Welcome to Tuesdays with Chel.
Each week Chel Micheline of Gingerblue will offer her perspectives on our Bliss Habits. Please enjoy the wisdom and clarity she offers.
“Courage is saying, ‘Maybe what I’m doing isn’t working; maybe I should try something else.’”
– Anna Lappe
Welcome to Week Ten of Exploring Intention!
If you’re new to this series, feel free to check out the first nine posts in the “Exploring Intention” series.
Ten weeks ago, I began to poke and prod at the whole concept of intention. I came into this with a skewed perception of what “intention” meant, and as the weeks have passed, and I’ve been working with intention every day, my view of intention has radically changed.
From the beginning, I’ve understood that there had to be more to intention than simply stating a goal and leaving it at that. I’ve come to understand that (at least for me) intention is actually a multi-step process. My favorite analogy has been comparing it to a GPS in a car- almost every step is the same. The only difference is that instead of relying on man-made technology, we have to come to rely on ourselves, on that little voice inside us, which I call the “inner sense of intention”.
For me, I find that my “inner sense of intention” works best when I invest some time and authentic emotion into the process of figuring out what I *really* want, being specific about it, and being brave enough to ask for it.
There’s actually quite a bit of Moxie in the process of setting an intention, if you think about it… siting up, taking notice, and simply saying “Hey, this isn’t enough for me. I need more.” is a very courageous thing. Just stepping out of the box of the everyday and allowing yourself to acknowledge that things aren’t feeling right is a very big deal.
There’s also a great deal of Moxie involved in trusting the “inner sense of intention” enough to listen to what it has to say after you set an intention. And then even more Moxie involved in taking the first steps in the right direction.
Just the act of tapping into your intuition, and doing it on a regular basis is a constant process of summoning courage. We’re taught as humans that there is a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things. And we’re taught to look to others to find those ways. As kids, we looked to our parents, when we went to school, we looked to our teachers and professors, and our peers. And then when we’re out there on our own, we still check and see how others are “doing it”.
Even though I *know* certain things about myself (I’m an introvert, I’m creative, I like tea and not coffee) I STILL find myself looking to others to see “how it’s done”. Facebook is RIPE for that kind of comparison. I read about the adventures of others and then find myself wondering things like: is there something wrong with me because I’m not going to happy hour every night like the other women my age? Is there something wrong with me because I don’t have activities scheduled for my 6-year old daughter months in advance? Is there something wrong with me that I never go to Starbucks? And I have to check myself, and put serious effort into NOT doing that and not second-guessing my OWN NATURE when I do start doing that.
Just being your own person, doing the inquiry it takes to discover who you are and what your own true nature is, requires true Moxie. Setting an intention to change things, or create *more*, to find a truer way to live each day, or investigate something new for yourself- all these things take *so* much courage. They truly do.
Allow yourself to acknowledge that- allow yourself to bask in the fact that you are a courageous person. All of us here, all of us who aspire to better things for ourselves and for the people we love, all of us who aspire towards more bliss, all of us who aspire to appreciate the small joys and the magic of everyday life, all of us who aspire to share our gifts with the world- we’re all courageous. Yet we’re sometimes made to feel as if this exploration we’re on is strange or “new age” or even a little selfish.
The truth is, we’re all full of Moxie just by asking the questions, tapping into our “inner sense of intention”, listening to our intuition, and trusting our own selves enough to know that we’re on the right path, no matter what stage we are at- beginning, middle, or end.