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“Secrets to Setting An Intention”

“Secrets to Setting An Intention”

by Linda-Ann Stewart

When you set an intention, you’re focusing your energy to create a new behavior, attitude, or experience in your world. You’re saying to yourself, and the Universe, “This is what I want.” The Universe always says, “Yes,” to your goal, for It supports all of your endeavors.

However, your subconscious mind needs to be convinced. It knows your intention, but it will always act on your prevailing thought. Which may not agree with your current desire. It will follow the idea with the most energy behind it, the strongest emotion, and the one that is habitual. To get its cooperation for your change of direction, you have to be completely committed to your desire.

Here are some strategies that can increase your success and make it easier to achieve your goal.

Make a plan and work the plan. You must be focused mentally on your goal, and take steps towards it. Break the goal down into stages, then smaller steps, and each day make one tiny advance in the direction of your dream.

Be specific about what you want. The Universe and your subconscious work best with a clear idea of what you want as your goal. If you want a new car, decide what make,  model, and what color. The Universe always pours good in the form of substance into your life. And your subconscious forms that substance into reality. Your subconscious creates a pattern of that idea, then seeks the way to bring it about.

Use affirmations to support your change of belief and attitude. In this way, you begin to empower your intention and increase its influence in your subconscious. You’re not changing the Universe’s mind with affirmations. Affirmations help to reprogram and expand your subconscious to accept more Universal good. Repeat affirmations for 15 minutes at least once a day that underscore your belief that your goal is possible, that you deserve it, and that doors are now opening for you. State that you now have this goal in your life. This gives your subconscious the model to follow.

Change your thinking and position towards the issue. You may have a deep seated belief that you can’t accomplish it, or that you don’t know what to do. The problem is that you’re entrenched in your old patterns, and can’t see any way out. If all you do is change your attitude to believing the change possible, that will alter the dynamics. You have to break the stalemate that has kept you mired down. Evaluate what you believe about the issue, and find a way to open up the door to a better way of  thinking about it.

Take some action. Any positive action. This shifts the energy and breaks the status quo. It gains the attention of the subconscious, which will then realize that you’re serious about changing. It could simply be exploring classes and sending for information in your interest zone. Or you could go out and start networking. Just create some channel for the good to start flowing to you.

Visualize the end result. You don’t have to figure out “how” it’s going to come to you. That would actually short-circuit the energy. This is different from being specific about what you want, and establishing the steps you’re going to follow. You don’t know how you’ll find the right car, even when you go out and start looking. Although you know what kind of job you want, you can’t know where it’s going to be. Just mentally rehearse how you’ll feel when you achieve and what you’ll be doing. Use all of your senses and imagine it as if it already has happened. And make sure you’re in the visualization, not an observer.

Ask the Universe to establish order. Since you may not know what to do or how to accomplish your goal, ask the Universe to create it in Divine Order. Sometimes, what is best for you isn’t what you think it is. Let go of the concern over the outcome. You don’t have to worry about it. You’ve done your job by focusing on what you want, opening your mind to a greater experience of it, visualizing and taking action. The rest is up to your subconscious and the Universe. The Law of Attraction will take over and do what’s necessary.

These strategies activate all levels of your being: mental, emotional, physical and spiritual, and focuses them on your goal. This increases the power of your intention because all aspects of you are now involved. Every hour, check in and quickly reinforce your commitment to your intention by thinking of the end result. When you successfully follow these steps when you’re setting and following through on an intention, you may be surprised at how quickly it will manifest.

Copyright 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

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Positive Thinking Doesn’t Ignore Negatives, It Just Doesn’t Focus On Them

Positive Thinking Doesn’t Ignore Negatives, It Just Doesn’t Focus On Them

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Some people belittle positive thinking, claiming that it means you look through rose-colored glasses and ignore any potential potholes. That’s not the case. Just because a positive thinker focuses on the best possible outcome doesn’t mean they’re not aware of the challenges that might face them. They just don’t concentrate on them.

If a positive thinker walked around with blinders on, they’d only be able to view what was right in front of them. In that case, they could be blindsided by something coming at them from another direction. It would seem to come out of the blue, when it’s simply appeared from their blind spot.

It’s like driving a car. When you focus down the road, where you’re going, you tend to steer in that direction. You’re aware of the traffic around you, the traffic light, parking lot exits, the box rolling towards your lane. With each of these, you make decisions and act to avoid the dangers. But you don’t focus on any one of them. They’re just part of your travel and issues to deal with in a casual way.

Unless they significantly impact you, you don’t give them much thought. If you weren’t aware of them (as the belittlers assert), you could run a light, not avoid the car that suddenly pulls into your lane, or ram the box. When you’re driving, you know they’re there, and take actions to avoid or address them so they don’t become a problem. The same is true with positive thinking.

With this type of attitude, you don’t have to give possible negatives any power. You can notice they’re there, and take the necessary precautions to handle them. And just keep your attention focused on your goal.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

“Setting An Intention: The Key To Your Success”

“Setting An Intention: The Key To Your Success”

by Linda-Ann Stewart

I’ve heard many people say, “I intend to … stop smoking, lose weight, exercise more, eat more vegetables,” when they actually mean, “I’ll try to …” In this sense, “intend” simply means, “If it’s convenient and easy for me, then I’ll do it.” That’s not a strong commitment to a goal. It’s more of an empty wish. It communicates a weak desire to the subconscious, and your inner mind won’t act on that level of strength.

Setting an intention means you have to be intensely focused on your objective. You bring all your power, strength and clarity to that one point. To have a laser-like focus, it’s like putting blinders on and eliminating any distractions. You have to be dedicated to that goal and follow through on any actions or behaviors that are necessary to bring it into reality.

To develop this level of intention, you have several stages of investigation and clarification to address.

1. Decide on your goal. Figure out what you want. It could be just a general improvement in your life, to be less judgmental, eat healthier or open a business. Or it could be as detailed as, “I want to lose five pounds in the next ninety days.” Consider and describe what it would look and feel like to have it in your life.

2. What are your motivations for this change? This step gives you the power and energy to do what’s necessary. For instance, why do you want better health? What would that do for you? Answer the “why” question and make sure it’s a powerful incentive. This is probably the most important piece. If you don’t find one or more strong reasons to make the effort to change, you won’t follow through on it.

3. Make the importance of your new goal more desirable than your old pattern. You have to change your attitude towards your current position. It’s been familiar and comfortable. For permanent success in creating a new model, you have to alter your attitude towards your present situation and make it objectionable, unfavorable and detrimental. To do this, you could imagine where you’ll be in five years without altering your path. You could be 50 pounds heavier, have greater illness, or be more discontented.

4. What beliefs and/or behaviors need to change and how? What do you need to believe about your ability to meet your goal? You may need to know that you have the skills, and the assurance, that you can accomplish it. A new behavior that you might need to eat healthier is to choose fruits over chocolate cake for dessert.

5. What steps do you need to take to bring this new goal to pass? List each stage, step, activity, idea, and thing you need for your objective. Break it down into smaller and smaller chunks to make it easier to work with. Set small, attainable goals.

6. What obstacles might you encounter and how can you overcome them? This includes blocks in your environment and ones in your own beliefs. For instance, how will you deal with procrastination?

7. Focus on your objective. Before you can set your intention, you need to commit to putting your attention on your goal. Have a clear idea of what your objective is. Then you can decide what other resources, internally and environmentally, you need to bring it about.

The tension between your motive to change, and what could happen if you don’t, increases the incentive for your commitment. It also helps develop the quality and intensity of your intention.

Whenever you think of your goal, switch to focusing on your new intention and beliefs about it. You can change. To do so, you need to be consistent and persistent. It may take some time, but you’ll reach your goal. You, and the rewards, are worth it.

Affirmation

I now focus my resources and set an intention to improve my life. My motivation for change is stronger than what is familiar. My beliefs and/or behaviors now come into alignment with my goal. I overcome all obstacles, keeping my intention in the forefront of my mind. The Universe completely supports my intention and brings me anything I need to achieve it.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

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“Money Is Power” – Not

“Money Is Power” – Not

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of attitudes about money that block prosperity. For instance, “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” “(The love of) money is the root of all evil,” “Wealthy people are greedy,” and so forth. For the person who holds an idea like this, they will restrict their abundance because they have to be congruent with their beliefs. They may want to be more prosperous, but they can’t violate their deeply held negative belief about it, or become like a person whose values they revile.

I heard another restrictive idea recently. An artist was being interviewed, and he said that “Money is power,” and since he didn’t want power, he would only make as much as he needed to live on.

Money isn’t power. It’s an agreed upon system that exchanges products or services for other products or services, like groceries, housing, clothing, etc. Money is simply a tool, it does what we tell it to do. If we tell it to pay our bills, it does. It can’t do it without our direction. Like a hammer, it can tear down a house or build one.

The power that people attribute to money actually comes from the intention and the character of the person holding it. If their intention is to have control over others, they’ll find a way to do that even if they’re poverty stricken. Mother Teresa had power, and she was poor. So money itself has no power of its own. Money is simply a means to an end, and the purpose for it is up to you.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

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Book Review – “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind”

Book Review – “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind”

The Power of Your Subconscious MindThe Power Of Your Subconscious Mind
by Joseph Murphy

This book has been one of my inspirations over the years. It was one of the first books I read about the subconscious mind. It addresses how your subconscious mind works, how affirmations work to transform your life. It has chapters dealing with various aspects of life, and how to change them. It is a classic, and is a very easy read.

Many years ago, I took a cab to a conference, and started talking with the cab driver. It turned out that he used this book as his bible. I’ve heard this same sentiment from many other people over the years. I keep returning to this book time and time again, whenever I need to align myself with my Source.