In an article for Mindful<\/em>, Elaine Smookler wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Intentions help you stay oriented toward your goal when strong emotions, exhaustion, boredom, or hunger threaten to throw you off course. Intentions connect deeply to your true heart\u2019s desire, to what really matters to you, and use that rudder to set your course forward. <\/p> An intention isn\u2019t a wish or a fantasy. It isn\u2019t a proclamation of who or how you think you should be. It comes from truly listening to what\u2019s important for you to feel most alive and, well, yourself. <\/p> Not an intention:<\/strong> I want to lose 25 pounds and fit into my old jeans. <\/p> Intention:<\/strong> I am listening deeply to my body\u2019s desire to be healthy and active, and my heart\u2019s desire to feel vibrant and whole. <\/p>Smookler, Elaine. “How to Manifest Your Deepest Desires.” Mindful<\/em>, Mindful Communications & Such, PBC, 17 Dec. 2019 The article mentions connecting to “your heart’s desire.” In a TED Talk by Simon Sinek<\/a>, which is more business oriented, he presents the “Golden Circle.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n His thesis is that effective leaders and companies start with WHY and move out to the HOW and WHAT. I think this also can apply to our meditation and mindfulness practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the course of this month, we’ll delve into various aspects of the “what” and “how” of meditation and mindfulness practices, but the “why” is what you need to determine for yourself. If you have a strong sense of your “why,” I think you’ll find it easier to stay with the practices – this month and going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ll give you my first draft “why\/how\/what” statement, which is still a work in progress\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe we can live in the world with wisdom and kindness. The practices of mindfulness and meditation can help us better understand what supports wisdom and kindness, and what gets in the way. Through this month of reflections together, we can establish and strengthen foundational skills as part of a community, to live lives aligned with our highest values.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I touch into this deep belief, then it’s easier for me to get my butt on the cushion for a bit of meditation, even if I’m tired or there are a hundred messages to answer, or I’m struggling with sadness and everything seems bleak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elaine Smookler reflects this in her article too:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may want to lose weight, get your real estate license, or be a better listener—but if you don\u2019t know why you want this, you will quickly lose motivation and fall back into your old habits. However, discomfort and resistance are no longer insurmountable obstacles when we know what we really want and recommit to it again and again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n What’s your why?<\/strong> Maybe you don’t know, and that’s okay too. You can see what emerges over the next while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you would like some reflections to consider, I recommend reading a recent post by Rick Hanson, Ph.D., “Find Your North Star<\/a>.” He offers some practices you can try to find out what’s your “North Star” or most important thing, and he suggests some ways to keep what you identify central and embodied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another thing that can support us with our intentions and whys is having friends to encourage us. So I invite you to share your “why” with a buddy, or perhaps post a comment to the blog to inspire others, or send me an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I look forward to hearing your reflections and having your encouragement too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With warmest wishes, Dear Friends, A new year tradition for many people is to set some resolutions\u2026 lose weight, meditate every day, run a marathon! And before the month is through, many people will have given up on keeping those resolutions. In previous years, I have written about the usefulness of setting an intention – for the year, month, day, or the\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[238],"tags":[268,69,75,269],"class_list":["post-858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jan-2021","tag-elaine-smookler","tag-intention","tag-rick-hanson-ph-d","tag-simon-sinek"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions\/865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
https:\/\/www.mindful.org\/how-to-manifest-your-deepest-desires\/<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n![\"three](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Why-How-What-circles.png?resize=344%2C344&ssl=1\")
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Andrea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"