When I was growing up, I must have heard the phrase “Pay attention” at least a trillion times. “Pay attention to what you are doing,” “Pay attention to what you are saying.” “Pay attention to what you are thinking.” It wasn’t until a more recent re-reading of Ageless Body, Timeless Mind by Deepak Chopra that I crystalized them all into one phase, “Pay attention to your intention.”
Yes, we need to pay attention when we are driving a car, working with power tools, or cooking on a hot stove. We also need to pay attention and chose our words wisely, especially when we are in a stressful situation, so we can consciously choose to respond from our conscious mind not our tapes. It is only when we focus on the bigger picture—our underlying intention or what we want to create—that we are able to step out of inner conflict and entanglement and effectively create our wishes and dreams.
According to Deepak Chopra, it is important to remember that our biology is designed to respond to and fulfill our desires and wishes, BUT if you are producing conflicting wishes and desires such as “I want to be healthy” but historically you unknowingly used illness to get love and attention, then you can create a conflict in your system. The end result is your wishes and desires cannot be fulfilled.
It seems pretty simple but paying attention to your intention requires awareness. Awareness of what you want to create and what you don’t want to create. I think it also requires the awareness of how it feels when you are in your conscious mind versus when you are in your subconscious mind, and a skillset of how to shift from one brain state to another autonomously.
So, with this in mind, ask yourself: “Do I have a way to observe and identify the intention behind my actions”? If you do, is your method transportable- meaning can you use it in any or all situations to bring about clarity?
If you don’t, then I invite you to explore some of the ICWIB art activities and videos for FREE because I repeatedly turn to these deceptively simple activities (simple enough to teach a preschooler!) to help me uncover the intention behind my actions.