Intention, simply, is a gathering of energy and turning of attention. It’s based in the present moment but it has one eye gazing toward the future. Intentions hold dreams, hopes, and in many cases, the expectations we hold of ourselves and of this life that is unfolding through us.
When used wisely, intentions are the engine behind daily choices and the compass we can use to orient ourselves. They can help dissolve the puppet strings that might have us acting out a life that’s discordant with what we truly long to get up to.
So as I honor the decade’s turning, and all that’s transpired in this ten-year cycle, I grab a big fat road map and see where I am and where I want to head in this new cycle. I clarify (yet again) what my deep intention is, and I ask: What do my body, mind, spirit, and life circumstances really call for? To arrive at those answers takes honesty. SATYA has to get unfolded along with the map, so I can look through the clarifying lens of truth.
Certainly I can do this any time of the year; but there’s a collective energy to these arbitrary years we’ve placed on top of the natural seasons. So I review the ups and downs on my path thus far, observe what’s propelled me, and ask myself if those things that propelled me in the 2010’s will still serve me in the 2020’s. Because taking stock means honoring difference, and growth, and change.
Then I line up my bow and point the arrow toward where I want it to land. I check the wind. I mark the distance between myself and my target, check my periphery for my support systems. And then look within, to find the strength to draw that bow…
That’s not to say the arrow will land where I want it to. It’s not to say that life won’t be life, throwing wind gusts and storms and fires, creating loss, offering obstacles to that straight trajectory I envision my arrow tracing. But its landing will give me a location to head toward—because the “heading” is the journey.
So, wherever you are I wish for you a bow and arrow strong and true.
OM ~
