INTENTION - WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Principles: What you resists, persists.
Say what you want instead of what you don't want.
Live by intention, not default.

Scriptures: Proverbs 15:15 - "All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Romans 12:12 - Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

"The more you complain, the more you'll have to complain about." Have you seen this happen in your life? When you get up and spill the coffee, then trip over the rug and start to exclaim, "Why does this always happen to me?" When you drive to work, encounter every red light along the way, run late and have to deal with all the rude drivers in the world, you know what this means! At one time, I remember thinking I needed the bumper sticker which said, "I'm the only person in the world who knows how to drive right!"

We truly need the Holy Spirit's help to renew our minds to a different way of thinking -- we're bombarded with images, conversations and news which tells us to worry, be afraid and our old human nature which wants us to focus on that which is wrong, thinking we'll be protected somehow. Recently, Dear Abby's column featured a young wife who was fearful to have children, saying this world is so terrible, she'd hate to expose them to all its depravity. Abby's response was to remind the young woman of the media's proclivity to cover everything that's wrong because, in fact, it's unusual and therefore "news." One cub reporter was told, "Son, if a dog bites a boy, that's not news because it happens all the time. However, if a boy bites a dog, that's news!" Abby's advice was to avoid all TV news, public radio and newspapers and occupy her time with enjoying nature and other things for 2 weeks. She guaranteed the young wife would feel differently -- I agree.

If we can remember the 90%-10% ratio which says that 90% of our world, our home, our relationships are good and stop focusing on the 10% which needs to be different, we can begin to change our corner of the world. When we state our intention, our goal, who we want to be, we begin to concentrate on adding to the 90%. As I work toward being the best counselor I can be; as I daily state my intention to "encourage, challenge, motivate and inspire people by counseling, speaking, writing and by personal interaction," I get excited and am too busy looking for ways to do just that to be worried, depressed or afraid.

I shared the above statistic with a client who said, "Barbra, I think I have a 95:5% life - and I've been focusing on the 5%!" Sometimes, to change our habits to set intentions instead of complaints, we need to go about it backwards. That is, we identify what we don't like and then use the "instead" bridge to identify what we want that's opposite. Then, we can begin to live as Jesus says in John 10:10, "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly!"

Join me in my next blog when I discuss more specifically how we can enjoy that life by employing the gift of gratitude and giving; Part 3.