The Power of Intention Page 21
Step 6: Spend some time observing babies, and vow to emulate their joy. You didn’t come forth into this world to suffer, to be anxious, fearful, stressful, or depressed. You came from the God-consciousness of joy. Just watch little babies. They’ve done nothing to be so happy about. They don’t work; they poop in their pants; and they have no goals other than to expand, grow, and explore this amazing world. They love everyone, they’re completely entertained by a plastic bottle or goofy faces, and they’re in a constant state of love—yet they have no teeth, no hair, and they’re pudgy and flatulent. How could they possibly be so joyful and easily pleased? Because they’re still in harmony with the Source that intended them here; they have no resistance to being joyful. Be like that baby you once were in terms of being joyful. You don’t need a reason to be happy . . . your desire to be so is sufficient.
Step 7: Keep “Rule Number 6” in mind. This means to suspend the demands of your ego, which keep you separated from intention. When you have a choice to be right or to be kind, pick kind, and push the ego’s demand out of the way. Kindness is what you emanated from, and by practicing it, rather than being right, you eliminate the possibility of stress in your moment of kindness. When you find yourself being impatient with anyone, simply say to yourself: “Rule Number 6,” and you’ll immediately laugh at the piddly little ego that wants you to be first, faster, number one, and to be treated better than the other guy.
Step 8: Accept the guidance of your Source of intention.You will only come to know the Father by being as He is. You’ll only be able to access the guidance of this field of intention by being as it is. Stress, anxiety, and depression will be lifted from you with the assistance of that same force that created you. If it can create worlds out of nothing, and you out of nothing, surely the removal of some stress isn’t such a big task. I believe that God’s desire for you is that you not only know joy, but that you become it.
Step 9: Practice being in silence and meditation. Nothing relieves stress, depression, anxiety, and all forms of low-energy emotions like silence and meditation. Here, you make conscious contact with your Source and cleanse your connecting link to intention. Take time every day for moments of quiet contemplation, and make meditation a part of your stress-reducing ritual.
Step 10: Stay in a state of gratitude and awe. Go on a rampage of appreciation for all that you have, all that you are, and all that you observe. Gratitude is the tenth step in every ten-step program for manifesting your intentions, because it’s the surest way to stop the incessant inner dialogue that leads you away from the joy and perfection of the Source. You can’t feel stressed and appreciative at the same time.
I conclude this chapter on your intention to lead a tranquil life with a poem by the famous Bengali poet of Calcutta, Rabindranath Tagore, one of my favorite spiritual teachers:
I slept and dreamt that life was joy
I awoke and saw that life was service
I acted and behold service was joy
It can all be joy in your inner world. Sleep and dream of joy, and remember above all else: You feel good not because the world is right, but your world is right because you feel good.
IT IS MY INTENTION TO:
ATTRACT IDEAL PEOPLE
AND DIVINE
RELATIONSHIPS
“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred . . . unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If you saw the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, you probably came away remembering the concept that if you pursue a dream, you will succeed (or, “If you build it, they will come”). I thought of this as I began writing this chapter because I’m suggesting that if you commit yourself to matching up with the field of intention, everyone you desire or need to fulfill your personal intention will appear. How can that be? In the quote above, Goethe, one of the most brilliantly gifted scholars and achievers in the history of humanity, gives you the answer. The moment you definitely commit yourself to being a part of the power of intention, “then Providence moves too,” and unforseen assistance comes your way.
The right people will arrive to assist you in every aspect of your life: The people who will support you in your career are there; the people who will help you create your perfect home show up; the people who will arrange the finances for whatever you desire are available; the driver you need to get you to the airport is waiting for you; the designer you’ve admired wants to work with you; the dentist you need in an emergency when you’re on vacation just happens to be there; and your spiritual soul mate finds you.
The list is endless, because we’re all in relationship to each other, we all emanate from the same Source, and we all share the same divine energy of intention. There’s no place that this universal mind is not; therefore, you share it with everyone you attract into your life.
You’ll have to let go of any resistance to your ability to attract the right people, or you won’t recognize them when they show up in your everyday life. Resistance may be difficult to recognize at first, because it’s such a familiar form of your thoughts, your emotions, and your energy levels. If you believe that you’re powerless to attract the right people, then you’ve attracted powerlessness to your experience. If you’re attached to the idea of being stuck with the wrong people or no people at all, then your energy isn’t aligned with the power of intention, and resistance reigns. The field of intention has no choice but to send you more of what you’re desiring. Once again, make a somersault into the inconceivable, where you have faith and trust in the universal mind of intention, and allow the right people to arrive in your life space right on schedule.
Removing Resistance by Allowing
Your intention is absolutely clear here. You want to attract the people who are intended to be part of your life, and you want to have a happy, fulfilling, spiritual relationship. The universal all-creating field is already cooperating with your intention. These very people are obviously already here, otherwise you’d want something that hasn’t been created. Not only are the right people here, but you also share the same divine Source of all life with them, since everyone emanates from that Source. In some invisible way, you’re already connected spiritually to those perfect-for-you people. So why can’t you see them, touch them, or hold them, and why aren’t they there when you need them?
What you need in the way of the right people showing up will appear for you only when you’re ready and willing to receive them. They’ve always been there. They’re there right now. They’ll always be there. The questions you need to ask yourself are: Am I ready? Am I willing? and How much am I willing to have it? If your responses to these questions are a readiness and willingness to experience your desires, then you’ll begin seeing people not only as a body with a soul, but as a spiritual being clothed in a unique body. You’ll see the infinite souls that we all are: infinite, meaning always and everywhere; and everywhere, meaning with you right now if that’s your spiritual desire.
Giving forth what you want to attract. Once you’ve formed a picture in your mind of the person or people that you intend to show up in your immediate life space, and you know how you want them to treat you and what they’ll be like, you must be what it is that you’re seeking. This is a universe of attraction and energy. You can’t have a desire to attract a mate who’s confident, generous, nonjudgmental, and gentle, and expect that desire to be manifested if you’re thinking and acting in nonconfident, selfish, judgmental, or arrogant ways—which is why most people don’t attract the right people at the right time.
Almost 30 years ago, I wanted to attract a publisher into my life for my book, Your Erroneous Zones. This publisher would have to be understanding, since I was an unknown writer at the time, and would have to be a risk taker, willing to let go of any doubts about me.
My literary agent arr
anged a meeting with an executive editor, whom I’ll refer to as George, at a large New York publishing house. As I sat down to talk with him, it was obvious to me that he was personally distraught. I asked him what was troubling him, and we proceeded to spend the next three to four hours talking about a devastating personal matter that had just transpired the night before. George’s wife had told him that she was going to seek a divorce, and he felt as though he’d been blindsided by this news. I let go of my own desires to talk about getting my book published and became what it was that I was seeking: an understanding, confident, risk-taking person. By being that very thing and detaching from my ego-dominated desires, I was able to help George out that afternoon, which I’ve never forgotten.
I left George’s office that day without even discussing my book proposal. When I told my literary agent this story, he was convinced that I’d blown my one opportunity with a major publishing house by not making a strong pitch for my book. The following day, George called my agent, telling him, ”I really don’t even know what Dyer’s book proposal entails, but I want that man as one of our authors.”
At the time, I didn’t realize what was happening. Now, with a quarter century of living in this world of spiritual inquiry, I see it quite clearly. The right people will show up precisely when you need them and when you’re able to match up. You must be that which you desire. When you are what you desire, you attract it by radiating it outward. You have this ability to match up with the power of intention and fulfill your intention to attract ideal people and divine relationships.
Attracting Spiritual Partnerships
There’s no point whatsoever in an unloving man or woman bemoaning their inability to find a partner. They’re doomed to endless frustration because they don’t recognize the perfect match when it appears. That loving person could be right there, right now, and their resistance doesn’t allow them to see it. The unloving person continues to blame bad luck or a series of external factors for their not having a loving relationship.
Love can only be attracted by and returned by love. The best advice I can give for attracting and maintaining spiritual partnerships, as I’ve been emphasizing in this chapter, is to be what it is that you’re seeking. Most relationships that fail to sustain themselves are based on one or both of the partners feeling as if their freedom has been compromised in some way. Spiritual partnerships, on the other hand, are never about making another person feel inferior or ignored in any way. The term spiritual partnership simply means that the energy that holds the two of you together is in close harmony with the Source energy of intention.
This means that an allowing philosophy flows through the partnership, and you need never fear that your freedom to fulfill your own inner knowing about your purpose is questioned. It’s as if each person has whispered silently to the other, You are Source energy in a physical body, and the better you feel, the more of this loving, kind, beautiful, receptive, abundant, expanding, and creative energy is flowing through you. I respect this Source energy, and I share it with you as well. When either of us feels downhearted, there’s less of this energy of intention flowing. We must always remember that nothing is disallowed by the universal mind. Whatever is not allowing us to be happy is being disallowed by us. I’m committed to staying in this energy field of intention and watching myself whenever I slip. It’s that very Source that brought us together, and I’ll work to stay in harmony with it. This kind of inner commitment is what Goethe was speaking about in that opening quotation. It allows providence to move and helps things to occur, “which no man could have dreamed would come his way.”
You’re already connected to those you want in your life—so act like it. Mystically speaking, there’s no difference between you and another person. A weird concept, perhaps, but nevertheless valid. This explains why you can’t hurt another person without hurting yourself, nor can you help another person without helping yourself. You share the same Source energy with everyone, and consequently, you must begin to think and act in a way that reflects your awareness of this principle. When you feel the need to have the right person show up, begin to change your inner dialogue to reflect this awareness. Rather than saying, I wish this person would show up because I need to get out of this rut, activate a thought that reflects your connection, such as: I know the right person will be arriving in divine order at precisely the perfect time.
Now you’ll act on this inner thought. You’ll be thinking from the end, and anticipating this arrival. Your anticipation will make you alert. You’ve revised your energy level to the same receptivity as the power of intention that intends everything and everyone here. When you reach these higher energy levels, you access higher information. Your intuition clicks in, and you can feel the presence of the person or people you want in your life. Now you act on that intuition with a deep sense of knowing that you’re on track. You’re acting in accordance with this new awareness. You become a co-creator. New insight becomes activated within you as well. You’re looking at the face of the Creator, and you see yourself co-creating. You know whom to call, where to look, when to trust, and what to do. You’re being guided to connect to that which you’re bringing forth.
If a friendship or partnership requires the submission of your higher original nature and dignity, it’s simply wrong. When you truly know what it is to love, as you’re loved by your Source, you won’t experience the kind of pain you did in the past when your love was unnoticed or rejected. It will, instead, be similar to how a friend described her experience of choosing to leave a relationship: “My heart was broken, but it felt like it was stuck in the open position. I felt love flowing toward this person who couldn’t love me the way I wanted to be loved, even as I left that relationship to seek the love I felt inside of me. It was strange to feel the pain of my broken heart, and at the same time feel its openness. I kept thinking, My heart’s broken, but it’s broken open. I shifted to an entirely new level of loving and being loved. The relationship I’d dreamed of having manifested 18 months later!”
You are love. You emanated from pure love. You’re connected to this Source of love at all times. Think this way, feel this way, and you’ll soon act this way. And all that you think, feel, and do will be reciprocated in exactly the same fashion. Believe it or not, this principle of the right person showing up has been in place forever. It’s only your ego that’s kept you from seeing it clearly.
It’s all unfolding in divine order. By now you should be affirming that everyone you need for this journey of yours will show up, and that they’ll be perfect in every way for whatever needs you have at this time. Furthermore, they’ll arrive at precisely the right moment. In this intelligent system that you’re a part of, everything arrives from the field of intention where the infinite, invisible life force flows through everyone and everything. This includes you, and everyone else as well. Trust in this invisible life force and the all-creating mind that intends everything into existence.
I suggest that you do a quick review, and note all of the people who’ve shown up as characters in this play called your life. It has all been perfect. Your ex-spouse showed up at just the right time—when you needed to create those children you love so much. The father who walked out on you so that you could learn self-reliance left right on time. The lover who abandoned you was a part of this perfection. The lover who stayed with you was also taking his or her cues from Source. The good times, the struggles, the tears, the abuse—all of it involved people coming into your life and then leaving. And all of your tears will not and cannot wash out one word of it.
This is your past, and whatever your energy level at the time, whatever your needs, whatever your station in life, you attracted the right people and events to you. You may feel that they didn’t show up when you needed them, that in fact, you were alone and no one showed up at all, but I urge you to see it from the perspective of all of life being in divine order. If no one showed up, it was because you needed to handle something on your own and therefore a
ttracted no one to fulfill your energy level at that time. Viewing the past as a play in which all characters and all entrances and exits were scripted by your Source and was what you attracted at the time, frees you from the very low energies of guilt, regret, and even revenge.
As a result, you’ll go from being an actor who’s influenced by others playing the roles of producer and director, to being the writer, producer, director, and star of your glorious life. You’ll also be the casting director who possesses the ability to audition anyone you choose. Base your choices on taking the path of no resistance and staying harmonized with the ultimate producer of this entire drama: the universal all-creating mind of intention.
A few words about patience. There’s a wonderfully paradoxical line in A Course in Miracles: “Infinite patience produces immediate results.” To be infinitely patient means to have an absolute knowing within you that you’re in vibrational harmony with the all-creating force that intended you here. You are, in fact, a co-creator of your life. You know that the right people will show up on divinely ordained schedule. Attempting to rush the schedule based on your own timetable is akin to getting down on your knees and tugging at an emerging tulip shoot, insisting that you need the flower now. Creation reveals its secrets by and by, not according to your agenda. The immediate result that you’ll receive from your infinite patience is a deep sense of peace. You’ll feel the love of the creation process, you’ll stop making incessant demands, and you’ll start being on the lookout for exactly the right person.