energy constantly trading back and forth like passes in a basketball game. They are just transferring energy back and forth. This is why understanding your own energy is so important. And lastly, the most amazing thing discovered in this research was that the unset Jell-O only takes solid form and is measurable when an observer was introduced. It was only when the scientist decided to take a measurement of the subatomic particle that the matter or Jell-O chose a mold and settled into it. (McTaggart, The Intention Experiment, 2007) With these things in mind, can you not say that there is much more going on here than we previously thought or even imagined? Tiny particles of energy or matter are affecting one another in unexpected ways. These particles of matter connect and are in relationship with each other all the time. And in addition to that, these particles of matter are also in relationship with the observer. Now that’s interesting. If we continue to follow that trail of breadcrumbs, what are the implications of this?
Well, the big A-HA here is that the moment we looked at an electron or took a measurement, it appeared that we helped to determine its final state. The observer affected the final state of the tiny particle. Did you get that? Read that sentence again. Our living consciousness, by observing and/or measuring the matter, somehow influenced the final state of the Jell-O. This may mean that reality is not fixed but is actually open to influence. Reality is open to our influence. Hmmmm. The implications of this are huge.
According to McTaggart’s books (she’s written several on the topic), a small group of scientists have been exploring these theories and testing them thoroughly with amazing results. (McTaggart, The Intention Experiment, 2007) If it’s true that the act of observation or attention affects physical matter, then what is the effect of intention upon it? What if the observer doesn’t just observe but deliberately tries to influence the final state of the physical matter? What happens then? What if we get to choose the shape of the Jell-O mold? What if that is up to us?
If the basic building blocks of our universe, like subatomic particles, can be influenced by the observer, then we need to ask ourselves how are we influencing the physical matter around us right now? How are we using our thoughts and our intentions in our daily lives? Are we even aware of this power within us? I bring you back to the quote from Mike Dooley, “Thoughts are things so choose the good ones.” What if these thoughts truly are creating the reality of our lives? Wouldn’t you want to choose the good ones? How would you go about doing such a thing?
I have experimented with intention in my own life and have found it to be a powerful tool. Did I say powerful? Yes, it’s extremely powerful. The only way you’ll believe me is to try it for yourself so I encourage you to do that. Be your own scientist. Test away. Experiment with your thoughts and intentions and see what happens.
For me, setting intentions tells the universe what you want to have happen in your life. You are setting up the Jell-O mold for the matter of your life when you set an intention. It creates your life for you. It’s magical. It’s amazing. It’s a practice I do every day and it has worked miracles in my life. Every day, usually in the shower, I set my intentions for the day. I have two ways I work with intentions. I either use one in the original form as in, “It is my intention to live this day with focus and joy.” (That was this morning’s intention.) Or I treat the intention as if it is already coming true and I find this also very powerful. For example, every morning I say “Thank you for keeping me and my family safe, happy, healthy, protected, strong, and abundant. Thank you helping me move through my day with grace, joy, ease, flow, and love.” I am giving thanks in advance. Once I have set the intention, I let it go. That’s a huge step. Then I know it will happen and expect it.
How to Set an Intention
Think of the intention you want to set and place it in a positive, gratitude format—“Thank you for...” or choose the format, “It is my intention to...”
Sayitoutloudoratleastseveraltimesinyourmind.Feelinto it as much as you can. See yourself, after the event or activity you are setting intention for, feeling the way you want to feel. Think of what you will say or how people will look or what they will say. What emotions will you feel as a result of this intention coming true?
Finally,LET IT GO. Yes, let it go and trust that the universe is unfolding exactly as it should for your best and highest good.
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Let me know how the Power of Intention works for you in the Comments below. I’d love to hear.