Living With Intention, Setting Goals and Taking Action
By Lisa Templeton, Ph.D.
Are you living with intention in your life? You may set goals, but what is your intention behind them? What exactly is the difference? Intentions are broader and encapsulate our deepest wants. They are more deep-seeded in our energy, emotions, and even in our body. Our goals tend to be more specific and are intellectual and thought-focused. They are what we think we need to reach our intentions.
We must utilize both our goals and our intentions to aid us in manifesting what we want. Here is an example from my own life. I always knew I wanted to open a clinic someday. My intent was to bring therapists together and offer compassionate care for my community with a focus on interpersonal relating with mindfulness. The feeling I have when I think of my clinic is pure happiness and excitement to provide a place that is safe and happy for all who come to The IHC.
My goal was to open the clinic, yet my intent was to create more love and mental health support in my community. I never focused much on my goal, more on my intent and the excitement I had for it. When I focused there, I felt happiness and excitement, even though I had not yet reached my goal. The feelings from my intent allowed for me to have the courage to start my clinic in the first place.
Here are a few more examples of a goal and the intent that might be behind it:
Goal Intent
Lose Weight To feel lighter and healthier
Get a new job To feel part of a team at work
Get a new outdoor pool To have friends connecting with each other
Clean out garage To feel more organized and find things easily
Any time I have focused on my intent, my goal is much more easily manifested. This is related to the law of attraction in that like energy attracts like energy. That’s how the universe functions. We don’t attract energies that we don’t have inside of ourselves. We can’t focus all the time on weight loss, we must focus instead on the feeling we feel when we feel lighter.
Take a moment to consider your goals for the next 6 months. What do you truly want to change in your life by accomplishing this goal? Focus on your intent and imagine that is happening in this very moment. If you feel the change happening within you, you have already succeeded in reaching your goal.
When you stay focused on your intention, you must be open to staying flexible with your goals. They may manifest in a way that you didn’t expect. I had a goal to have a biological child of my own. My intent was to have a family, feel connected to others and be a mother. My goal didn’t manifest with a biological child, but my intent did as I have a beautiful family with my parents living close by, wonderful friends, Godchildren, great in-laws and supportive sisters (even though I am an only child). My current family is way more amazing than I could have imagined. I am a mother to many, as well as to myself.
My point is that when we live a life more full of intentions, we are in a better place. As I cultivate the energy of my intention that I want to feel in my body naturally in every moment, I grow! Edgar Cayce said, “We don’t go to heaven, we grow to heaven.” How are you growing your intentions for your life so you can feel more beauty and peace now?
One of the most essential ingredients for meeting our intent/goal is taking action. We need to take steps to reach our goals. The clinic didn’t just land in my lap. I worked at it over time and continued to create the energy behind my intent. With the accumulation of many small steps, I walked several miles. In fact, I still work to build this energy and set intent for a beautiful space that is full of safety, compassion, and love for everyone here at The IHC. Anything that you want in this life is yours for the taking. Give yourself permission to identify it, feel it, love it, see it, do it, and be it.
By Lisa Templeton, Ph.D.
Are you living with intention in your life? You may set goals, but what is your intention behind them? What exactly is the difference? Intentions are broader and encapsulate our deepest wants. They are more deep-seeded in our energy, emotions, and even in our body. Our goals tend to be more specific and are intellectual and thought-focused. They are what we think we need to reach our intentions.
We must utilize both our goals and our intentions to aid us in manifesting what we want. Here is an example from my own life. I always knew I wanted to open a clinic someday. My intent was to bring therapists together and offer compassionate care for my community with a focus on interpersonal relating with mindfulness. The feeling I have when I think of my clinic is pure happiness and excitement to provide a place that is safe and happy for all who come to The IHC.
My goal was to open the clinic, yet my intent was to create more love and mental health support in my community. I never focused much on my goal, more on my intent and the excitement I had for it. When I focused there, I felt happiness and excitement, even though I had not yet reached my goal. The feelings from my intent allowed for me to have the courage to start my clinic in the first place.
Here are a few more examples of a goal and the intent that might be behind it:
Goal Intent
Lose Weight To feel lighter and healthier
Get a new job To feel part of a team at work
Get a new outdoor pool To have friends connecting with each other
Clean out garage To feel more organized and find things easily
Any time I have focused on my intent, my goal is much more easily manifested. This is related to the law of attraction in that like energy attracts like energy. That’s how the universe functions. We don’t attract energies that we don’t have inside of ourselves. We can’t focus all the time on weight loss, we must focus instead on the feeling we feel when we feel lighter.
Take a moment to consider your goals for the next 6 months. What do you truly want to change in your life by accomplishing this goal? Focus on your intent and imagine that is happening in this very moment. If you feel the change happening within you, you have already succeeded in reaching your goal.
When you stay focused on your intention, you must be open to staying flexible with your goals. They may manifest in a way that you didn’t expect. I had a goal to have a biological child of my own. My intent was to have a family, feel connected to others and be a mother. My goal didn’t manifest with a biological child, but my intent did as I have a beautiful family with my parents living close by, wonderful friends, Godchildren, great in-laws and supportive sisters (even though I am an only child). My current family is way more amazing than I could have imagined. I am a mother to many, as well as to myself.
My point is that when we live a life more full of intentions, we are in a better place. As I cultivate the energy of my intention that I want to feel in my body naturally in every moment, I grow! Edgar Cayce said, “We don’t go to heaven, we grow to heaven.” How are you growing your intentions for your life so you can feel more beauty and peace now?
One of the most essential ingredients for meeting our intent/goal is taking action. We need to take steps to reach our goals. The clinic didn’t just land in my lap. I worked at it over time and continued to create the energy behind my intent. With the accumulation of many small steps, I walked several miles. In fact, I still work to build this energy and set intent for a beautiful space that is full of safety, compassion, and love for everyone here at The IHC. Anything that you want in this life is yours for the taking. Give yourself permission to identify it, feel it, love it, see it, do it, and be it.