The Power of Intention

My parents gave me a copy of Dr. Wayne Dyer’s book, the Power of Intention, some time ago.  I finally finished reading it a few days ago.  This book took me awhile to read, understand, and embrace in my life.

Dr. Wayne Dyer

Dr. Dyer’s definition of intention is a little different than what I’m used to.  Instead of being about dogged determination and manifesting things in your life through hard work and single-minded focus, Dr. Dyer believes that intention is a force in the universe that everyone is already connected to and the choices we make will determine how this force works in our lives. 


Dr. Dyer focuses on Seven Faces of Intention: Creativity, Kindness, Love, Beauty, Expansion, Unlimited Abundance, and Receptivity.  These are the seven concepts that unlock the power of intention in your life. 


He also talks about our Ego’s and gives "Seven Steps for Overcoming Our Egos" so we can become more in tune with the power of intention.  This is the section that took me awhile to implement in my life. Actually, I’m still working on it, I suspect that maintaining all of these steps all of the time is a lifetime goal for me.


Here are the Seven Steps for Overcoming Our Egos:

1.     Stop being offended (We can always find a negative or choose to be offended, but it only weakens ourselves.)
2.    Let go of your need to win (Winning is a lose-lose situation, because someone always loses and the winner never really wins.  Additionally, no one can win all of the time.)
3.    Let go of your need to be right. (Being right isn’t what is important in life, being open and willing to listen and learn from others whether you think they are right or not is when you will experience the most growth in life.)
4.    Let go of your need to be superior. (Everyone is different and no one is better than anyone else at everything, so forget concentrating on being superior to others and focus on being your best.)
5.     Let go of your need to have more. (Stop focusing on creating contentment by obtaining material things and find contentment simply by existing.)
6.    Let go of identifying yourself on the basis of your achievements. (Achievements come and go, but who you are is deeper than that and needs to be nurtured.)
7.     Let go of your reputation (Everyone who speaks to you can potentially develop an impression and therefore a reputation. This means you potentially could have hundreds of thousands of reputations to maintain.  Instead, focus on simply being a good person, not on making sure you are perceived as a good person.)

The biggest lesson I learned from this book is how to achieve my goals. In the past, I have always approached my goals by writing them down, figuring out the steps to take based on lots of time researching, and trying to follow those steps.  I was following the basic cause and effect model, but it didn’t always work.


My problem was that I didn’t understand that the real “cause” is actually the mental portion where I decided I wanted to make something occur.  Ultimately, if you want to achieve a goal, you have to Decide to manifest it.  The steps are not important, because they will come after you’ve made the decision. Wasting time trying to figure out if it is even possible, researching tons of information, and getting mired down in details before committing to make a decision are all part of the reason why some of my goals simply never happened.


I vowed that this time, with my Inspired Living with Fibromyalgia Blog, Facebook page, and upcoming website, I would do things differently and be successful.  I didn’t do all of the planning that one normally does for starting a business (which is not that easy, since I have a Business Degree that taught me the importance of a business plan), instead I simply declared that this is what I’m going to do and then started writing from my heart about my journey and sharing stories and quotes that genuinely inspire me.


I’ve committed myself completely to my goals of sharing my life experiences with Fibromyalgia, increasing Fibromyalgia awareness, and inspiring others.  I’m just getting started, but I know in my soul that this is what I’m meant to be doing.  This is what my purpose in life is.  This is the reason I ended up with Fibromyalgia in the first place. I can help others and myself.


So, what I learned from this book is that in order to be successful, I need to be one hundred percent on board with my decision, I have to be clear about what I want, and then I simply need to declare it.  That’s right just declare it.
I just told the universe that this is what I want.  I didn’t ask for it, I declared it.  Wonder what the difference is?


Well, it’s a lot like planting a seed in the ground.  When you plant the seed, you don’t ask the ground if it will consider making the seed grow for you.  You just plant it and then it grows on its own with proper tending after being planted by you. 


According to the book, it is the same with your intentions. Simply plant them and tend them and they will grow.  I really enjoyed this book. It did take me some time to read, but the life lessons are invaluable and life changing. 


This is the first book I’ve read by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer and I’m looking forward to reading more of his books.