Intentions…. what happens to them on the way to action?

Action expresses priorities.
Mohandas Gandhi

Intentions reveal the best of who we would like to be, or how we would best like to act in a situation…
( little clarity here… by saying BEST, best is meant as level of measure … not, best, as in highest moral fiber…). Be it a lifestyle action…(exercise more, save more money, write more…paint more...eat less …work more…work less), or a relationship action …(do X for someone…stop doing X to someone) we often start out with the greatest of intentions … but somewhere along way…somewhere, they can get a tad diluted or even completely neglected.
Why is that? We know what we want… we know how we want to perform in a certain way...we acknowledge what we are going to do, what our intentions are...and yet??? Our intentions change?? Did we set too high expectations in the first place? Most likely no…most likely our intentions were not supported by our priorities. At first glance, we might say, “no, I really wanted to do….but …..got in the way”. More often than not what prevents us from achieving our intentions is current behavior patterns. By allowing something else to take precedent over our intentions, what we often find is our reluctance for change.
By identifying change, (reluctance of) as the source of the impediment we can begin to rewire the flow of thought, conscious and unconscious to be in line with our intentions.
Take for example, exercise, you have an extremely busy lifestyle, work, social obligations and what time is left you prefer to enjoy quietly with family and friends. However you are often tired but you know that you need exercise to feel your best, so you tell yourself you will begin to exercise everyday after work. Now although your intentions are sound and justified, unless you begin an inner dialogue with yourself identifying the needed change ( time spent with family and friends verses time spent exercising) and can convince yourself that the change will be more beneficial to your overall life…as committed to your intention as you believe you are …most likely it will not come to fruition.
For our intentions to yield results we must employ our inner GPS and clearly identify and acknowledge the obstacles, the current behaviors that may impede our success. Then decide if the compensation is worth changing them.
Think of an intention as a new enthusiastic Chairman of the Board and your inner thoughts and behaviors the reluctant “Old Guard”…they have their comfort zone and are quite happy there. To turn the tides you must have their support...and that will be gained through understanding of how things are currently operating then identifying the advantages of the change and show a solid plan on how to implement the change.
So with your next intention...no matter the level of intensity make a list of what changes you would need to make in order to complete your intention…(thought changes, lifestyle changes, concrete changes..) look at how the changes will affect you…weigh them and if the payoff from the implementing the intention out weights the results from keeping things as they are…you have a strong chance for success!! Good Luck.
Suzi