The sun came out late on Saturday afternoon here at Light Heart Retreat, revealing a deep blue sky and puffy white clouds. It was just in time to show the retreat off at its best, to the group that had arrived for the evening potluck and showing of Raymon Grace’s DVD on how to energize water. The wind was a bit chill and strong. It didn’t deter any of us from appreciating the fresh air and beauty that surrounded us. We were all so grateful to be moving our bodies outside after a week of Downeast Maine Gray and showers.
We shared an excellent meal after a period of David’s piano playing and getting to know one another. The creativity and variety expressed through the vehicle of the potluck was quite impressive! We had an oriental ginger stir fry with brown rice, haddock tacos, a platter of pickled organic vegetables, an Indian red lentil dish, black beans, cornbread and homemade salsa. Chicken and dumplings was perfect for taking the chill out of our bones. Tea and peanut butter cookies and butterscotch squares came later, when we’d let the meal settle a little. The food was great and the company was even better. It was difficult for us to put our conversations on hold to watch Raymon Grace Energizes Water and so we got to that intention a little later than scheduled. No problem!
Melissa, Al, Vickie, Sandra & Nicole, Some of Saturday's Guests
We made a list of healing intentions to be assisted by the energy process on the DVD. Water filled mason jars were lined up around the TV to be energized to take home to use for personal healing and/or specific water problems, for instance a high bacteria count in a well. We watched and learned about Raymon’s method for clearing and energizing water and heard many stories of how it had worked via radio shows and the DVD. At the end of the DVD were some personal testimonies, one by a carpenter who had cut his finger through on the vertical plane with a ban saw. He’d immediately treated it with some energized water he’d received at Raymon’s class. It had been two weeks time and the finger was totally healed without medical intervention.
When the DVD ended we talked about the ways we wanted to apply this energy technology in our day-to-day lives. The conversation came around to the subject of intention and gratitude. Our elegant, elder in the group, Sandra, shared that when she’d awakened that morning the guidance she’d heard was to set her intention for the day and cultivate gratitude and that she would receive more of what she’s grateful for. The men in our group expressed how in these difficult times, they are just so grateful for the kinds of things people may be taking for granted, like having good work to do. David shared how grateful we are to be able to hold space for this community. I was secretly grateful because I realized I had my blog topic for today and I knew I had it mostly written already!
It doesn’t matter how many supplements you take, how early you get up to go to the gym, how vigilant you are to avoid white flour and sugar if you don’t practice setting your intention and cultivate gratitude each day before and after arising. I don’t need to elaborate here on this, as in 1996 I wrote what’s to follow. It’s a true story, only the name has been changed. My aunt worked for the company referred to and I knew of Lucinda through her.
The Importance of Conscious Intention
By Joanne Pinney
In Conversations with God, Neale Donald Walsch writes that “your life proceeds out of your intentions for it.” Would you get in your car in the morning and just go, without any intention of where you wanted to end up? Many of us bound out of bed each day with hardly any conscious intention at all. Then the day arrives when we cry out in anguish, “How did I get here, why did this happen to me?” We aren’t pleased with our destination, to say the least. Sometimes we are terrified of the place we’ve arrived; we perceive catastrophe! Then, we project blame onto family and friends, onto our employers, onto our government. We perceive that life has dealt us an unfair blow, rather than take responsibility for the life we have created through our unconscious intentions or lack of intentions for it.
Intention is the energy which brings circumstances into manifestation. Individually and collectively we have created every circumstance of our living situation. We have accomplished this through our thoughts, words and actions. For the most part, we have created without conscious intent and without taking responsibility. If we do not witness our thoughts that proceed our actions, then our motivation is very likely to be fear-based. On the surface it may look like we are operating out of best intentions, but if fear is the motivator, we will create just the circumstances we were afraid of.
Intention comes into play in all aspects of our life. Let’s take a look at some underlying intentions in the work-world.
There is a prevailing intention in our choice of career to choose a job that has “good benefits”. The group thought is that good benefits means a health insurance plan, paid vacation time and a retirement package. This translates into a sense of security. Think about it — does health insurance really insure good health? Does paid vacation time guarantee a vacation like we see in the travel ads? Does having a retirement package mean you’ll be problem-free and happy at retirement? Our security and satisfaction, truly do not derive from company benefits.
One could have a career that they love, that honors them and have all the fringe benefits, too. The danger here is for the many people who act according to the fearful intention that has security as its goal. The soul longs to manifest its unique gifts in the world. When we don’t honor that longing, when we don’t live our personal truth, we encounter stress, big time! Our negative thinking will eventually create an opportunity to change our situation and choose a new intention. This opportunity may manifest as being fired, as an illness or as an accident. Accident? What follows is based upon a true event.
Lucinda hated her job with a passion! Yet, she went to work early and stayed late every night to try to keep up with the additional work load that came out of her department having been downsized. It was expected of her. Her extra effort went unrecognized as much younger, more attractive workers got promoted over her. She thought about leaving the company, but how could a middle-aged woman, like herself, start all over? She certainly didn’t want to lose her retirement, not after having waited and suffered for this long.
Lucinda felt trapped. She had no method for coping with her stress; she possessed no self-help tools. Lucinda managed to keep a lid on her frustrations while she was at work, but from the moment she got in the car for the evening commute, she was raging. All the angry words would spill forth as she banged her hands against her steering wheel. Tears blurred her vision. She exclaimed over and over again, “I can’t live like this any longer!”
I was driving to my office in Dover, NH one evening to facilitate a guided meditation. 
It was a glorious twilight with pink and mauve clouds that hung on the horizon over the still river. I felt grateful for the gifts of the sky and I felt honored to be headed to do the service that nourishes me. I hadn’t traveled very far, when highway traffic came to a halt. Police and ambulance soon screamed their way through the line of evening commuters. I murmured a prayer for whomever it was that needed assistance. The next day, I discovered that my prayer had been for Lucinda. It was her final commute home.
This is a dramatic illustration of the results of intention lived from a place of fear, rather than from love. There are much subtler versions playing themselves out daily in our work world and in our home life. When we find ourselves in situations that are making us feel trapped, angry, and depressed, we need to examine our underlying intentions. We might ask ourselves, what is my intention for staying in this job? What is my intention for being in this relationship? What is my intention for the manner in which I parent my children? Are the answers to these questions about fear or do we hold loving intention?
If we discover that fear is the motivator behind our intention, we have a choice. We can empower ourselves by creating a new intention from a place of truth and love. It means taking responsibility. This means taking risks, inviting change into our lives. It does require COURAGE and PRACTICE! The alternative route is to stay trapped in the role of victim and suffer the consequences of that choice. I encourage you to cultivate the power of conscious and loving intention in your life. Feel the the fear and do it anyway! On my refrigerator hangs a reminder from Kobi Yamada, “Sometimes you just have to jump and build your wings on the way down!”
————————————-
How could it have been different for Lucinda? Well, it just happens that I have a perfect and timely example. Kate also worked at this company and experienced the same demands as Lucinda did upon her psyche and her time. Kate found her way into a Heart Light Reiki class and learned how to give herself and others Reiki treatments. Reiki is a great stress reliever and immune system builder. She made the time to honor herself as an artist while working full time and raising two young girls. Kate never let the work she did for this company identify who she was or to run her life. Kate had intention to stay at this company to help pay for college, when the time rolled around. Kate’s youngest enters college this coming fall. Friday was Kate’s last day at Lucinda’s company. Today is her first Monday free of the need to report there. I keep imagining how good that freedom must feel to Kate. Mission accomplished with grace, gratitude and intention! Congratulations Kate, and blessings for your new ventures putting Kate the artist and healer, front and center!
Are you having difficulty staying on track with your intentions? Is the life you’ve created so demanding and stressful that you rush out the door each day without having taken time to reflect on your intentions and express gratitude for whatever is working in your life? Do you see the rut you’re in and fall short of the will power to change it? If so, than your will’s energy is tied up where it doesn’t belong and much of this may be subconscious.
I listed the service, Transforming Detrimental Energy Patterns for Freedom first on The Dowsing Deva’s menu because I’ve experienced it to be the key piece in creating a vital, vibrant expression of your life, lived freely. It’s important to take the common sense steps in creating good health, too, but your efforts will fall short when your energy is plugged into detrimental energy patterns. You simply will not have enough impetus to create the change you desire. This creates frustration in the least, diminishes self esteem and even creates depression. Your life force expressing through your life purpose, wants to flow and create. Blocked creative energy leads to physical, mental and emotional symptoms and can create serious health challenges.
This Morning's Guests wore Feathers @ Light Heart Retreat
We always seem to come back around to the issue of self worth, don’t we? I encourage you to consider that your life purpose is worthy of being freed to express itself in the world. To put it bluntly, as Raymon Grace admonishes his students, “If you keep doin’ what you’re doin’, you’ll keep gettin’ what you’re gettin’.” Or to put it elegantly, as Sandra’s guidance spoke to her, “Each morning set your intention, cultivate gratitude and you’ll receive more of what you’re grateful for.”
Blessings for creating the intention for and taking the steps that empower you to
Shine your Light!
Joanna
