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.

Meditation - The Secret to Manifesting your Desires

If you’re like most people, you probably have some preconceived notions about what meditation is. It might evoke images of Buddhist monks chanting or yogis sitting in lotus position with their eyes closed. And although meditation does encompass those forms, it is defined by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary as “1: to focus one's thoughts on : reflect on or ponder over 2: to plan or project in the mind : intend, purpose.“

When using the Law of Attraction to manifest a desired thing in your life, there is no better or faster way to make this law work than through the use of intentional meditation. What I mean by “intentional meditation” is that this is not a form of meditation used to “clear your mind.” Instead, this form of meditation is very directed and focused. It is most like the second definition provided above - - “to plan or project in the mind: intend; purpose.”

Firstly, let me explain why this step is so important. The more emotion and feeling that you can muster behind your desired outcome, the faster the universe responds to it. So, those who have worked with this law for some time, typically recommend the use of meditation either two or three times each day.

How Many Times & How Long To Meditate:

The minimum recommendation is to use meditation after first awakening in the morning and then to use it again prior to going to sleep at night. If you can manage to throw in a mid-day meditation time, that will be all the more powerful for you. You will want to spend about 10 – 15 minutes each time you meditate so plan your day accordingly so that the time you need to meditate is carved out in your schedule.

What to Do when You Meditate:

If you have collaged your desired outcome, if you have created a Visualization Board, or if you have any type of pictorial representations of what it is you desire, have those things in front of you for the meditation exercise. If you don’t have any of these, that’s fine - - they are not necessary. However, keeping any dream or vision before your eyes as much as possible will simply help to speed the process along as it will continually remind you throughout your day of the desire you are intending to manifest.

Sit in a comfortable place and position in a room where you will be able to have absolute quiet and no interruptions. Look over your pictorial representations (if you have them), and then close your eyes. You now want to picture what your life will look like once you have the desired thing. However, don’t picture this as a future event. Picture it as a “now” event. For example, if you believe that you have received a new car, picture in your mind what it feels like now that you have that new car. Feel the feelings of happiness or joy that go along with having that new car. Picture yourself behind the wheel of the car, driving it wherever you will drive it once it manifests. See yourself behind the wheel of your new car - - driving down the road in it, listening to music, parking in your parking spaces at work and at home. Feel the joyful feelings of having those experiences.

Before you complete this meditation exercise, remember to give thanks for the gift you have received. Remember, if you had been given an inheritance, you would be thanking anyone associated with the giver of those funds prior to ever receiving the money. That’s how your faith must work with the Law of Attraction, too. Be thankful and show your gratitude to God and the universe for providing that which you requested and have now received.

Continue to meditate, day and night (at a minimum), until the desired thing manifests in your life. Remember, we can’t dictate through what channels or in what time these things will come. God determines the method of delivery and the timing. We are to ask, believe, and receive, and then take action on any divine inspiration we receive.