The Power of Intention Page 20
Two prime ministers are sitting in a room discussing affairs of state. Suddenly a man bursts in, apoplectic with fury, shouting and stamping and banging his fist on the desk. The resident prime minister admonishes him: “Peter,” he says, “kindly remember Rule Number 6,” whereupon Peter is instantly restored to complete calm, apologizes, and withdraws. The politicians return to their conversation, only to be interrupted yet again twenty minutes later by an hysterical woman gesticulating wildly, her hair flying. Again the intruder is greeted with the words: “Marie, please remember Rule Number 6.” Complete calm descends once more, and she too withdraws with a bow and an apology. When the scene is repeated for a third time, the visiting prime minister addresses his colleague: “My dear friend, I’ve seen many things in my life, but never anything as remarkable as this. Would you be willing to share with me the secret of Rule Number 6?” “Very simple,” replies the resident prime minister. “Rule Number 6 is ‘Don’t take yourself so goddamn seriously.’ ” “Ah,” says his visitor, “that is a fine rule.” After a moment of pondering, he inquires, “And what, may I ask, are the other rules?”
“There aren’t any.”
As you encounter stress, pressure, or anxiety in your life, remember “Rule Number 6” at the moment you realize you’re thinking stressful thoughts. By noticing and discontinuing the inner dialogue that’s causing stress, you may be able to prevent its physical symptoms. What are the inner thoughts that produce stress? I’m more important than those around me. My expectations aren’t being met. I shouldn’t have to wait, I’m too important. I’m the customer here, and I demand attention. No one else has these pressures. All of the above, along with a potentially endless inventory of “Rule Number 6” thoughts are from the ego’s bag of tricks.
You aren’t your work, your accomplishments, your possessions, your home, your family . . . your anything. You’re an aspect of the power of intention, dressed in a physical human body intended to experience and enjoy life on Earth. This is the intention that you want to bring to the presence of stress.
Bringing intention to the presence of stress. In any given day, you have hundreds of opportunities to implement “Rule Number 6” by bringing the power of intention into the moment and eliminating the potential for stress. Here are a few examples of how I’ve employed this strategy. In each of these examples, I activated an inner thought that was in vibrational harmony with the universal field of intention, and I fulfilled my personal intention to be tranquil. These examples occurred in a three-hour period of a normal day. I offer them to you to remind you that stress and anxiety are choices that we make to process events, rather than entities that are out there waiting to invade our lives.
— I’m dropping off a prescription at the drugstore and the person ahead of me is talking to the pharmacist, asking a series of seemingly inane questions—all of which, my stress-producing ego tells me, are intended to deliberately delay and annoy me. My inner dialogue might go like this: I’m being victimized! There’s always someone just ahead of me in line who fumbles with money, can’t find what’s needed to prove participation in some kind of an insurance plan, and has to ask silly questions designed to keep me from dropping off a prescription.
I use those thoughts as a signal to change my inner dialogue to: Wayne, stop taking yourself so goddamn seriously! I immediately make the shift from pissed to blissed. I take the focus off of myself, and at the same time, I remove resistance to my intention to live a stress-free and tranquil life. I now see this person as an angel who’s ahead of me in line to assist me in reconnecting to intention. I stop judging, and actually see beauty in the slow, deliberate gestures. I’m kind in my mind toward this angel. I’ve moved from hostility to love in my thoughts, and my emotions have shifted from discomfort to ease. Stress is absolutely impossible in the moment.
— My 17-year-old daughter tells me about her disagreement with a school official who’s taken action against some of her friends, an act she considers totally unfair. It’s Saturday morning and nothing can be done until Monday. The choice? Spend two days in misery replaying the details of her story, and have a weekend of inner stress, or remind her how to activate thoughts that will make her feel good. I ask her to describe her feelings. She responds that she’s “angry, upset, and hurt.” I ask her to think about “Rule Number 6” and see if there’s any other thought she could activate.
She laughs at me, telling me how crazy I am. “But,” she admits, “it really doesn’t make any sense to be upset for the entire weekend, and I’m going to stop thinking thoughts that make me feel bad.”
“On Monday we’ll do what we can to rectify the situation,” I tell her. “But for now—and now is all you have—put ‘Rule Number 6’ into play and rejoin the field of intention where stress, anxiety, and pressure don’t exist.”
To fulfill the intention of this chapter, to live a stress-free and tranquil life, you must become conscious of the need to activate thought responses that match your intention. These new responses will become habitual, and replace your old habit of responding in stress-producing ways. When you examine segments of stress-producing incidents, you always have a choice: Do I stay with thoughts that produce stress within me, or do I work to activate thoughts that make stress impossible? Here’s another easy tool that will help you replace the habit of choosing anxiety and stress.
Five magic words: I want to feel good! In an earlier chapter, I described how your emotions are a guidance system informing you of whether or not you’re creating resistance to your intentions. Feeling bad lets you know that you’re not connected to the power of intention. Your intention here is to be tranquil and stress free. When you feel good, you’re connected to your intentions, regardless of what goes on around you or what others expect you to feel. If there’s a war going on, you still have the option to feel good. If the economy goes further into the toilet, you have the option to feel good. In the event of any catastrophe, you can still feel good. Feeling good isn’t an indication that you’re callous, indifferent, or cruel—it’s a choice you make. Say it out loud: I want to feel good! Then convert it to: I intend to feel good. Feel the stress, and then send it the love and respect of the seven faces of intention. The seven faces smile and say hello to what you label as feeling bad. It’s that feeling that wants to feel good. You must be to your feelings as your Source is to you, in order to counteract the desires of your ego.
Many events will transpire in which your conditioned response is to feel bad. Be aware of these outer incidents, and say the five magic words: I want to feel good. In that precise moment, ask yourself if feeling bad is going to make the situation any better. You’ll discover that the only thing that feeling bad accomplishes in response to outer situations is to plummet you into anxiety, despair, depression, and of course, stress. Instead, ask yourself in that moment what thought you can have that will make you feel good. When you discover that it’s responding with kindness and love to the bad feeling (which is quite different from wallowing in it), you’ll begin experiencing a shift in your emotional state. Now you’re in vibrational harmony with your Source, since the power of intention knows only peace, kindness, and love.
This newly activated thought, which allows you to feel good, may only last a few moments, and you might go back to your previous way of processing unpleasant events. Also treat that old way of processing with respect, love, and understanding, but remember that it’s your ego-self trying to protect you from its perception of danger. Any stress signal is a way of alerting you to say the five magic words I want to feel good. Stress wants your attention! By saying the five magic words and extending love to your bad feelings, you’ll have begun the process of fulfilling your stated intention of being tranquil and stress free. Now you can practice activating these thoughts in the toughest of moments, and before long, you’ll be living the message offered to all of us in the book of Job: “You will decide on a matter and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways”[Job 22:28]. T
he word light in this biblical reference means that you’ll have the assistance of the divine mind of intention once you decide on a matter that is consistent with that light.
I assure you that your decision to feel good is a way of connecting to Spirit. It isn’t an indifferent response to events. By feeling good, you become an instrument of peace, and it’s through this channel that you eradicate problems. By feeling bad, you stay in the energy field that creates resistance to positive change; and experience a stressful, anxious state as a by-product. The things you call problems will perpetually present themselves to you. They’ll never go away. Resolve one . . . and another will surface!
You’ll never get it done. In Chapter 6, I reminded you of your infinite nature. Since you’re an infinite spiritual being disguised as a temporary human being, it’s essential to understand that in infinity there’s no beginning and no ending. Therefore, your desires, goals, hopes, and dreams will never be finished—ever! As soon as you manifest one of your dreams, another will most assuredly pop up. The nature of the universal force of intention from which you emigrated into a temporary material being is always creating and giving forth. Furthermore, it’s in a continuous state of expansion. Your desires to manifest into your life are a part of this infinite nature. Even if you desire to have no desires, that’s a desire!
I urge you to simply accept the fact that you’ll never get it all done, and begin to live more fully in the only moment that you have—now! The secret to removing the harmful effects of feeling stressed and under pressure is to be in the now. Announce out loud to yourself and all who are willing to listen to you: I’m an incomplete being. I’ll always be incomplete because I can never get it done. Therefore, I choose to feel good while I’m in the moment, attracting into my life the manifestations of my desires. I am complete in my incompleteness! I can assure you that a follow-up on this statement will eradicate all anxiety and stress, which is precisely the intention of this chapter. All resistance melts away when you can feel complete in your incompleteness.
The Path of Least Resistance
You live in a universe that has limitless potential for joy built into the creation process. Your Source, which we call the universal mind of intention, adores you beyond anything you can possibly imagine. When you adore yourself in the same proportion, you’re matched up with the field of intention, and you’ve opted for the path of no resistance. As long as you have even a pinch of an ego, you’ll retain some resistance, so I urge you to take the path in which resistance is minimized.
The shape and quantity of your thoughts determine the amount of resistance. Thoughts that generate bad feelings are resistant thoughts. Any thought that puts a barrier between what you would like to have and your ability to attract it into your life is resistance. Your intention is to live a tranquil life, free of stress and anxiety. You know that stress doesn’t exist in the world, and that there are only people thinking stressful thoughts. Stressful thoughts all by themselves are a form of resistance. You don’t want stressful, resistant thoughts to be your habitual way of reacting to your world. By practicing thoughts of minimal resistance, you’ll train yourself to make this your natural way of reacting, and eventually you’ll become the tranquil person you desire to be, a stress-free person free of the “disease” that stress brings to the body. Stressful thoughts all by themselves are the resistance that you construct that impedes your connection to the power of intention.
We’re in a world that advertises and promotes reasons to be anxious. You’ve been taught that feeling good in a world where so much suffering exists is an immoral stance to take. You’ve been convinced that choosing to feel good in bad economic times, in times of war, in times of uncertainty or death, or in the face of any catastrophe anywhere in the world is crass and inappropriate. Since these conditions will always be in the world someplace, you believe you can’t have joy and still be a good person. But it may not have occurred to you that in a universe based on energy and attraction, thoughts that evoke feeling bad originate in the same energy Source that attracts more of the same into your life. These are resistant thoughts.
Here are some examples of sentences on the path of resistance, which are then changed to sentences on the path of least resistance.
I feel uneasy about the state of the economy; I’ve already lost so much money.
I live in an abundant universe; I choose to think about what I have and I will be fine. The universe will provide.
I have so many things to do that I can never get caught up.
I’m at peace in this moment. I’ll only think about the one thing I’m doing. I will have peaceful thoughts.
I can never get ahead in this job.
I choose to appreciate what I’m doing right now, and I’ll attract an even greater opportunity.
My health is a huge concern. I worry about getting old and becoming dependent and sick.
I’m healthy, and I think healthy. I live in a universe that attracts healing, and I refuse to anticipate sickness.
My family members are causing me to feel anxious and fearful.
I choose thoughts that make me feel good, and this will help me uplift those family members in need.
I don’t deserve to feel good when so many people are suffering.
I didn’t come into a world where everyone is going to have the same identical experiences. I’ll feel good, and by being uplifted, I’ll help eradicate some of the suffering.
I can’t be happy when the person I really care about loves another and has abandoned me.
Feeling bad won’t change this scenario. I trust that love will return to my life if I’m in harmony with the loving Source. I choose to feel good right now and focus on what I have, rather than what’s missing.
All stressful thoughts represent a form of resistance you wish to eradicate. Change those thoughts by monitoring your feelings and opting for joy rather than anxiety, and you’ll access the power of intention.
Making Your Intention Your Reality
Below is my ten-step program for creating a stress-free, tranquil life:
Step 1: Remember that your natural state is joy. You are a product of joy and love; it’s natural for you to experience these feelings. You’ve come to believe that feeling bad, anxious, or even depressed is natural, particularly when people and events around you are in low-energy modes. Remind yourself as frequently as necessary: I come from peace and joy. I must stay in harmony with that from which I came in order to fulfill my dreams and desires. I choose to stay in my natural state. Anytime I’m anxious, stressed out, depressed, or fearful, I’ve abandoned my natural state.
Step 2: Your thoughts, not the world, cause your stress. Your thoughts activate stressful reactions in your body. Stressful thoughts create resistance to the joy, happiness, and abundance that you desire to create in your life. These thoughts include: I can’t, I’m too overworked, I worry, I’m afraid, I’m unworthy, It will never happen, I’m not smart enough, I‘m too old (young), and so on. These thoughts are like a program to resist being tranquil and stress free, and they keep you from manifesting your desires.
Step 3: You can change your thoughts of stress in any given moment, and eliminate the anxiety for the next few moments, or even hours and days. By making a conscious decision to distract yourself from worry, you’ve inaugurated the process of stress reduction, while simultaneously reconnecting to the field of all-creating intention. It’s from this place of peace and tranquility that you become a co-creator with God. You can’t be connected to your Source and be stressed at the same time—this is mutually exclusive. Your Source doesn’t create from a position of anxiety, nor does it need to swallow antidepressants. You’ve left behind your capacity to manifest your desires when you don’t choose in the moment to eliminate a stressful thought.
Step 4: Monitor your stressful thoughts by checking on your emotional state right in the moment. Ask yourself the key question: Do I feel good right now? If the answer is no, then repeat those five magic w
ords: I want to feel good, then shift to: I intend to feel good.Monitor your emotions, and detect how much stress- and anxiety-producing thinking you’re engaging in. This monitoring process keeps you apprised of whether you’re on the path of least resistance or going in the other direction.
Step 5: Make a conscious choice to select a thought that will activate good feelings. I urge you to choose your thought based exclusively on how it makes you feel, rather than on how popular it is or how well advertised. Ask yourself: Does this new thought make me feel good? No? Well, how about this thought? Not really? Here’s another. Ultimately you’ll come up with one that you agree makes you feel good, if only temporarily. Your choice might be the thought of a beautiful sunset, the expression on the face of someone you love, or a thrilling experience. It’s only important that it resonate within you emotionally and physically as a good feeling.
In the moment of experiencing an anxious or stressful thought, change to the thought you chose, which makes you feel good. Plug it in. Think it and feel it in your body if you can. This new thought that makes you feel good will be of appreciation rather than depreciation. It will be of love, beauty, receptivity to happiness, or in other words, it will align perfectly with those seven faces of intention I’ve been harping about since the opening pages of this book.