Intention.

One of my absolute favorite words.

According to dictionary.com, intention means, “an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result.”

Did you hear that? DETERMINING. As if you have a say in the results of your life. Ahhh.

If this definition came from the SteffanyDictionary.com, it would read, “an act or instance of wholly determining upon…,” because an intention, for me, doesn’t just come from the mind. I say all the time, “Gosh, I’d love to lose 10 pounds,” but that doesn’t happen. Unless I mean it. To mean it means I have to feel it. My heart and mind are on board with my gut and body and then, THEN, I just might have the courage to say no that the bowl of Halloween candy sitting on my kitchen counter, shouting my name. “I hear ya, candy. Please, please, please. Shut up!”

“Wholly determining…,” with heart, mind, and gut.

To act from intention takes courage. Because you have to listen to your gut and your gut doesn’t always tell you to do/be what is accepted.

And that’s when fear creeps in. And makes decisions for you.

Well, not anymore.

With intention, you decide. Not somebody or something. YOU.

That was the day she made herself the promise to live more from intention and less from habit. – Amy Rubin Flett

Ah. Less from habit.

This is the quote that totally socked it to me a couple years ago. Less from habit. I didn’t know that’s what I was doing until I read Amy’s words. I got up and lived my day in a way I thought I was supposed to and did what I was supposed to, with good intention. And then I read Miss Flett’s words and thought, “Oh geez.” And I let go of habit.

And asked myself.

What is it I want to be doing during my days?

With whom do I want to be spending my time?

Is this the life I intended?

Brought me back to my college days, when a good friend with a video camera rolling, asked me, “Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?” And with very little hesitation, I gave her the answer I thought everyone expected, “Working, married, with kids.” Even as I said those words I cringed inside, where no one could see, because it wasn’t what I truly wanted. What I should have said, with a smile on my face was this: “I don’t know. But whatever it is, I’ll be happy.” Because I did know I wanted that.

Acknowledging our fears is one thing. Living with intention? Game changer.

What is your intention?

What are you mentally and spiritually and physically putting your energy into to ensure a future result?

Eating healthier? Exercising more? Looking for a new job? Getting out of a bad relationship? Finally cutting your hair because its what you want to do despite today’s long-hair craze? To no longer spending your time doing ______ because you’d rather be ________?

My intention? To see my novel published.

No easy feat, any of them, but intentions never are.

Because they come from the depths of our soul and we hang our dreams on their fruition.

But if done with intention, and work, and sweat, and yes, some tears, we’ll witness our end result.

And man, oh man, that will be magical!