Before you set one more goal for the rest of this whole year,
I want you to listen closely because I'm going to teach you something that will completely change the trajectory of how you have the possibility to move towards your dreams and how you move in your life.
Because most people make one big mistake when they set goals.
They decide what they want to accomplish,
But they never decide who they want to be.
While they are accomplishing it.
I want to say that again.
People decide what they want to accomplish,
But they don't decide who they want to be on the journey of accomplishing it.
And that is where intention comes in.
A goal tells you where you want to go.
An intention tells you who you need to be.
You're on your way there and as you get there now I'm about as woo-woo and as spiritual as they come and as you can get but I'm also a total neuroscience and psychoeducation geek I think many of you know this if you've been following me for a while and there is nothing that I love more than really just understanding what's happening inside of these mind-body systems that we have and Learning a little bit of the science that helps explain what it seems.
Honestly,
The mystics have known for a very,
Very long time.
So I want to get a little science-y with you for a second,
And I promise I'll keep it really practical.
And we're going to talk here about the power of intention.
Now,
There is an important system in your brain called the reticular activating system.
Moving forward,
We're going to also call this the RAS.
It's also known as the RAS,
All right?
And one of the jobs of the RAS is to help your brain notice what matters.
Notice what matters in your life.
So I want you to imagine that you're like rushing out of your house and then suddenly you realize you can't find your keys.
And while the keys may be sitting on the counter and they've been sitting there the whole time,
The moment you decide,
I need to find my keys,
Your brain begins scanning around for them and everything other than the keys starts fading into the background so the keys become easier to notice.
Similarly,
How many of you have like reached into your bag to try to find like your lip gloss or your mascara and you don't even have to look.
Just close your eyes,
Reach your hand into your bag,
And you could feel whether it's the lip gloss,
Whether it's the chapstick,
Whether it's the mascara,
And you know exactly which one it is because your hand is tuned to know exactly the shape and feel of exactly what you're looking for.
This is your R-A-S at work,
Okay?
And this is what I want you to pay attention to.
Your brain is constantly filtering things.
Every day,
More and more information comes at us than our conscious minds could possibly process at once.
Images,
Sounds,
Conversations,
Emotions,
Thoughts,
Opportunities.
Problems,
Notifications,
Lord,
All the notifications that we get.
And so your brain has to make choices about what gets your attention and what doesn't,
What fades into the background,
Just like when you're looking for your keys or your chapstick.
Now,
This is where intention setting comes in.
And I want you to listen closely to me here.
Intention setting is the act.
Telling your mind.
Your body and your nervous system and your energy.
This is what I want you to focus on.
This is what matters to me.
This is what I want you to notice.
This is who I want to be.
Because when you do not set an intention,
And you do not consciously choose a direction,
What happens is old patterns will often choose one for you.
And so we say we want the dream for our lives,
But we scan for every reason it might not work.
Or we say we want an opportunity,
But scan for the fear of rejection.
Or we say that we want clarity,
But we give all of our energy to fear.
And so I know this because I've been there too.
I've done it too.
We all have places where our old programming just tries to like drive our lives and drive the car.
And so I'm not speaking to you from like a pedestal here.
I'm speaking to you from deep experience,
But knowing the science will help you change this.
Intention gives you a way to take the wheel back.
To start driving and moving your life in the direction that you want to go.
And this is especially important for people who've grown up with any kind of trauma because we end up repeating the same patterns that we grew up with.
We end up reacting in the same ways,
Telling ourselves the same stories,
And sometimes we even end up in the same cycles or same patterns even when we say that we genuinely want something different.
But intention Intention gives you a way to take that wheel back.
So my friend Eva,
She once gave me this analogy that I love and I talked about in my book in detail that explains this whole thing of intention perfectly.
So I want you to imagine that your brain is a highly trained search and rescue dog.
And this dog can follow a scent for miles throughout the wilderness,
Throughout the forest when they need to find someone who's lost.
But before they send the dog and released it out into the forest and into the wild,
What's the most important thing it has to receive?
You It has to receive the original scent.
Without the original scent that it's looking for,
The dog would chase every squirrel,
Stop at every tree,
Bark at every bird,
Follow every smell,
And it might be working very hard,
And it might be busy,
And it might get exhausted.
But it's busy and exhausted and working hard,
Not moving toward the thing that really matters.
And this is what so many of us do in our lives.
You can be busy as hell.
You can be busy all day and still not walk toward what is really important to you.
You can say yes to every opportunity in front of you because when you don't have an intention,
Every opportunity looks like a good opportunity.
You can keep chasing what's urgent.
And not setting an intention is like setting your brain out into the forest of your life without giving it a guiding scent to follow.
Your intention is that scent.
It gives your attention.
Direction.
I'm going to say that again.
Your intention gives your attention direction.
Your intention gives your attention direction.
And your intention will help you notice all the choices,
All the resources,
All the conversations,
And all the different moments that align with the person that you want to be.
And I want to be clear,
An intention is not like a demand that you perform and act perfectly in every moment.
So for example,
If your intention is patience,
That doesn't mean that you're going to be patient in every second.
It means that when you notice yourself rushing or reacting or not being patient,
You have something to come back to.
To center yourself with.
If your intention is self-trust,
It doesn't mean you have every answer.
It means you stop requiring complete certainty before you take the next step in your life.
Intention.
Listen to me here.
Is not about becoming perfect.
It's not about setting a demand on the universe.
It's about becoming conscious.
It's about giving yourself direction.
It's about focusing on what's possible instead of only what is wrong.
Intention is about deciding what gets to lead you.
What gets to lead you.
And so I want to guide you now through a simple three-part practice to help you set an intention and learn exactly how to do it.
And we're gonna do it together right now.
So go ahead and just get comfortable in your body however you'd like.
Place one hand over the center of your chest and the other hand on top of that.
And relax your shoulders a little bit.
Unclench your jaw if you can.
And close your eyes if you're comfortable doing so.
And then take a deep breath in with me.
And a deep breath out.
And to the count of four,
Inhale with me for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Great.
Let's do that again.
Inhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Last time.
Inhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale one,
1.
.
.
2.
.
.
3.
.
.
And now just breathe normally and stay in this internal space.
Just breathe.
And our first step is to check in with what's real right now for you.
So before you set or even try to set any intention.
Just ask yourself.
How am I actually feeling right now?
How am I actually feeling right now?
Or just taking the lay of the land.
What is.
.
.
One thing.
In my life.
That I know I want or need to do.
But have been hesitant or afraid to do.
What is one thing in my life.
That I know I need or want to do.
But have been hesitant or afraid to do.
See what bubbles up.
Now ask yourself.
What am I?
Really carrying.
Energetically and emotionally today.
How am I right now?
How am I?
And without judging it or fixing any of it,
We're just starting by noticing and taking the lay of the land of what's here.
That's the first step.
Now we move to the second step.
Of our intention setting.
Which is to choose one clear energy that you wanna bring into this day,
Into this moment.
So simply ask yourself.
Who do I want to be?
As I move through everything that's in front of me.
What is the energy I want to bring?
To this day.
What energy would help me?
The next steps.
Of what I know I really want.
To do in my life.
So see what words bubble up for you.
Don't overthink it at all.
But just let one word or a clear phrase rise up to the surface.
It could be anything.
That is your intention.
And now we move to the third step.
To connect our intention to a real moment that's coming in front of you in your life.
So where might you actually need this intention today?
Maybe there's a conversation you need to have or a decision or work you've been avoiding or something you want to do that you know you need to do.
A person you need to be more present with.
Come up with some real moments or even just one real moment right now.
Where you will use this intention and practice it today.
See that moment in your mind.
And imagine yourself practicing.
Your intention.
Practicing.
And now ask yourself,
What is one small action I can take?
As I step into my day and move this forward.
What is one small action I can take to move this intention forward?
Go ahead and take a deep,
Full breath in.
And a deep breath out.
And when you're ready.
Open your eyes.
And I want you to fill in the blank of this sentence with your intention that you chose.
Today,
I will practice being.
And you fill in that blank.
Today,
I will practice being blank.
And now repeat your intention to yourself as one clear sentence using this sentence three times.
I'll give you a moment to do that now.
Take one more deep breath in.
And a breath out.
And just ask yourself.
What is the one thing that you want to make sure you're taking away from this lesson today?
From everything that we learned,
What is the one golden nugget or key takeaway that you're taking from this session today?
And go ahead and take one more deep breath in.
And a deep breath out.
And when you're ready.
Open your eyes.
Your intention is your guiding scent.
Your intention gives your attention a direction and it tells your brain what matters most.
And most importantly,
It helps you practice being the person you want to become.
And I know.
In my heart of hearts that you can become anyone you want to be if you do the deep work inside.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
I hope this helped you.
I love our community so much.
This is Justin Michael Williams signing out and I'll see you in the next practices.
Bye for now.
