Living in Intention: Part III Intention for Attraction

The third of the the 3 A's is Intention for Attraction. I'm excited to explore this with you because I believe that this is one of the biggest game changing attitudes of all. When I hear people's stories of triumph and success, it seems like they all have one thing in common. This is the moment in time, an inflection point, when someone decides that they are worthy of everything they want in life. They decide that they are worth it! Once someone believes this, they begin to think like a winner, like the writer AND director of their own story. If you have not read Part I or Part II, pease check those out first. I'll still be here!

Fair warning, when you start to think like a winner, you will live more dangerously! This change of thought takes us from fearing failure to deciding that failure is worth it, failure is better than staying still. For me, the fear of failure hasn't just kept me from trying new things, but I believe that it has also kept me from dreaming all together. When was the last time you really let yourself dream?

By my mid twenties I had clocked in 5 years at a highly respected health club as a well respected personal trainer and group fitness instructor. Although I was making an impact and feeling proud of my contribution to people's lives, I knew that I wasn't meeting my potential.  I was starving for the freedom to explore my gifts and creativity outside of those walls. I thank my younger self for taking the risk in quitting that job because everything that has followed has been nothing short of amazing. While I didn't exactly know how things would turn out, I believed that through letting go of my fears, I was creating space for incredible things. I look back and see that decision as one that required incredible faith in myself and it makes me proud.

Believing that you are worth it is in no way self righteous or conceited. I think we have misunderstood ego for a long time. Ego typically isn't the voice asking for more love or more wonderful things. Ego is the voice saying "you aren't as good as he/she" or "you'll never change anyway". While having an ego is an inevitable part of being an autonomous individual, I know personally that I have given my ego too big a voice in my life. If we can quiet the ego, we can see that we are all very similar and connected to one another. We all experience failure, heartbreak, loss, and the spectrum of of human emotions. Why then, do we fight the fear of failure with such vigilance- as if it were something that we weren't supposed to experience? This is operating on ego.

Intention for Attraction is operating on heart power. I find that when I create space in my daily life to feel my desires and daydream, I tap back into that little girl in me saying with all her little heart "I'm going to be a famous singer someday!" When I feel that buzzing energy that says "yes!" I feel motivated and excited and it makes me want more. My yes moments are typically outside in nature, in the ocean or on my yoga mat. 

Learn what turns you on and live in that desire. Like attracts like. Love attracts love. Peace attracts peace.

What do you want to attract more of in your life? Try the journaling and yoga techniques below to explore and elevate your heart voice!

Journal Exercise: Smile, Say Thank you and Ask for More

The craft of writing things down is very telling. It's a chance to be honest and raw with yourself. A reminder that if you are not keen on journaling,  you are invited to tear up the piece of paper afterwards if you like. It is through the process of writing that we gain most of the benefit. With that said, I love to look back every now and then and consider the growth I've gained since then.  It's yours to do whatever you like.
Set a 2 minute timer and start with a blank page. Write about all the things that make you happy. If a specific memory comes up, write the details of that memory.
Set another 2 minute timer and write about all the things you are grateful for. Gratitude connects us to our heart voice and gets us away from our ego voice. Journaling about gratitude could be a daily habit that opens up the dialogue for joy in your life.
Now that you have your heart voice open, with a timer or not, give yourself permission to write out exactly what you want more of in your life. You might ask of these things from a perspective of your personal faith system. Don't be shy with yourself. Nothing is too far out or too ludicrous. Remember you are worth it! I'll share with you something I wrote the last time I did this exercise. I want more bad ass girlfriends in my life- and guess what? The universe more than delivered!

This journaling exercise is designed to up level our thinking and get us tuned into the joy, beauty and blessings in our lives. Revisit this exercise as much as you like, it's an effective way to start thinking like a winner!

Yoga Application:
Try one or a few of these options to connect to your heart meridian and all the gratitude, love and dreams that live there. There are many expressions of heart opening poses in yoga. I encourage you to go to a local class (or mine if you live in Seattle area😉) and explore how you might allow your heart to be the bigger voice on your mat, and slowly that ego will shut down to it's proper place... somewhere in the very back with no microphone.

Upward Facing Dog

Modified lunge with upper back bend

Wheel expression on a wall

When all else fails, simply place your hands over your heart and take some long, slow, deep breaths. It is at your heart center that you connect to your truest form.  💜

Living in Intention: Part II. Intention for Attention

Some days it can feel like the world is moving without you, especially while scrolling the boundless realm of social media. You might scroll past 100 images of the beach in 2 minutes, and find yourself feeling a bit underwhelmed with your current circumstances, especially when your current situation includes rain and rush hour traffic. I've been exploring the effectiveness of living each day in intention and I am loving the way that even on those challenging days, my intentions connect me back to living a meaningful and purposeful life. If you missed Part I of this blog series I would love for you to check it out here.

Living in intention is investing in your story. We have a lot of tough days, terrible days even. We also have many great days, the kind we never want to end. What unites all of the ups and downs is that somehow when woven together, they create your unique story. Intentions are like the themes of your story. The why, the for, the because. Your story is not the what. We aren't defined by what happens to us, but instead we can create beautiful and powerful stories with how we respond to the world around us.

In Part II of this blog series on intentions we are exploring the craft of mindfulness. Intention for Attention is simply tapping into our ability to be present in our lives. I call on this intention when I am feeling overwhelmed by the fast pace of life, or when I find myself experiencing a tough day or season... because the biggest shame of all would be to miss out living my life, because I was waiting for it to be different or better somehow. While I believe that there is always a place for some good old fashioned R&R, I also believe that our tough days can be the most growing days, but we must tune in.

Life is a flow of ever changing moments. To arrive in each moment is the working of Intention for Attention. 

The purpose of arriving is not to suddenly feel happy or magically peaceful. Arriving is taking a pause to be exactly where you are and living the details of your life. We are amazing beings capable of detachment when faced with trauma. While this is an inherent skill for survival, it's quite possible that we are over-training and misusing it. Checking out from difficult conversations or situations is an easy out, but unfortunately it doesn't make the problem go away and even worse, we might be missing out on the grittiness of life that make it worth living. Arriving is the opposite of multi-tasking. We've all developed incredible skills for scrolling, texting, talking and walking all at the same time. In those moments of chaos, dig in! Peel back the layers. Get your hands dirty. Welcome the growing pains every now and then.

There is a lot of talk around mindfulness and being present these days. As fancy as it sounds, it's actually quite simple. Getting present is elevating awareness, usually by slowing down and taking deep breaths. There is no agenda, no required outcome. The only mission is to recognize yourself inside a particular moment. I use a reminder I learned in CPR training back in the day. Look, Listen and Feel. I used this on my walk with my dog today. I started feeling caught up with my list of to-do's, and then I remembered my intention for attention. Pay attention Jamie! Look at the sky, listen to the kids play, feel the breeze on your face! In that moment, the world slowed down and I remembered that simply living a life and walking my dog, was actually plenty.

Journal Exercise: Arriving

Use the following exercise to get present in mind and body. Develop the skill of arriving to this moment. This exercise feels like a mental flush, gaining clarity on where you are at both mentally and physically. Start with a blank piece of paper. Set a timer for 2 minutes and simply write about everything you remember about waking up this morning and every event or detail that comes to mind from that moment until now. Start the timer over and begin to recall all of the thoughts you have had today. The purpose of this is not to be profound or deep, but to acknowledge what kind of thoughts you are currently holding. Lastly, set the timer again and write about every physically sensation you are experiencing in your body. Aches, pains, temperature, vibrations.... You can't be wrong. Once you have completed these three steps, I recommend taking a child's pose or simply sitting still in a chair for at least 10 rounds of breath. The journaling exercise has helped you arrive to this moment and this moment is a gift!

Yoga Application:
If you're a yogi then you know the benefits of vinyasa or flow yoga. Moving your body with breath is a highly beneficial meditation, working directly with your nervous system and strengthening the mind/body connection. If you're not a yogi and not quite sure where to start, try the three simple flows illustrated in the video below.