Intentional Blinders
Intention receives a lot of attention in spiritual and personal growth circles, as it is a key component of the creative process. My own awareness of intention is honed over the years by examining the experiences sculpted by its use ~ sometimes conscious and other times less so.
A formal introduction to the quality of intention, through a coaching program almost 15 years ago, provided me a context for seeing its extensive footprint through my life and the lives of others. I learned a formula for using intention + action to create results that still serves as a filter through which I examine certain moments in life. I’m also fortunate more recently to find that when I keep my focus on intention in the present moment, it’s much easier to see its footprint and choose with discernment what actions to take (or not).
One thing the program did not offer insight to is a phenomenon described in this post, which I refer to as ‘intentional blinders.’ When intention is accompanied by rigidity of thought, especially prescriptive thought, it becomes quite possible to blind oneself to the arrival of the intended outcome! Telling intention exactly how to operate seems to construct barriers to the very experiences we’re intending. Let me share an example or two.
I’ve written elsewhere (Celebrate the Journey, a free PDF on the website) about desiring a new automobile and finding myself driving down the road surrounded by others driving the vehicle of my choice. It took my intention of owning this vehicle a long time to manifest. Because I’d become fixed on a certain make, model, and color of vehicle, I overlooked for some time the availability of the ideal automobile for me, right within my neighborhood. My firm determination about ‘how’ intention would deliver up my choice blinded me to its more local operation.
The next story about intention comes from a friend, and is also an automotive tale. My friend purchased a new truck and had a clear picture of the kind of cap to put over the truck bed. A focused intention yielded an ideal choice, complete with a good warranty. However, within a short time, a keyed window lock on the cap ceased to function as desired. My friend created a another intent that this window lock would be fixed, by the dealer, under the warranty, free-of- charge.
I’ll spare you the long list of actions my friend took to fulfill the intention, and summarize the thwarted efforts as involving 5 dealer visits, with the offer of 3 different replacement locks (none matching the single key used for all the other cap window locks) from 2 different dealers (as the first dealership had ceased operations.) And then one day I hear from my friend, full of enthusiasm, that a sudden inspiration led him to local locksmith over lunch, and he obtained free service that returned the window lock to functional. My friend even mentioned that his narrow focus on the dealer and the warranty had precluded the desired result, which ultimately was a no-cost repair.
These two examples demonstrate that fixed beliefs about ‘how’ intentions are fulfilled actually interfere with the natural energetic flow of intention. Strongly held beliefs act like blinders, keeping a rigid requirement on the nature of the path creating the result, and disallowing the many options and opportunities that exist Now, in the present, to deliver the desire promptly, with fluidity and ease.
Is this post a call to jettison beliefs? No. Rather, it’s a suggestion to examine all the thoughts that surround an intention for evidence of their rigidity, inflexibility, and duality. These qualities inhibit our natural ability to create with intention by making it difficult to receive the abundance that intention accesses constantly.
When we open our heart to intention, and allow our intent to come to us, rather than pursuing it or herding it along with inflexibility, we are in the abundant flow of the creative process. The formula shifts, to intention + presence creating choice, and we have at our fingertips the vast universe of possibilities to fulfill the intent. This seems to me a compelling motivation for letting go of intentional blinders, and savoring the abundance of Life.