Do you regularly take the time to set intention, to visualize your desired outcome or destination before you take action?
How do think your day would go if you set intention? Do you think – it’s just one more thing to do and I have enough to do already… or maybe, it’s OK for other people, but not for me? Do you think setting intention is weird? Have you thought about setting intentions at all?!
If you want to complete something, get somewhere, reach a goal, do you find it’s easier to get there if you know where you’re going? If you were going on a car journey to an unfamiliar place – you’d probably set the GPS to the destination, correct? In a similar way, weight-loss can be more successful when you visualize yourself at a certain size, in a certain outfit enjoying your new appearance and the reactions of those you meet, really picturing yourself basking in that feeling of success.
I’ve done it both ways, visualizing an outcome and just starting anywhere and I can certainly say, taking an extra moment to see myself completing the action is a better place to start than just jumping in with the action part of ‘doing busy-ness’. There’s a reason athletes take the time to visualize a win, crossing a finish line, a perfect golf stroke or tumbling run, as part of their training… it works.
I’m reminding myself these days, to get back into the habit of visualizing my outcomes, as I plan each week, each day and even each task, asking for the right people, the right information, the right opportunities to show up… and I find I can better recognize them when I already know what I’m looking for. ;o)
I do believe that thoughts create things and I’m choosing to be more conscious, more mindful in where I put my attention these days. Consciously choosing as much as I can, how I want to feel from moment to moment, from task to task and from person to person; choosing to have pleasing interactions, smoothly changing gears from one thing to next, with a quick pause to reset, take a breath and visualize what I want to happen next and to see myself taking satisfaction in doing that next thing. It takes practice to be this way, I for one, was not taught Mindfulness 101 in school – I wish I was! How interesting a world it would be, if everyone was practicing mindfulness and conscious creation of their life; choosing to be happy, choosing service instead of servitude, kindness instead of comparison, co-operation and collaboration instead of competition, response instead of reaction. I’d like to live in a world more like that. I can only affect change in myself. By choosing more mindfulness, more conscious choices, I can begin to BE the change I want to see in the world. How about you?