The Power of Intention

Here’s an interesting observation: The only power that you have is your power of intention.  Yes, you read that right…intention is your only true power.  I can imagine your protests.  You might ask: “What about my power to read and write?” or “What about my power to speak or to drive or to walk?” or “For goodness’ sake, what about my power to think?”  Even in the face of such objections, I’ll persist that the power of intention is your only true power.  Let me explain how that works and how I see that observation as being useful.

How is it that intention is your only true power?  That’s simple.  Without intention, no other power you would claim is possible.  Let’s consider that for a moment.  What can you do that you don’t first have the intention to do?  Is it possible to do a thing without intention?  Can you think without intending to think?  Can you walk without the intention to walk?  How about speaking or reading or writing?  Are any of these possible without intention?  Of course not…clearly intention is the source of all these powers.  Take away intention and watch how you become a stagnant lump of barely living flesh.

How is this observation useful?  I find these kinds of first-principle observations useful because they help me to focus on what really matters in my life.  I use this observation to clear away all of the mental rubbish that drains me of vital energy and keeps me from my goals.  What kind of mental rubbish?  Thoughts like “How will I ever get that done on time” or “That’s too difficult for me” or “Will I be successful”.  In the light of this observation, the true value of each of these thoughts is made clear to me.  Such negative thinking is clearly useless and self-defeating.  More importantly, just like every other thing that I do, these thoughts only arise when I intend for them to.  So, I use the observation that intention is my only power to be extremely purposeful about what I think and do.  If something is happening to me that I don’t want then I see clearly how I caused it to exist through my intention and choose again.

Like so many things, there’s a subtlety here that may be easily missed.  While it’s clear to me that intention is the source of all power – and, by extension, your only true power – there’s also a matter of habit that must be understood in order to take advantage of your power.  Habit is an extremely easy way to live your life.  To do something by habit is to work from a playbook of options based on past experience.  To do something habitually means that you do the same thing you’ve done before in similar situations.  For mechanical things like breathing and walking, habit seems to be the best way to handle things.  I mean, imagine if you forgot to breathe one day!  That would be disastrous.  However, when it comes to intention, habit is terribly destructive.

If your intention is habitual then you will react to situations based on how you’ve reacted to them in the past.  You will miss the wonderful opportunities for self-creation that appear before you every single day.  Habitual intention is the same as robotic living.  Do you want to be loved out of habit?  Of course not… you might as well have a robot saying and doing the things that are called “loving”.  Do you want to work by habit?  If you do then you will soon find yourself in a dead-end job that takes you nowhere fast.  Do you want to be a robot?  If not, then see the dangers of habit when applied to your intentions.

The only thing keeping you from achieving your goals is your intention.  Your life is exactly how you intend it to be.  It cannot be any other way.  If you want your life to be different then change your intentions about it.  Be aware of your habitual intentions and stop giving them energy.  Drop the intentions that you currently hold and choose the intentions that will bring you to the life that you desire.  Intention is your only true power…so don’t waste it on destructive pursuits.  Intend with consciousness, not habit, and you will finally see the limitlessness of what you can achieve.

Watch your choices and you will see the underlying intention.  Be aware of your intention and you will understand the incredible power it represents.  Understand the power of intention and you will love the life that you create with it.