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Intention --- the creative force that focuses the infinite energy of creation to manifest as physical reality.
Each of us not only possesses this natural ability to intend and manifest, but we intend and manifest our reality all the time ---first as images and thoughts, then as feelings, actions, and finally, as physical expressions.
Though the principles of intention have been around for thousands of years, the majority of people experience barriers to manifesting their conscious intention. For many, it is "normal" to believe that we are mere victims of circumstances, complaining that our life is one of lack rather than abundance, blaming others for our inner state of being ("you make me angry"), and feeling that we are powerless to do anything about either our inner state or our circumstances. This giant lie about our true nature often goes under the banner of "being realistic."
Barriers to manifesting our intention occur in different forms. For example:
Do you experience being successful at manifesting your intentions in certain areas of life, yet in other areas seem to have no power at all?
Have you attempted repeatedly to "intend something into manifestation," and yet experience over and over again that "intention doesn't work"? Does it seem as if, no matter how sincere and committed you seem to be, it just doesn't seem to work for you?
Are you someone who has retreated over the years into the illusionary safety of cynicism ----the final haven of the wounded idealist---where you can protect yourself from ever being hurt or disappointed or let down again by believing that you have nothing to say about the way reality arises, and all of this intention stuff is just a bunch of 'New Age crap"(even thought the methods are thousands of years old)?
If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, what you are experiencing is not evidence that intention doesn't work, but evidence only that the BARRIERS TO MANIFESTING CONSCIOUS INTENTION are in action.
3 Barriers to Manifesting Intentions
In my work with thousands of people over the years, I have observed that there are three main barriers to manifesting your conscious intention.
The first two barriers we covered in the article, "An Experiment in Intention," in CWOL # 61. These barriers are: (1) focusing your intention on what you DON'T want, which is simply resisting what is already there and reinforcing it at the same vibratory energy rate and imagery, and (2) wording what you intend in a very general way rather than being specific. What we intend has a specific frequency or vibration. When we are expressing that frequency, we attract those people, circumstances, opportunities, and things in the universe which resonate with it. Generalization in the arena of intention is akin to going into a restaurant, not looking at the menu, saying to the waiter "I'll have food," and then being disappointed with the selection that arrives.
The Biggest Barrier: UNCONSCIOUS COUNTER-INTENTIONS
By far the biggest barrier to realizing our dreams and intentions, and the source of most people's inability to manifest what they consciously intend, is the existence of one or more UNCONSCIOUS beliefs that function as COUNTER-INTENTIONS to what you consciously are intending.
These counter-intentions include inherited and learned beliefs about ourselves and the world. They include decisions about how we have to be in order to survive that were generated as a compensatory reaction during some past trauma or perceived threat to survival that we experienced.
These counter-intentions are part of our underlying mental and emotional programming --- existing below the level of conscious awareness. They are analogous to a hidden default program in a computer that we are unaware of that surreptitiously takes control of whatever we are working on when what we are attempting to do is not consistent with the default programming. What is driving these powerful, programmed intentions is not creativity, love, or inner peace! It is SURVIVAL..
Our true nature is as an unlimited expression of Spirit, which needs no protection, for it is one with ALL. However, it is the survival of the false and limited image of ourselves that we have been indoctrinated into identifying ourselves as being that displaces our natural expression. This unconscious image of ourselves as a separate, limited being existing in a threatening world "out there", drives us to put all our attention on gaining approval, attention, and control in order to avoid pain, disappointment and loss.
In our mind, these beliefs, points of view, images from the past, and emotional patterns are held as having more "survival value" than what we are consciously intending in the present. When these hidden survival intentions are in conflict with our conscious creative intentions, they will stop, invalidate, create doubts, short circuit, and in one way or another thwart us from realizing the dreams and intentions of our conscious mind.
Unconscious Self-Sabotage
Sometimes the counter-intentions express themselves in the forms of self-sabotage. I have worked with clients who had unconscious beliefs such as,"It's never going to turn out," or "Life doesn't work." Even though they attempted to be successful at the conscious level, they seemed to always have something occur, either with them or with the circumstances that guaranteed that they would always be able to "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory." Not until they became of aware of these counter-intentions and dissolved them were they free from the self-sabotaging behavior, and were able to consistently manifest their conscious intentions in the world.
The Cosmic Joke
Our inner sense of who we are, what we can or cannot do, what we can have and can't have, are forms our unconscious intention takes in expressing itself in the world. Whatever belief or decision or way of being that we identify with most strongly as "the Truth" about who and what we can or cannot express is what gets realized in reality.
So the cosmic joke is that we are realizing our intentions all the time; just not the ones that we are necessarily aware of!
If you are someone who believes that your intentions do not get realized, it simply means that you have unconscious counter-intentions that are neutralizing or overriding your conscious intentions.
Conflicting Beliefs
When our unconscious intentions are in conflict with what we consciously intend we are living a fragmented life. Our energy --- instead of being in harmony and focused like a laser beam of creativity --- is dissipated in different conflicting directions.
As an example, you may have beliefs that can conflict and cancel each other out, such as, "It's important to do what I love and am passionate about," and "it's important to always have other's approval in order to be loved and accepted". If "others" do not approve of what you love and are passionate about, you will end up with two conflicting instructions fighting for dominance, creating an ongoing condition of inner conflict and fragmentation.
Or you may have a conscious intention to be financially successful in your work, but harbor a belief in conflict with that intention such as, "I don't deserve it," or "I'm not enough," or "I can't be better than my parents," or "money doesn't grow on trees."
"I'll show them!"
There are some people who are able to successfully manifest their conscious intentions, yet are unable to experience satisfaction with what has been manifested for more than a short period of time, if at all. What gives here?
In some cases, there may be an unconscious decision such as, "I'll show them." This occurs often in people who seem to have an unquenchable need for more and more power. The problem with the "I'll show them" decision, is that the productivity and success that arises is not generated out of the joy and passion of creating from one's authentic connection with one's true purpose. It is driven by an unconscious survival reaction to some lack or unfulfilled need for approval, acceptance or control. When this happens, having to "show them" becomes automatic and never ending. Then the need to prove oneself (or be better than "them" or get even or get revenge) overlays and displaces the creative intention of our true nature with an insatiable hunger for more and more approval, power, and validation. When this pattern occurs, one's authentic nature is truly asleep, and the need for "more, better, and different" is like an infinite loop..
"It's Never Enough"
In other cases, the unconscious driving factor may be an unconscious self-invalidating belief. When this is so, what is missing is both appreciation and gratitude for one's own accomplishments.
I had a client who was very successful, yet could never experience satisfaction with anything she did. When we inquired into it, she realized that when she was growing up, her father would never acknowledge her for what she had accomplished in her work at school. Instead, he would always find something that was missing and flawed about what she had done. He would never say, "well done!" or "good job!" If there was no perceived flaw, he would say, "Okay, but you can do even better than that.".
She loved her father, and desperately wanted his approval, because for her, his approval equaled getting his love, and she experienced that she could never get it. One day, in frustration, she finally said to herself , "No matter what I do, it's never enough." And to quote one of the favorite lines of author, Kurt Vonnegut, "And that was that." That decision became the controlling "truth" for her. From that moment on, her father was always with her as her inner judge and jury. No matter what she did, no matter how successful she was, her ability to manifest her intentions was always viewed by her as a failure or falling short. Only when she realized that she had internalized what she experienced as her father's view of her.and given power to that thought as the "truth" could she reevaluate it and release it.
Becoming Aware Of The Counter-Intentions
As long as the counter-intentions are hidden in the darkness of unconsciousness they cannot be reevaluated and released, and thus still have the power to override what you consciously intend.
Your breakthrough---like that of all Core Wisdom students and clients I have worked with--- occurs when you inquire into what unconscious beliefs and instructions are present that are counter-intentions, bring them to awareness, and dissolve these limitations on who you are and what you can manifest. When you dissolve the counter-intentions. the unconscious/ conscious conflict dissolves, you experience harmony and integration within, and you are free to manifest what you consciously intend.
"Check It Out" With This Experiment
It is often easy to become aware of the counter-intentions that get in the way of your ability to create and manifest your conscious intention.
I invite you to try this experiment:
1. Determine a specific intention that you are committed to manifesting.
A. If all aspects of your Being are fully aligned with your intention, you will experience any or all of the following: a sense of fulfillment; a sense of "yes!"; a state of certainty; body and emotional harmony,;inner quietness; knowing "it is done"; curiosity, vital interest, excitement or enthusiasm.
If any or all of the above is present, skip step 5 and go on to step 6.
B. If there are unconscious counter-intentions attempting to override your conscious intention you may observe any or all of the following: Feelings of constriction or tension in your body; negative emotions such as fear, concern, doubt, apathy or dread; negative thoughts such as, "Who am I kidding?" or "This is crazy?" or "Fat chance!"; nervous or reactive behavior; chemical imbalance; wanting to put things off and go to sleep; or images of times you had failed in the past.
If any of the above in B are present, go on to step 5.
5. Observe and dissolve the counter-intentions.
If any of the symptoms listed in B arise, congratulations, you have located some counter-intentions! That is the first step in letting them go.
If you are familiar with any of the Core Wisdom methods for accessing and dissolving unwanted beliefs, ideals, feelings, etc. dissolve the unwanted programming now, until those symptom no longer arise.
If you are not familiar with the Core Wisdom methods, simply allow yourself to observe what arises without judgment or evaluation, and ask yourself these two questions:
A. "What does this remind me of?" Accept whatever arises in response to your question. If you get an image from the past just observe it. Notice if you have been holding it as the "truth" and identifying with it, rather than just holding it as old energy in the form of a mental movie, and report its existence to your inner awareness without judgment or condemnation. Be aware of any insights you have.
B. [Reevaluation] Ask yourself, "Is this (feeling, belief, image or thought) aligned with my conscious intention?
If the answer is "no," ask yourself if you would be willing to dis-identify from it and let it go.. Take whatever answer comes. Embrace what is. If appropriate and you are open to it, forgive yourself and others for being asleep and acting out of an automatic stimulus response pattern of behavior. Just doing these steps will allow the stuck energy to begin to release.
When you are free of negative thoughts, feelings, or other sensations and you imagine or experience your conscious intention without conflict, go on to step 6.
6. Being in Action. Act from your intention that "this is done!" Make a list of actions for you to take that support the manifestation of your intention. Leave of the "How?" to the Source of All.
Next Steps: Awareness and Dis-Identification
Over the next few issues of CWOL, I will be looking with you at the different levels of inherited and reactive beliefs and decisions from the past that thwart the natural flow of our creative intentions. The purpose of doing so is to allow you to more fully access and bring these unconscious "truths" to awareness so that you can reevaluate them and release those that no longer serve you.
Some of these unexamined beliefs and ideals were generated at the individual level, some we inherited from our families, some we got indoctrinated in by our culture, religion, organizations, and society. All of them are limitations on your true nature as an unlimited creative Being. To the extent that we hold these unexamined beliefs or ideals as the "truth", to that extent they determine the limits of who and what we can be, do, and have.
The more that you become aware of what unexamined beliefs, ideals and assumptions have taken over the controls of your life, you the more you gain the power to dis-identify from those limitations, be free to BE, and create from your true nature NOW.
This week, I invite you to be your own enlightened detective. Shine the light of awareness on the barriers to manifesting your intention, and see what happens!
Good hunting!
-- Hal Isen
From Core Wisdom On-Line Number 63 - May 9, 2006 541-488-7687 |
