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"Whether you think you can or you think you can't,
you're right."
-Henry Ford
There is so much that encompasses the power of intention, I felt another post was warranted. So this week's Spirituality & Science topic was inspired by a blog comment from last week. The young woman noted how she had kept a journal early in life, before having any understanding of the concept that your thoughts create the world around you. As an adult she looked back through her childhood journal and realized that the thoughts she wrote about as a child became her adult reality - sometimes in exact ways. This insightful blog post brings up an important point: you are using the power of intention every time you think, whether or not you are consciously aware of it. Every thought you have. Most people do not have conscious awareness of this process yet are still creating their world based on this principle.
Unconscious Use of Intention Versus Conscious Direction of Thought
On a personal level, I was using the power of intention well before I had read about it or understood what I was doing. I'll give an example of that in this post and then an example next week of consciously using it with an interesting result.
After my first child was born, I went back to working two jobs: a private practice in clinical psychology and a management position in a residential treatment facility (which was a demanding job where I was responsible for 23 high-risk adolescents and 14 staff). I soon realized I wanted more time with my son (soon as in the first week back), but had never seen a part-time job with benefits for a psychologist in my area. That very next weekend, there was an ad in the paper that was a half-time management job with benefits. Although there were other candidates with years more experience than me (one was my then supervisor), they felt I was the best fit and I got the job. That decreased my hours to about 30 a week combined with my private practice. I was much happier and things were going fine until...surprise!
When my daughter came along, I left on maternity leave for 3 months thinking I would go back to the same routine. However, something happened in those 3 months that I didn't expect. I had a newborn and an almost 3-year-old and was having the best time (aside from that whole sleep deprivation thing). My husband and I went over our finances but as he had also finished his Ph.D., our combined student loan payments were more than our mortgage and there was no way to pay everything on one salary. Now, I certainly had some thoughts that were phrased in a negative format - e.g. I don't want to go back to work, but most of my thoughts at that time were in line with what I did want (being home with the kids). Then one night on the last week of maternity leave, I remember laying there in bed mentally screaming at the universe that I wanted to be with my kids. As I'm not religious, I don't mean that it was a prayer or plea for someone to save me; it was a "shout- out" to the universe to help me have what I wanted. Before falling asleep, I had a very strange experience that I couldn't even begin to explain, but I suddenly knew for sure that I would get my wish and felt peaceful. Several years later, I firmly believe that the intensity of emotion I felt that night helped facilitate the response with more speed.
So, what happened?
The very next day, my husband came home from work and told me we needed to talk. I was instantly alarmed, because the last time he told me this, he had gotten a $120 speeding ticket on the way to work. He sat me down and told me not to be angry, but that several months back he had applied for a promotion at his work. He said he didn't tell me because he didn't want me to get my hopes up (or maybe his). Anyway, that afternoon they had contacted him and offered him the job. With the increase in pay, he said it was enough that I could be home with the kids. Sure, I could have wasted time being angry that he hadn't told me about applying for the job, but that's what it would have been - a waste of time. I was getting exactly what I had asked for 24 hours earlier! I gave leave at work, but decided to do four hours a week at my private practice to keep my foot in the door (and because it was something I loved to do).
And now?
Well, it's now 2 years later and I have an adorable, feisty 2-year-old daughter and a sweet, mellow 5-year-old boy who will start Kindergarten in the Fall. I can honestly say that being home with them has been the most amazing gift and the best years of my life. I still work 4-5 hours per week at my practice, and the rest of my time involves the park, playdates, and the zoo. I should mention here that I have friends who could afford to stay home but chose to stay working full-time, so everyone has different desires and dreams. But this was my dream and it came true - without my having any knowledge whatsoever about the power of thoughts. This was well before I read The Secret or The Power of Intention. It worked because I was thinking about what I wanted and what I wanted my life to look like. I express gratitude to the universe every single day for what I have (which is another post for another day).
Preview of coming attraction: Conscious Use of Intention
Next week I'll give several personal examples of using the power of thought after learning about it, with the results (one of which I found rather comical).
And you?
I'd love to hear your examples of how you have used the power of intention without consciously realizing you were doing so. It can either be material (house, job, car, etc.) or non-material (health problem resolved, finding the ideal relationship, etc.) In fact, you may not have realized your incredible power until just now...so share your story. Until next time...
Unconscious Use of Intention Versus Conscious Direction of Thought
On a personal level, I was using the power of intention well before I had read about it or understood what I was doing. I'll give an example of that in this post and then an example next week of consciously using it with an interesting result.
After my first child was born, I went back to working two jobs: a private practice in clinical psychology and a management position in a residential treatment facility (which was a demanding job where I was responsible for 23 high-risk adolescents and 14 staff). I soon realized I wanted more time with my son (soon as in the first week back), but had never seen a part-time job with benefits for a psychologist in my area. That very next weekend, there was an ad in the paper that was a half-time management job with benefits. Although there were other candidates with years more experience than me (one was my then supervisor), they felt I was the best fit and I got the job. That decreased my hours to about 30 a week combined with my private practice. I was much happier and things were going fine until...surprise!
When my daughter came along, I left on maternity leave for 3 months thinking I would go back to the same routine. However, something happened in those 3 months that I didn't expect. I had a newborn and an almost 3-year-old and was having the best time (aside from that whole sleep deprivation thing). My husband and I went over our finances but as he had also finished his Ph.D., our combined student loan payments were more than our mortgage and there was no way to pay everything on one salary. Now, I certainly had some thoughts that were phrased in a negative format - e.g. I don't want to go back to work, but most of my thoughts at that time were in line with what I did want (being home with the kids). Then one night on the last week of maternity leave, I remember laying there in bed mentally screaming at the universe that I wanted to be with my kids. As I'm not religious, I don't mean that it was a prayer or plea for someone to save me; it was a "shout- out" to the universe to help me have what I wanted. Before falling asleep, I had a very strange experience that I couldn't even begin to explain, but I suddenly knew for sure that I would get my wish and felt peaceful. Several years later, I firmly believe that the intensity of emotion I felt that night helped facilitate the response with more speed.
So, what happened?
The very next day, my husband came home from work and told me we needed to talk. I was instantly alarmed, because the last time he told me this, he had gotten a $120 speeding ticket on the way to work. He sat me down and told me not to be angry, but that several months back he had applied for a promotion at his work. He said he didn't tell me because he didn't want me to get my hopes up (or maybe his). Anyway, that afternoon they had contacted him and offered him the job. With the increase in pay, he said it was enough that I could be home with the kids. Sure, I could have wasted time being angry that he hadn't told me about applying for the job, but that's what it would have been - a waste of time. I was getting exactly what I had asked for 24 hours earlier! I gave leave at work, but decided to do four hours a week at my private practice to keep my foot in the door (and because it was something I loved to do).
And now?
Well, it's now 2 years later and I have an adorable, feisty 2-year-old daughter and a sweet, mellow 5-year-old boy who will start Kindergarten in the Fall. I can honestly say that being home with them has been the most amazing gift and the best years of my life. I still work 4-5 hours per week at my practice, and the rest of my time involves the park, playdates, and the zoo. I should mention here that I have friends who could afford to stay home but chose to stay working full-time, so everyone has different desires and dreams. But this was my dream and it came true - without my having any knowledge whatsoever about the power of thoughts. This was well before I read The Secret or The Power of Intention. It worked because I was thinking about what I wanted and what I wanted my life to look like. I express gratitude to the universe every single day for what I have (which is another post for another day).
Preview of coming attraction: Conscious Use of Intention
Next week I'll give several personal examples of using the power of thought after learning about it, with the results (one of which I found rather comical).
And you?
I'd love to hear your examples of how you have used the power of intention without consciously realizing you were doing so. It can either be material (house, job, car, etc.) or non-material (health problem resolved, finding the ideal relationship, etc.) In fact, you may not have realized your incredible power until just now...so share your story. Until next time...
4 comments:
Wow, I have so much to say about this topic but I will try to keep it short.
First off, I've noticed thoughts manifesting my entire life. However, I was raised in a standard, nonreligious American family that believes what we are taught in school- that the only valid thing is science because it is based on the material world and everything else is "hocus pocus."
So I go about my life and notice these that I can only call "ironies." Since I had no knowledge of metaphysics or spirituality (and thought that stuff was "hocus pocus") I used the only tool I knew about to 'counter act' my thoughts: I would knock on wood. Seriously, it got compulsive. Just ask my fiancé who I would make knock on wood every time we would discuss something I didn't want to happen (later I noticed it was the things I am emotional about but this was traumatic to learn becuase usually the things I am emotional about are the things that I DON'T want to happen- thus the knocking on wood habit).
Examples of things happening: I'm driving on the highway talking to my fiancé who was then only my boyfriend on my cell (with hands-free). I am going 60 mph in a 65mph zone ... and then, I see a cop. I tell my boyfriend this and I kind of get upset because I can't afford a ticket. I say, "I'm afraid he's going to pull me over."
Of course, he did. I had never been pulled over and didn't know what to do, but I remember telling him that I was only going 60mph. He went to his car and came back and said he didn't know why he pulled me over because it would be dangerous to be going slower.
The same thing kept happening my whole life. Another example is when I had a 'reunion' planned with high school friends. The week or so before the reunion I worried that they would talk about something in particular. When the 'reunion' came my high school friend's BF (that I've never met) started a conversation about exactly that thing I worried about. Thankfully, that conversation was relatively short but when I asked him why he brought it up he thought for a few moments and said in a confused way, "I don't know because I never talk about stuff like this."
I could list for you direct quotes from my childhood journal that specifically describe my current life. Some of these are good things and some are not so good. In some entries I described in detail "types" of people who intrigue me and then, later in life the exact same person becomes my neighbor. There are songs that I write about being "so moving" and I would sing them over and over ... and then the storyline of the lyrics became my life.
When it's all recorded it's like evidence of magic.
Most of the things I write about here happened before I had any knowledge of "The Secret" or thoughts being energy or metaphysics or anything related. It wasn't until I was dragged to a Reiki Healing session less then a year ago that I had a profound experience and started to research these things. I already had the foundation knowledge (the reason I knocked on wood) but didn't have the experience of something beyond my five senses to to believe in something so "hocus pocus."
Thanks for sharing this - it really is amazing once you look back at your life with the knowledge you have now. :) Kristi
p.s. Thank you for writing this blog because I think most of us know this stuff inherently, but it's not what they teach us in school. However, I think things are changing because word is getting out with the internet. Phew!
p.p.s. I know this isn't magic or "hocus pocus" because there is scientific evidence of a lot of it. I'm just using those terms becuase that's what society calls it in order to dismiss it.
You're welcome - I'll post another time on some of the amazing research coming out but one great book is "The Intention Experiment" by Lynne McTaggart.
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