Setting An Intention

People talk about setting intentions all the time. You can do it before a meditation or yoga session, you can use it to bring more presence to changes you want to see in your life… It toes the line of being a real tangible tactic and a spiritual practice.

Ultimately what intention setting does is it brings your focus and awareness toward something specific in your life. It highlights something as valuable or important in your mind, and it leads to a whole sequence of downstream effects.

By bringing what you want into your conscious mind, and having an interest in finding more of it, you prime your Reticular Activating System. Known as the RAS, this part of your brain is responsible for taking all of the sensory inputs your brain receives and filters it so that you’re only aware of what is most important. It is also involved in pattern recognition. So by setting an intention, you’ve taught your RAS to be on the look out for evidence of this intention being true and ways you can make it true. You’ve specifically established the importance of this area of your life, and in doing so, you’ve written the first line of a story that your brain wants to see played out.

Now this process starts to work for you when two things happen. First, you need to believe you’re capable of your intention. Your brain will only grab onto intentions that you believe to be possible. Second, you need to take action in alignment with your intentions. When your behavior doesn’t match your intentions your brain doesn’t take your intention as seriously.

That’s how this all works! And to apply this in your life, let’s set an intention right now - What values do you want to prioritize this week?

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