Your Why - Your Intention

 
Dear Why Team Member,
I hope this week’s message finds you well and will be of service to you.

Most everyone has heard of the importance of setting goals; taking time to consider what you want and the actions necessary to achieve it. Research has also revealed the power found in writing down your goals and intentionally directing your activity to achieving those goals. A goal is an intention, an intention we try to materialize and it’s no wonder that the ones that are good at it, are called professionals. If you ask them, they will say that they are pro-active about their goals; they put action to their goals rather than just writing them down; that’s what separates them from the rest.
Consider the word Pro-Active. It is difficult to be a Pro at anything if you are not willing to be Pro-active.
 
Until recently, I had not considered the relationship between Goals and Intentions. Of course we intend to achieve our goals - but let us consider our intention that is key in achieving them. Separate from the goal, the intention is an invitation to look at the Why behind our goal.
 
Recently, my wife Rebecca and I began taking an on-line course to further invest in our relationship. The woman who teaches the course is Sheryl Paul; her website can be found at Conscious-Transitions.com
I have found her work to be incredibly enlightening and empowering. Her teachings work powerfully against the misleading messages of our culture- that can do more to tear down relationships than to build them up - and I cannot recommend her enough. Look into her work, if not for yourself, for a friend or family member!
 
In the midst of the course we are taking, Sheryl shared a powerful insight regarding intention. She said, “There are two basic intentions or mindsets: the intention to control, protect, and get (love, approval, validation) and the intention to learn, grow, and give”
 
The first basic intention, is seeking for self, the second, is seeking for others.
Consider writing these words down, and turning to them to help clarify your intentions! How powerful is it to know that our day-to-day activities are born from primarily one of two intentions?!
 
I have written on something similar to this in the past - speaking to the scarcity versus abundance mindset. Imagine if you began every morning with the intention to learn, grow and give. My experience is that this kind of intention requires pro-active effort. If we live unconsciously re-active, our common human wiring can have us more prone to resist the unexpected in our quest for love, approval and validation, than to learn, grow and give from what the unexpected has taught us.
 
Consider your Why behind your goals.
 
Richard Leider, author of the best selling book, “The Power of Purpose” recently told me. “Purpose is found simply in growing and giving”. Which aligns with Sheryl’s teaching.
 
How much more inspiring would it be to begin each new day with the intention to grow and give?! To learn and to share what we have learned. And is not our greatest teacher life itself? Matt Walker of MattWalkerAdventures often speaks to Adventure Learning. Isn’t each new day filled with adventure, unexpected twists and turns - certainly some days more than others? Imagine meeting those twists and turns with eagerness about what you can learn from them, how you can grow from them, and how those experiences further empower you to serve others. Consider living the alternative: without the intention to learn, grow and give - are we not more likely to see the twists and turns keeping us from what we desire for ourselves? Life happening to us, rather than life happening for us? When things don’t go our way, do we feel “less than” or “more than” for the experience?
Does it not depend on our intention?
 
“Our rewards in life, are exactly in the same proportion to our contribution” – you’ll hear Earl Nightingale advise in his speech The Strangest Secret. If you are not living intentionally - consider a new way to start each new day; consider setting a pro-active intention to learn, grow and give. Consider the Why of your life; your life as a gift to you that can serve others. Consider saying to yourself:
“This new day is a gift. All new and exciting possibilities are found in the unknown. Today I will open my heart and mind to learn, to grow and to discover new ways to serve and give to others.”
 
Going forward - as a touch stone - when life fails to give you what you want - consider taking time to look at your intentions. Are your goals aligned with your highest aspirations? Are they primarily about getting or about giving? Consider living more a life of gratitude, seeing all that has come your way, even the tough times - maybe even more-so, the tough times and what they taught you. Awaken to each new day excited for your new learning and growing that will empower more giving.
Live with more anticipation, rather than trepidation and no doubt you will...
 
Make it a great week!
 

Steve Luckenbach