The Power of Intent with Follow Through

Intent without follow through is just a wish. Lack of follow through is what trips most people up, not lack of intent. Follow through is the hardest thing for people to do & sustain but exactly what matters after setting your intent. Then you have to follow through every day. I highly recommend for all of you Oprah Winfrey's new life classes on OWN network. You can sign up to be a part of the process on oprah.com, as I have. Even if you think you're where you want to be & on the right path, you can learn from this. I chose this topic Wednesday & started my notes for it after writing Wednesday's blog. As things would have it, the life class that night was on just this subject. She showed an old interview with Jim Carrey where he talked about setting his intent to be an accomplished actor in 1987, when he was flat broke. One of the things he did was write himself a $10,000 check & dated it for Thanksgiving of 1997. Just before Thanksgiving 1997 he found out he was going to make $10,000 for his role in "Dumb & Dumber." He said just setting your intent is not enough - you also have to take regular action toward making that goal a reality. He said you can't just set your intent & then go eat a sandwich. I loved that. As I'm sure you know, Oprah has a way with words, & in the final year of her show especially, got to where she hit the nail on the head every time. She presents the ideas in her own words & therefore in a way we haven't heard before. Each time you hear something it sinks in deeper, negative or positive. So every chance you get to listen to the positive helps undo the negatives we receive. Also, you can hear the same thing over & over & not get it - either until the time is right for you to receive that message &/or until it's said in the way that really speaks to you. So I recommend reading this blog daily & catching Oprah Winfrey's life classes. I believe they're just during the week, & they're on every night but you can also view them at her website as above.

I set my intent about 2 months ago now, in writing, in 3 forms, & I read them aloud every morning at the start of my day. The first are my "I Am" statements, that speak to me about believing in myself & my gifts. I affirm my abilities, both known & developing. I use them to manifest the things I wish to further develop within myself & my relationships with God, Jesus, the angels, & others. Then I read my page of specifics I wish to manifest in my life. This would be what Jim Carrey was talking about. One of the things is that I have the ability to travel at will to visit family & friends, participate in events as lead & drawn. Reading that aloud every day enabled me to say yes immediately to my BFF who asked me to come to Maryland to visit. The final thing I do is call on specific angels for help in all the areas I still need to develop. I also work on my goals 6-7 days a week with activity. I write these blogs 5 days a week, social network through Facebook for the contacts, read messages from spiritual sites, read spiritual books, help others through Reiki & counseling, pray daily in gratitude & for others, maintain & improve my home, maintain relationships. Right now those are my jobs & I handle most of them daily. But when I need to, I take as much of a day off as I can & still maintain the daily chores of life, house, pets. On my day off I do as little as possible of my normal routine except for prayer & the 3 intent exercises. When I take a day off I do the things for myself that I've postponed, like make a sundress or paint, or at this time of year, watch pro football on TV.

The last time I was this disciplined was when I worked full time & was a single parent. Then it was self-preservation & to provide the best life for my kids. Back then I didn't really know about intent or I could have done so much more for all of us! This time I'm truly disciplined because I understand the power of intent with follow through & I'm working for myself alone & what I want. That said, what I want has everything to do with being in total alignment with God's mission for my life so my intent is pure. If your intent is selfish & would have you gain at the expense of others, you won't be successful no matter what you do. One of the things I do to start every day, even before my affirmations, is give my day, life, & self to God to guide, lead, & direct through the day, to do with as He will. I always say it that way because that reaffirms to Him that I'm open for any interruption due to someone else's need that He wishes me to help with. When I say I'm working for myself alone, I mean that my work is completely self-centered in that it's exactly what I want to be doing & I'm self-employed. Since my self is God-centered, my work is entirely God-centered. So I've been able to achieve a phenominal amount in less than a year because I back up pure intent with daily action. I believe that we all should do all we can do every day that we can. However, I also believe in balance in life. Without balance, you can't sustain activity or have a whole life so what good is the work. You have to be sure to incorporate play time, whatever that is for you. You may like to dance or listen to music, watch certain shows on TV, play games, go out with friends, watch movies - whatever brings you joy & a time apart from routine. As I've said before, almost every single night I have decompress time, alone time with the cats & my knitting. Knitting is part of my play, or at least my relaxation & I seldom miss giving myself that time. Be sure you include your needs in your intent & how you set up your life - don't skip the fun & joy!