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Hello friends, it’s Kelsy Timas from Guiding Wellness Institute, Be well Podcast, and Live Well Magazine coming to you this morning from my cozy meditation space at home on this beautiful weekend. And there were a couple of inquiries coming in, related to the present moment, intention living intentionally living authentically.
So, I wanted to talk a little bit to you today about kind of discerning between attention versus intention, and truth, presence, and all the things that really drive the the focus attention and results that we end up with in our life. So, this can be applied, this conversation can be applied to your personal development to relationships to your business, your parenting, really all encompassing. So, if you just maybe take a moment to just settle into what is is the nagging question or concern that you have, presently, currently: what is the one thing that feels on the surface for you, and as we move through this dialogue, maybe that there will be an opportunity to have some clarity about that one thing.
So, first off, truth. There’s a quote from the Bhagavad Gita that I love that says:
What is not real, never was and never will be. And what is real, always was and cannot be destroyed.
There are lots of ways we could apply that– you know, truth, there’s truth of ‘you are real, you are here, you have a body, you belong here.’ There is truth in the way that you are sensing the world. So, you have this connection to your senses, there’s a truth to the feelings that you have, whether they are projected emotions, or genuine feelings or emotions, there’s a truth to that. And whether the people in the room have the exact same feeling you’re having does not make your feeling less true, right? So your feelings are true, then your thoughts, your perceptions, the way you’re perceiving, whatever is going on, there’s a level of truth to that. That is true for you. And then, your belief system. We all have some layer of a belief system that supports then the way that we think and feel about what we’re encountering in the world.
And so, ‘what is real always was and cannot be destroyed’. What I love about that is, if whatever we are feeling, thinking, intuiting is real, there will be something constant about it, there will be some consistencies, some constancy, or some sustainability to what that is. We may fall in an out of connection with certain things, but that does not necessarily make them untrue. And then, how truth and living your truth come together, being grounded and present.
So, why is that so important? And being present, why is being present so much so important? There is a belief that the present moment is all there is. And there’s a lot of truth to that the present moment is not the past. It’s not the future. It’s the only moment that we’re in. And when we arrive to the present moment, truthfully, and with the most attention, we have the best feedback to moving into the next moment. And the least amount of fear, stress and unsafety or distrust about what we’re experiencing.
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So, presence… Living a life with presence is to be with effortless will, and full of meaning. So when we’re in the present moment, we’re practicing this being a welcoming, welcoming the present moment, just as it is, we’re not striving to make the moment something. So, we’re meeting it, we’re arriving to it, we’re allowing it to arrive to us.
And I like to use this analogy when I’m working with clients, of it’s a lot like welcoming a guest to your house, welcoming a guest at the door of your guest house, with the intention to invite them in for tea; there’s a level of openness and welcoming to it arriving, and curiosity, a little bit of curiosity to what this moment will bring. And then it’s usually in that place that we started attaching to were either attaching to the present moment being a certain way or delivering a certain effect and by soft, but that already is willful effort.
So, by softening that willful effort, and residing only in the present moment of welcoming whatever is arriving, that is the foundation for intention, because the present moment, demands or commands, your attention, all of your attention is in that present moment, ready and available to connect with what is there, when we allow that to happen, when we invite that process, then intention can happen.
So, there is a level of settling in and being present that has to occur prior to being intentional or setting an intention. An intention it’s a mental process related to your attitudes and your perceptions. And it’s the beginning of the I am willing to I am willing to put my energy in this direction I am willing to be with this you know, whether it it be challenging or comforting. So, the ‘I am willing’, the being intentional, is so powerful because it harnesses the Will. It accesses the Will; It aligns the will, and this mental process also involves the heart.
In yoga, the word for intention is Sankolpa. If we break that up: San-Kolpa– San is born of the heart and Kolpa is integrating into your life. So, in intention, can have more of like a focus, if I say, you know, “what is your intention? What do you want?” We tend to go, “well, what do you want? What are you intending for this? What are you intending for welcoming this?
And what is your intention for aligning your will to put your energy in this direction? And Sankolpa reveals that a little bit more, it’s a little more authentic, it’s a little more heartfelt, because what that intention is, is born of the heart. So it will have a connection to a deep heartfelt desire or a longing or a call or a sensation or a knowing of a knowing of you know, wanting something you know in your life. I’ve worked a lot with women when they’re getting ready to have a baby or they’re desiring to bring a child into the world.
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And there’s a thought process, but there’s also just this deep knowing that this time is here; or with entrepreneurs that have been working maybe for a corporation, or they’ve been in school, and there is this just deep longing to create something: to start a business or to take this idea, or this talent that they have, and bring it into the world.
That’s different than deciding, or, you know, deciding you want to, you know, buy a house or buy a car, deciding that you want to be in a relationship. It’s an intention, this intention means that it’s born of something. So born of the heart, and then Kolpa, integrating into your life. So, that this welcoming, or by setting the intention, you’re setting it in motion, bring, you’re inviting it, welcoming it, aligning your energy with it, and then setting it forward, sending it forward into your life.
There’s so there’s a level of being open to being with it, which can be different than a commitment. A commitment without an intention, probably will fail. But if you form you take time to cultivate intention, then your decisions and your commitments will have a longer line of of intention supporting them as they move forward in your life. So another, just more on intention, and this is from one of the lessons in the be well way. So this is actually part of the book that we’re working on. Intention focuses the will and sets the goal. So the will has to be focused before you can identify what the goal is. And sometimes we act first and determine our intention later. And that happens a lot of times the feedback of an action causes us to step back and say, Wait a minute, you know, what, what do I want from this? What is my intention? Why, you know, why is this feeling agitated, or imbalanced or sticky and in life has a way of kind of calling, getting our attention, and then getting us back in line with being intentional. And so we discover this intention by understanding our desire. I love this aspect, because we often feel like failure or which I believe failures and illusion.
But there’s, these sensations that we’re failing or sensation that we’re struggling, is really just feedback. And that this feedback is getting our attention, so that we can understand what we want, what is our desire. Because that can change too as things. You know, we go from wanting a relationship, or wanting a child or wanting to create a business, to doing that. And now the feedback of having a relationship having a child having a business. And now my desire is different, because it’s now coming, the reality of our experiences coming with all of these other things. And so coming back to being intentional about it now being intentional about it again.
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So, whether or not we are aware of our intention, it is present. And it is necessary to fulfill a desire or a need. You’ll hear me say a lot that we are always serving an intention, intentionally or unintentionally. We’re always serving something. And, and the, the, the more sticky and agitated life gets. Usually that’s a gift because it’s getting our attention. Life is is stopping us where we are and saying you are serving this like you are serving something. Let’s get clear about what that is. Let’s get clear about what you’re serving and become intentional about where energy’s going.
Then this quote from the book is:
the right use of will involves conscious intention, with a clear perspective, in openness to the truth and a deep commitment to the Spirit.
So, the right use of will involves conscious intention. There’s when I’m working in conflict resolution with people. There’s this sensation that when we’ve been harmed, oftentimes, it’s been at the hand of a reckless will, that when we’re not living intentionally, when we’re not choosing an acting from a place of intention, then we are still serving in it in an unintentional intention that can cause harm that can cause that can disrupt the lives of other people.
And, so, this the right use of will involves conscious intention with a clear perspective, that clarity of really understanding what is yours, what is not yours? How many times are we taking action on something that just is not our stuff? It’s not our assignment, it’s not our issue, it’s not our challenge. We’re trying to fix something for someone else, you know, we’re doing for them what they must do for themselves. And is that really a worthy investment of our energy? And is that an all in alignment with our intention. And this clearer perspective, then allows this openness to the truth, like we said earlier, and a deep commitment, the spirits of that commitment can really come through when that clarity is there.
There’s so many times in life where we’re being invited into something that may be, you know, another person’s intention and other person’s desire, what they what they need or want, for the goals that they have in life. And it may or may not be in alignment with the goals that we have. And when we try to satisfy other people’s needs, or keep people happy, we can only do that for a while before we burn out. That deep commitment of the spirit isn’t capable of fulfilling that for very long, you know, long term. If we are if we are intentional, and the people that we are building our life with are intentional also, and there’s alignment and that this deep commitment can move mountains like it it, it can accomplish so many things with ease and grace.
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This reminds me of just what I’m experiencing currently with my team, that I had to take so much time to and take my time to really get clear about the people that I was interviewing and hiring for these positions. Not that, you know, are they just capable of performing a task that we have or the need that we have. But, I care more about what are their intentions for the way they will be spending their time and the days of their life.
Because when what they need for themselves, and what I need for my organization to function optimally are in alignment, the grace that flows through that that relationship and that, that teamwork is undeniable. And it’s powerful. And when you’re taking on big projects, it’s really necessary. And I got to experience that last night. In our event that we were having at the Institute, just being able to move in and out of different tasks, everyone working on the same thing and being able to step in and step out and and nothing gets dropped. There were just no gaps, because we’re all deeply committed to the same thing.
At the end of the day, the same thing, the personal goals are in alignment with the organized organizational goals. And that’s why they can be met, where we’re able to set goals and meet goals. I work a lot with sales teams in our corporate wellness work, and you can identify goals, you can set goals, you can create incentives to reaching goals, but at the end of the day, if those goals are not in alignment with the intent with the intention, then they are outside of your attention. And if your attention is not on those things, they’re not going to be met, there’s going to be a gap.
So, to establish an intention and set a goal worthy of our energy is essential. And only then can we develop determination, decisiveness and resolve. And resolve is such a powerful word we hear that a lot in, like our political climate, or when we’re making big decisions that involve a lot of people’s lives. And, and to have a deep sense of resolve towards something speaks to the level of intention that’s present. And as leaders in our environments, whether we’re, you know, we’re leading our talent, or we’re leading a household, or we’re leading an organization or a country, people can get behind resolve.
Resolve is the foundation that people can stand on. And it’s a thing that we feel, we don’t know that we’re detecting that or we’re kind of you know, assessing or diagnosing that. But we know when we’ve come in contact with that, we know when we are sitting with someone, or in the midst of something that has a firm foundation, capable of seeing through I think we often just refer to that as drive or commitment. But really, that’s intention and alignment. And in essence, sheer connection to the authentic truth of who we are, and who and who we are becomes how we are and how we are, is what then affects the world around us.
So, being creative and aware of your desire, your constant and your desire, imagining that concentrating on that, which we’ve talked about in our meditation segment. And then purpose and meaning, and choice, and Will are all of these aspects that that can flow from that. So we’ll spend some time I think, this season of spring, working from this platform of attention and intention.
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And then how we cultivate that into action, action, meeting goals, serving a purpose, and this like holistic way that purpose is showing up in our lives. So, I look forward to have just continuing this conversation with you all I would love to have your comments and feedback from that.
So, feel free to send me those, so that this can be interactive, and and we can continue this conversation together. And hopefully today you can take some time to settle into welcoming what is rising, that thing that’s on your heart on the surface of your skin today, and as your attention is being drawn to that set your intention or form it as a Sankolpa, born of the heart, integrating into your life… How does that feel?
And what are the what are the actions or the efforts that rise into your awareness, with that thought of how to move it forward in your life, in a way that can serve a greater purpose? One that can be deeply fulfilling for you, but also one that can be the foreground have a deep committed relationship or partnership for what you’re doing and where you’re going.
So good to be with you today. And, as always, Live and Be Well.
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