Intention and Gratitude
Are you in the habit of setting an intention for your day? This is not a to do list, it is the attitude with which you will accomplish your to do list. Intention is always the start of the creative process, yet it may be completely subconsciously programmed in ways that sabotage our actions from the start. If we start the day with fear, aggravation, dismay (ie: reading the news, thinking about our problems) we are already at a disadvantage intentionally as our awareness is already looking for conflict, division and contraction.
If, instead, the day begins with a higher quality intent, and we recall it throughout the day, it can change the whole game. Like any skill, it takes practice, practice and more practice and we fall down frequently but, so what. Just get up and go again! A high-quality intent is one which is more loving, expanding, leading toward connection and bringing caring into community. Once we set the intent, our faculty of awareness is now looking for ways to help bring it forward.
We are ALWAYS creating from our intentions and adding to the energy of either fear or love in this world. When fear arises, which is inevitable, rather that push against it or deny it, observe where it is felt in the body. Soften around it. Fear is literally trapped energy. We don’t feel fear when we feel safe. BREATHE, soften, don’t make a story around the fear arising. If we don’t GIVE the power of how we think and how we feel over to what frightens us, we will not become victims of fear. The chemistry of fear, downgrades our genetic expression, lowers the immune response and keeps us in the cycle of fight or flight.
Gratitude is one of the most powerful antidotes to the energy of fear. Dr. Joe Dispenza (You are the Placebo, Becoming Supernatural) repeatedly says that when you change your energy, you change your life. In study after study, the practice of focusing on gratitude 3 times a day for 10 minutes for as few as four days showed a marked increase in the level of IgA (immunoglobulin A) a classic blood marker for regulation of the immune system, homeostasis and cytokine cells.
This is only one of many studies over the last 5 years undertaken by UC San Diego in collaboration with Dr. Dispenza. The studies measure a host of biological markers to determine if meditation results in positive changes in health and healing. It turns out that there are profound healing effects on chronic disease. It begins by leading with a loving intention and practicing elevated emotions like gratitude, daily.
