Intention – A Powerful Force in Causing Results

In my blog of Tuesday, July 21, 2009 (“Meditation - The Secret to Manifesting your Desires”), I wrote briefly about being intentional in your meditation. But really, being intentional needs to become a way of life for you if you are to have what you say.

Scientists have been experimenting for some time with exercises that involve intention – mostly with athletes. One of the first published experiments involved the U.S. athletic team who was competing in the Olympics several years ago. These athletes were required to spend some amount of time each day in visualizing themselves being successful in their particular sport. Basketball players visualized themselves throwing the ball and it going through the hoop. Figure skaters visualized themselves making difficult jumps and nailing them. Runners visualized themselves pulling ahead of the other runners to win the race.

Each of the athletes involved in the experiment used visualization exercises everyday. The scientists who were running the experiments had connected sensors to the athletes’ bodies. These sensors recorded any electrical impulse sent to that part of the body during the visualization exercise. What the researchers found was that the athletes’ muscles responded to the visualization exercise just as if they would have responded had the athletes actually been competing in their sport. The brain couldn’t tell the difference between an actual event and an intentional visualization of the same event!

However, the athletes who were part of this experiment performed better than they had previously. Since that time, more research has been conducted to prove out the theoretical concept that intentional visualization actually makes a difference in performance and outcome. In today’s athletes, we find that many of the best athletes use visualization exercises to see themselves achieving their goals.

However, these types of intentional exercises are not reserved for athletes only. They can be used to visualize your body as being slimmer - - achieving your goal weight, visualizing yourself as a successful business person in the career of your choice, or living the life you want surrounded by the desires of your heart. You get to say what your reality is. And only you can make it happen. For it to manifest on the outside, you must first see it on the inside. Begin to visualize the life of your dreams. Be intentional about it. Don’t think about it now and then but actually be intentional to set aside time each day for your visualization exercise.