Self-Hospitality Pt. 2: Unlock The Power of Your Intention
One might think that meditation is a matter of attention – and we can measure our success by where our awareness is at any given time. For example, we have a mantra to repeat or breath to focus on and the amount of time that we keep ourselves locked on it can then somehow equal how well we meditated.
But the phenomena of meditation is not delivered by attention, it’s delivered by intention. Is our intention to return our mind to our mantra or breath? Of course it is. It is for the whole meditation. It is whether we’re aware of it or not. And it is regardless of where our attention is. It’s our intention that keeps the process going. Attention is a passing flavor that in no way adjudicates whether we’re doing it right.
Attention can drift all it wants, but intention is always the headquarters. It’s the power center. Intention begins the moment you sit down and close your eyes. Actually, it begins as 4:30pm hits and you’re feeling depleted and some unspoken twinge lurches you from whatever task you need a break from. It begins when you think “I have a tool to recharge myself – let’s go find a quiet spot.” You begin thinking your mantra, your mind digs out stress and fatigue, a storm gets kicked up because that’s what the cleaning process looks like. You don’t need to worry about nailing some peaceful and focused experience. Your life after the “housekeeping” of meditation is more likely to be like that anyway.
Intention isn’t a conscious thing. It’s not the mind saying “Alright, I’m meditating.” It’s just there, anchoring you. Intention is behind every thought, action and feeling. And not only is it the force that brings us into meditation with unwavering faithfulness – meditation itself makes us even more connected to and understanding of all the intentional forces that move us throughout the day. And knowing our intentions results in us knowing ourselves better every day. And isn’t that the name of the game?
You’ve Meditated…Now This Is What You Can Do With It
After meditating, set an intention for the day, or the evening. How do you want things to go. And then throughout the day when you notice strong feelings, thoughts or impulses, ask yourself, “What is the intention behind this?” The results may surprise you.
Learn The Essentials
The purpose of this series is to give you everything you need to get the most out of meditation, self-care and this fresh new life we get to live with such powerful tools at our disposal. The weekly tools and principles I share will help you become more skilled and confident at meditating and just generally living with this thing called a mind.
Whether or not you’ve already learned meditation (with me or elsewhere), refer to this guide to either get you started or refresh you on the essentials.
I bet, even if you’ve been meditating for awhile, this series will reveal aspects of it that will make you say, “Wow, how come I didn’t know this?” You did. And you do. You just needed reminding. Meditation is a very radical way of being in ourselves…and yet it’s the most familiar place we know.
