Setting intentions (video)

Setting intentions is one of the best ways I’ve found to really get clear on what it is you want. As someone who writes, the wording is important. It’s kind of like a spell, invoking the magic of the Universe to bring you exactly what you want.

In Sunday’s post, I included a few of my intentions, but I thought I would take the time to explain my formula, when I write them and how the intentions I set at night help propel me into a day of productivity and abundance.

In my latest YouTube video, I talk about my nighttime routine, which includes setting intentions.

Each night, I write out no more than 9 – 11 intentions that I want to accomplish the next day. Some of these are constants that I wish to implement into my character so they repeat. In addition to the intentions mentioned in the video, some from the past few days were:

• I set the intention to be aware of my time
• I set the intention to be 100% energy
• I set the intention to have a productive day
• I set the intention to be open to love
• I set the intention to set up an eBay page for my Star Wars action figures
• I set the intention to make doctor’s appointments
• I set the intention to be present all day
• I set the intention to be let go of one thing not serving me

When I’m journaling, however, and I come up with an intention, that’s when I invoke the wordy intention spell. It’s loosely inspired by a bit of the writings of don Miguel Ruiz from The Four Agreements (affiliates), Jen Sincero from You Are a Badass as well as a newer thought from The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. It’s evolved a bit as I’ve been working with it, but the basic format that I now use is:

THAT’S ENOUGH!
I SET THE INTENTION TO BE DESIRING OF THE BELIEF THAT I _________.
NOW THAT I’VE MADE UP MY MIND TO SET THE INTENTION TO BE DESIRING OF THE BELIEF THAT I _________ I’M NOT GOING TO DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT I’VE MADE UP MY MIND TO BE DESIRING OF THE BELIEF THAT I _________
BECAUSE I BELIEVE I _________.

Now let’s break that down before Ernest Hemingway rises from the grave and smacks me around for my verbosity.

It must be in all caps, and it must start with the declarative exclamation. We’re shocking our brain out of old thought patterns here. We’re telling it to pay attention, that we’re done thinking this way and priming it for a new line of thought. We’re saying, “I’m serious about this.”

Then comes the intention, but it’s not the intention of the thing you want. Say, for example, your intention was to be more present. In the past, I would have written “I SET THE INTENTION TO BE MORE PRESENT.” That’s fine, and that may work for you. It works well enough for me on smaller intentions. However, if you’re trying to change a deeply ingrained belief, it could be a challenge to even imagine behaving any other way than you are currently. That’s where being DESIRING OF THE BELIEF comes in. Desire is already a strong word; people are overcome with desire all the time. To be desiring of the belief that you’re more present means you feel this in your marrow. By being desiring of the belief that you are present, you’re no longer focused on the thing but instead on the feeling. This idea comes from The Secret, which points out multiple times how important it is to feel like you already have your thing (a review is forthcoming).

Once you’ve stopped your brain and declared your intention of desire, you want to point out to your brain that you have made this decision. You are the one running the show, after all. It’s done. It’s written down. It’s real now, so there’s no need for your brain to keep going back and forth about the intention because you’ve already set it. As such, now that your brain has nothing to debate, it’s not going to get in your way about being desiring of the belief so you can jump-start the process by finishing as if you already have the thing. You can believe that you are more present (or whatever you want to be/have).

Are you going to get this right way? If it’s a smaller intention, yes, absolutely. You could set intentions today that you see results for by tomorrow. But again if you’re working on unseating old, entrenched beliefs, it’s going to take some time. But that’s okay. I have an unattributed quote on my vision board that says, “It’s important to keep your mind open to all possibilities and give it time. It takes some time to change course and move in a new direction.”

This is why writing them down again at night is such a useful trick. It reinforces to your brain that you’re serious. It says, “Hey brain, remember that spell I cast earlier? I wasn’t doing that just to take up space in a notebook. I’m legit serious about it, for real.”

By setting your intentions at night, you give your subconscious a chance to work on them while you sleep. If you write down something you don’t currently have a solution for, literally sleeping on it can often help you come up with one. The mind is a great thing, and this is just one of the ways you can “hack” it to work for you.

What intentions have you set recently that you’ve seen come to fruition? Is there one you just can’t quite get? Why not try my magic spell and let me know when it works!