The Power of Intention

A caterpillar can fall into a deep sleep, undergo a metamorphosis, and wake up as the butterfly it was meant to be. You and I don't have that luxury. We are, however, blessed with the ability to dream of, and aspire to, great accomplishments. But dreams and aspirations alone are weak forces. We need more to help us manifest our full potential. We need a strong force.

Intention Equals Possibilities. In his book, The Power of Intention, Wayne Dyer tells us there is a universal source of energy that is always available, which can take us to the realm of infinite possibilities. Our infinite capacity to learn, create, discover, and build is available to us through the power of intention.

Unlike the caterpillar that does not have a creative spirit, we have at our disposal a formidable force. We tend to take it for granted and underestimate what it can do.

The smallest act begins with an intention. Your decision to wear blue stockings, to sleep in on Sundays, to write a blog post, each begins with an intention. Just as we use the power of intention for small and insignificant decisions, we can also use it for worthy and significant objectives.

A guiding intention can take you far even if the original dream that inspires it doesn’t come to fruition. Whenever naysayers tell me what I can and can’t do, I remember the story of Christopher Columbus. He started out with the dream of finding a shortcut from Europe to India.

Columbus misjudged the circumference of the Earth by several orders of magnitude. Instead of finding a shortcut, he ended up discovering a new world. Today, Columbus is a hero with his own day marked on the calendar. The huge mistake goes largely unnoticed.

How to Harness the Power of Intention 

• Choose a course of action
• Set a goal
• Own the challenge

Listen to what President John F. Kennedy had to say about choosing a course of action, setting a goal, and accepting the challenge.

35 years after we flew across the Atlantic.*

We choose this goal, that challenge, these things, • not because they are easy, but because they are hard, • because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, • because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.

— John F. Kennedy, We Choose to Go to the Moon  

* When we landed on the moon, all of NASA's computing power was less than that of a modern smartphone. Pocket-sized calculators became available a few years later.

Glossary
• Metamorphosis: a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism
• Intention: a determination to act in a certain way; what one intends to do or bring about
• Affirmation: confirmation of the truth or validity of a prior judgment