Focusing Your Intention

Having an intention is enough to accomplish a result. When properly focusedwhich means easily and without strainawareness has the ability to carry out quite specific commands. An intention doesnt have to be verbally expressed thought; in fact, our deepest intentions are body-centered.Our most fundamental needsfor love, understanding, encouragement, supportpermeate every cell. The desires that arise in your mind are often clouded by ego motives, which are not true needs; people get caught up in the pursuit of money, career goals, and political ambitions in ways that are disconnected from the fundamental need for comfort and well-being that every healthy organism must fulfill.Many of us are so alienated from our basic needs, so programmed to run after what the ego wants, that we have to relearn the basic mechanics of how attention and intention actually work.There are many ways to get fulfillment besides the outward-orientated ones our culture teaches us. The most valuable lesson in this regard is that intentions automatically seek their fulfillment if left alone.Every cell in your body is seeking fulfillment through joy, beauty, love, and appreciation. This is hard to realize when the mind sets up its own separate agenda for fulfilling other kinds of desires, ones that are loveless, without joy or satisfaction. Yet millions of people have programmed themselves to reach only such goals.The ability to direct your awareness is critical if you want to change the deep-rooted patterns of aging, for aging itself is an intention that your cells are obeying without your control.Every intention is a trigger for transformation. As soon as you decide that you want something, your nervous system responds to reach your desired goal. This holds true for simple intentions as well as for complex intentions.Adapted from Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 1998).