Mindfulness of Intention

In this practice explores appreciation of good intentions in our lives. This is a concept practice - topical with meditation pauses.

Transcript

Good intentions,

Mindfulness of intention.

Take a moment to get comfortable in a posture and let it be a container for your practice.

Bring your focus of attention to the breath at the nostrils.

Let the felt sense of the breath moving in and out of your body teach the mind to be present.

Transform your intention to practice exploring your good intentions.

Then connect with your motivation.

Why would you want to do this?

What is the benefit to you and to others?

Connecting to the details of the breath again,

Noticing as best you can the subtle touch of the breath at the nostrils and following the breath down into the body to the back of the throat,

Chest,

To belly,

And back out again.

As you settle the mind with the breath,

You can expand around this awareness to the body as a whole.

Towards the end of settling,

Focus a little more on the out breath,

Noticing how the body relaxes as you breathe out and seeing if the mind can learn from the body.

Body releases breath and relaxes.

Mind releases involvement with thinking and begins to settle.

Bring your attention more fully into your body with your attention moving to the soles of the feet and noticing contact with the ground.

Feeling the weight of your body as you are being supported,

Noticing your posture like a container holding your practice.

Mind resting in body,

Body resting on ground beneath you.

You may want to check in with obvious sensations that you notice now,

No need to control or create anything,

Just lightly noticing what is already here.

You may want to invite in a quality of curiosity and gentleness to your experience.

See if you can get a felt sense of the whole body breathing with your awareness from breath to breath and moment to moment.

Be connecting with your intention to explore and notice good intentions that are already here from a mindful posture.

Anytime you find yourself swept up in thoughts or feelings,

Return to grounding by checking in with your breath and bodily sensations whenever you need to.

Breathing in,

I am aware I am breathing in.

Breathing out,

I am aware I am breathing out.

Follow the breath and notice changing patterns of sensations.

Intentions are our call to action in any moment.

It's the deliberate aim of our energy we invest in the moment to moment experience.

Mostly we may not be choosing our actions deliberately and we can cultivate the capacity to do so in our practice and this method develops the capacity to do so in any moment we choose to hone our intention.

We often consider intention as a way of getting what we want or need in that moment and this is usually connected to seeking satisfaction,

Connection,

Or safety.

Satisfaction is the resource drive regulation system that seeks and wants resources and rewards focused on consuming.

Satisfaction is our not wanting system for affiliation to self and others focused on soothing.

Safety is our threat drive regulation system that seeks self preservation and protection.

You can understand satisfaction,

Connection,

And safety as simply wanting,

Connecting,

Or protecting.

Our intentions are calling us to action seeking satisfaction,

Connection,

Or safety and we can become mindful of our intentions that move us in the direction of mindfulness or a way into aversion.

In life we sometimes get our needs met,

Other times we do not.

We get what we want or we get what we don't want and our reaction is linked to our preferences and quality of attitude we hold towards our self or the experience.

The majority of time our intentions are aligned with our needs but underpinned by our preferences and lack of acceptance.

In this practice we are drawing attention to all the generosity of giving good intention to ourselves and others as a way to bring balance and harmony to our regulation systems and engage our capacity for self reflection and awareness.

Often that which is most repetitive,

Similar,

Or known and predominant in our attention is often ignored or dismissed.

Often that which is most repetitive,

Similar,

Known,

And predominant in our attention is often ignored or dismissed and only the exception or differences are noted.

For example,

We may hold good intentions for ourselves and others most of the time but when we don't we tend to give more focus and energy to that.

This is due to the brain's negativity bias which gives priority of focus to that which is potentially problematic or negatively perceived consequences or implications are connected.

In this practice we are drawing attention to being aware of the rising and passing away of intentions and what happens when you do.

It's noticing and appreciating when you've had a good heart for something or when you are leaning in a wholesome direction towards goodness for yourself or others.

When we are connected with our goodwill toward ourselves we open up to the sky of intention instead of focusing on the passing clouds.

You can draw attention to notice your inclinations for satisfaction,

Connection,

And safety and hone in on your intention for each.

For example,

Wanting to quench your thirst and doing so provides satisfaction intention or like getting warm when you feel cold.

To provide comfort and care for yourself or others is connecting and soothing intention like taking time to practice,

Self-care,

Or caring for others.

To seek safety through threat detection is avoidant intention like avoiding situations or people you find difficult.

When we bring attention to our inclinations of our intention we can more readily choose a mindful response.

If you were to bring to mind how you are in this moment,

Reacquainting yourself with your breath and intention to be fully present here in this space where you are as you are,

You can open yourself up to explore intentions and inclinations.

You can review the day you are having so far,

Noticing the intentions you are aware of as you got up this morning,

Showered,

Ate,

Brushed your teeth,

Satisfaction seeking,

Or connecting to others or self with caring intentions and inclinations such as hugging another person or being kind.

Noticing as well threat detection,

The scanning and monitoring for potential problems,

Perhaps by worry or fear based inclinations.

You can expand this awareness from your moment,

Today,

Week,

Month,

Year,

Ensuring to be present and fully embodied as you anchor yourself to your breath and body as you notice and allow whatever arises in your awareness.

If difficult emotions arise as best you can see if it's possible to allow them to be here noticing this as a good intention towards soothing yourself.

By paying our attention to all these intentions to notice and allow them to spring to our awareness we can carry this practice into our daily lives in an informal way of noticing and acknowledging good intentions helping to bring balance and equanimity to our experience.

Now resting without any focus.

Taking a deliberately deeper breath releases the practice and dedicating all of the mindful

Reviews

Great practice thankyou ''namasté'🕉☯

Does what it intends to do...helps you explore the nature of your intentions. Love your voice. Thanks Brenda.

Amazing! Love how the insight-filled statements are well thought out and precise.