Intention is perseverance & drive embodied
Intention is the somatic element of meaning, drive, and purpose.
Holding an intention in the body focuses us toward our goal like a sharp arrow. Embodying intention is very important for perseverance, continuous growth, daring, leadership, vision, and achieving our goals, to name a few. The Power of Somatic Intelligence is an intention I set out in 2003.
How often do you struggle to keep a strong intention over a year? 5? 10? Do you have tons of ideas, but they never fully materialize? Have you run into so many challenges that you stopped chasing your dream? And how do you motivate yourself to keep a high drive in the face of adversity?
A strong long term intention is what you need to pull through and get to the end of the tunnel, on top.
Despite what life may throw at you, when you set a strong intention, your thoughts, movements, and drive are all rooted in a deep sense of purpose and commitment. This power gives you tremendous resilience, being able to stick with it even through challenging times. It’s about running a marathon, and not a sprint.
What are you doing today to be ready for the day after?
Many people stumble their way through life, rolling from one day into the next, failing to create the momentum they really dream of, because they aren’t fully committed to their powerful purpose. It’s the difference between those who give up easily and those who make their dreams come true.
Setting and sticking to an intention will impact the quality of your day, week, or month. It’s a powerful tool for resilience in turbulent times. While others give up, you have the willpower to stick with it until it becomes a reality.
Here are 5 things you can do this week to cultivate a powerful intention in your life:
- Take a moment daily to decide on the intention of your day, then act out of this intention all day – i.e. loving, playful, humorous, serious, peaceful, connected, inspired, achieving, optimistic… play with a different one daily and notice how it affects the quality of your day and your connection to others. After 1-2 weeks, decide which intentions resonated with you the most and start living out of them daily.
- Start your day by getting connected to your intention. Decide between 1 and 10 how strong your intention will be. You can close your eyes, breathe softly, and focus on it, visualizing what the day will look like as if it already happened (this is a technique often used by winning athletes).
- You can set an intention to a day, a meeting, or even a different one for each important event during your day.
- When you have an important meeting where you want a certain result, be sure to go into the meeting with an intention at the level between 8-10. When people show up with an intention at 2-3, they rarely leave having achieved what they set out. Pay attention to the connection between your intention and the results.
- Set a long-term intention for the next 3 months, and then every week examine what you promised, compared to what you actually did. Congratulate yourself on your wins – big or small. Then take responsibility for what you promised and didn’t do. Don’t beat yourself up for it, just restore your commitment and try again. Repeat the same process from week to week. Pay attention and keep a journal of what impacts the quality of your commitment. Once you get stronger at keeping your intention, set an intention for a year, and use the same process.
Intention strengthens our emotional resilience and helps us to develop strong leadership by focusing us like a sharp arrow towards our goals.
Intention is essential for change-makers in order to lead and thrive.
INSTRUCTIONS
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