What Now?

So I have been quietly lurking, pondering how to reinvent my blog when I received an email from Kristine Carlson on the power of intention. It seemed a perfect place to start: What Now?

Reinventing life one question at a time beginning with:

What Are Your Intentions?

 

By Kristine Carlson

 

If a guy hears that question, “What are your intentions?” immediately we think of a father and daughter scenario where the guy has his hands in his pockets, anxiously shifting his weight side to side while he waits for his date.  I remember a time in high school when a baseball player who was already in college came to our door to pick me up for a date.  My dad took one look at him and decided he was too old for me.  He asked him the question, “What are your intentions with my daughter, young man?”  (By the way, this was a first and only date and the meaning of my dad’s question was clearly a warning.)  The guy uneasily replied, “I guess my intention, sir, is to have your daughter home by 11 o’clock, as you say.”  My dad said, “Good, son, I’ll be waiting.”

Intention is a powerful thing and “there are many a road that have been paved with good intentions.”  And, many a road that remains unchartered territory without them.

There are times in life where I’ve felt like a nomad wandering aimlessly through the desert of possibility. Having too many options can be as incapacitating as having too few, however, defining my intentions point me in the right direction and gets me started.    

Intention is the first and fundamental step in the beginning to unravel the questions we have when we are standing on the precipice of the unknown asking, “What now?”  

It’s easy to get lost in day-to-day life and routine and to live unaware of our habits and unaware of our intentions.  When we don’t have our bearings then it leaves the door open for anxiety and fear.
 
We act on our intentions daily, stated or not, by habit and without realizing it. Something quite magical happens when we consciously state our intentions on a regular basis. “Intention” by definition is having an aim or objective or quality of purposefulness. It is the juice behind our disciplined actions and how we practice life.