Now that your vibration is higher and you are (hopefully) feeling better, it’s time to decide what feelings you want. What do you want to experience: Joy? Peace? Love? Flow? Power?
A lot of people let circumstances decide their feelings for them. When things go their way, they feel happy, when things don’t, they are upset. The problem with living like this is that you aren’t in the driver’s seat. Instead you are giving your power and your life over to outside forces. Is that what you really want?
Here’s a simple example of how we can choose our intention. In my house there are often dirty dishes left in the sink. Despite a cleaning chart and daily conversations, the dishes still end up unwashed. This means that every day I get an opportunity to make a choice. I can choose to be angry (Why isn’t anyone cleaning these?), a victim/martyr (Why is it always me who cleans up?) or the driver of guilt (If you cared about me, you’d clean up the kitchen.) I’ve used most of these at one time or another. But none of those get me what I want. I want a loving family with positive, supportive relationships. I want a family where everyone takes responsibility. I want to live joyfully. And I want a clean kitchen!
Once I’m clear on my intentions or desires, I get to look at myself. Am I role modeling the behavior I want? Do I happily and cheerfully do my part of the “clean-up” to role model what is possible? Do I experience joy while washing the dishes and satisfaction when looking around my clean kitchen? Do I show appreciation for all the times my family does take responsibility or only focus on what isn’t working?
When we set a clear intention, our circumstances don’t have to dictate our feelings. As Victor Frankl, a holocaust survivor, said in Man’s Search for Meaning, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
Setting your intention is a critical step on the path to living the life you want. If I have set my intention to have joy then I enjoy washing the dishes. After all, how blessed am I to have a home, a sink, running water, soap and enough dishes that when some are dirty we can still eat!
I can use my time washing dishes as a moving meditation, a chance to dream, an opportunity to have a conversation or a chance to listen to some great tunes. If I want to experience more responsibility in the family then I get to be responsible for asking my family for creative solutions to the situation. When we are clear on our intentions, we can choose action that aligns to our highest good.
Take a moment and decide on your intention.
Identify your intention and how you want to feel
