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Clarity of Intention
Implementing Creative
Step/Guideline #2
Creative
Step/Guideline #2
Background
Clarity of intention
Iterate your intention
Identify the desired feeling
Create a single point focus
Look to see if your
creative spirit is being served
Creative
Step/Guideline 2 (Top): Obtain clarity of Intention. Become as
clear as possible on what you desired to create knowing you can
change or iterate your intention as your perspective changes as a
result of these steps. Since often what we think we want is
environmentally dependent, identify the type and kind of feeling
that accompanies what you desired to create so that you do not lose
focus in your creative effort as the environment changes. Hold your
intention and, in particularly, the feeling you desire to create as
a single point focus for your life. On this point, look at the
origins of your intention and look to see who or what is calling
forth your creative ability. Look to see how your creative spirit
is, or is not, being served by what is being called forth.
Background
(Top)
Any creation occurs as a result of
a flow of energy. Without a flow of energy there is no movement.
There is no animation. To create anything you need to cause a flow
of energy or movement of some type to change what exists into what
you desire. In holding an intention, you are focusing your attention
and awareness to direct a specific type and kind of energy flow.
That is, the flow of energy caused by the intention you set.
The creative life energy that sustains your being flows where you
place and hold the focus of your awareness and attention. At one
level, the focus of your attention and awareness simply redirects a
portion of the flow of your creative life energy form what it is
currently directed to create to what you desire to create. That is
the way most people create something in their life. If they rob too
much of this energy, they may in fact create conditions of accident,
illness or disease that forces one to withdraw from life and how
they are directing their creative spirit. This way of creating often
results in addictive behavior patterns to numb the pain that results
when diverts too much energy away from what their creative spirit
desires to create.
The other way to create is to focus your attention and awareness to
increase the flow of energy available to you. Now there are two ways
to access more energy. One way is to take it from another. That is,
you get them to direct their creative life energy and creative
spirit into what you desire to create. This is the most common way
people increase the creative energy available to them. The second
way is to get more energy to flow within your being. This done
through what we commonly call awareness. It is done through an
awareness of ourselves and the world around us. The energy is gained
through expanding awareness.
Most of our creative endeavors can be obtained by manipulating the
flow of our creative life energy that sustains us and getting others
to support our efforts. Awareness is about understanding several
things. One is that energy follows the path of least resistance for
the environment in which it flows A second is to understand the
interconnectedness that is giving rise to the energy in the form
that it takes. Understanding the interconnectedness is about
understanding the lay of the land and the terrain thought which the
energy flows. In understanding the interconnectedness, you can
rearrange the connections to change the flow of energy and what
manifests. It is a different way to create than most have been
accustomed to doing and have learned.
Awareness acts at a much more subtle level and can be very freeing
or extremely manipulative and enslaving. In any creative endeavor,
it is recommended one look to allow the free flow and unfoldment of
their creative spirit and any other individual’s creative spirit
that participates in your endeavor. In doing so, you will create
what ultimately serves you and the other.
The experience you desire is determined by the flow of energy you
create as it unfolds in the environment in which you find yourself.
Since energy follows the path of least resistance, by aligning with
the flow of energy caused by your intention through feeling, you can
manifest what you desire in a faster and easier way along the path
of least resistance. In this awareness, you can check to see if what
you intend is what you really desire to feel. Often what mind thinks
it wants is not what the experience you ultimately want to feel.
Mind only thinks it does. If you don’t use feelings to guide you,
you won’t know the error made by mind till you have already created
what you desired. If however, you follow the feeling you seek, you
will see much earlier and easier if what you mind presents or wants
is in error. You will see if what you think you desire is only the
best mind can characterize what it desires at that time.
In aligning with the feeling you are carried to the experiences you
need to have to manifest what you desire. As you follow the flow you
gain that
minimum set of requisite experience that will allow you to
properly characterize the energy that gives rise to the desire you
have in the quickest way possible. As you gain clarity, you can
better understand the path that you need to take to create it.
To maintain the focus to create what you desire, you will need to
become mindful and aware of the thoughts you have so that you do not
become distracted and your focus broken. Meditation is one tool that
you can use to become mindful and aware, but it is only a tool. On
this point, it needs to be emphasized that meditation is a tool and
should not become an end unto itself. If it does, it can become an
escape, if not an addiction, as powerful as any substance or
activity that you can use to escape what you feel and addressing the
root cause of the feelings you have.
In addition to not becoming distracted, you will need to be mindful
and aware so as to capture and act on those thoughts that support
your creative effort. If you learn to watch your thoughts, you can
begin to see they come with a “tag” or label that tells you
something about their origin and whether or not they apply to any
particular desire. In time you can begin to recognize whether the
energy that is giving rise to your thoughts or feelings are from
within your being or from outside you. You can also perceive as to
whether or not you invited that energy into your being or it has
some how “invaded” you. However, you need to hold a clear intention
for what you wish to create in our life and have explored and
“pulled the string”as to the “why” behind that intention if you wish
to develop such thought and energy discerning ability. Developing
your internal compass and becoming aware of what you feel will help
you to do this
Clarity of intention (Top)
Obtain clarity of Intention
Clarity of intention is a two fold
process. One part is to get clarity at what you desire to create.
The second part is to look for competing conscious and subconscious
intentions you may have. Clear intention also includes the clarity
within oneself such that you are not distracted by competing
intention that are left or carried over from the past.
Obtaining clarity of intention to know what you what is usually an
iterative process. Unless you explore your intention, you will not
know if it is really what you want till you have created it and
experienced it. Even then sometimes the real need which gives rise
to the desire and is translated into an intention is masked and not
satisfied. In this case you become puzzled because you got what you
desired but a part of you is still unsatisfied. To get true clarity,
you need to explore the why behind the intention you hold. You need
to “pull the string” so to speak to unravel the real desire that
lies behind the intention. That is, to explore “Why do I intend this
particular intention in the way I intend - why do I not intend what
I intend in a different way? Or why do I have the particular
intention at all?” When you explore the why behind the intent you
have, you can explore then explore the why behind any answer that
you get. You can continue the process, “pull the string,” until you
get to the deepest desire behind the intention.
As an example, look at the intent to get something to eat. You could
say, “I intend to go eat a pizza.” If you ask why you want to go eat
a pizza, the most obvious and probably the first response is that,
“I am hungry and I need to it.” Now that may be the case. But you
can still look deeper in two ways. One is why pizza as opposed to
something else. The other way is why are you hungry. Are you really
hungry? - that is, do you physically lack fuel. You may discover
that something else is motivating you. You may discover that you are
really nervous and you want to eat to calm the anxiety you feel.
That of course leads to the question, “Why are you anxious?”
So in the end, after exploring your intention, you may find your
original intention only masks over several layers of feeling. You
may find the real reason why you intend something is not what you
think it is. As above, the real intention is not to eat because you
are hungry but to eat to calm the anxiety you feel. In reality your
intention to eat is trying to address what is making your anxious.
Hence, rather than dealing directly with the cause of the anxiety,
the mind masks what you feel in a very plausible and seemingly
logical way and mask what your needs really are. Mind either does
not understand that it is nervous and anxious or there is a fear or
pain such that mind prefers not to conscious face so it masks the
true desire.
Clarity of intent is to get at this deeper reason why we intend what
we do. It is only there will you access your true creative ability
and understand what beliefs are controlling your life.
This process of exploring the “why” behind your intentions opens the
door to realize you carry more than one intention and many of them
may be subconscious. In the example above, “getting something to
eat” is the conscious intention and “quelling an anxiety” is the
subconscious intention. In this case, the conscious intention does
somewhat align with the subconscious intention for the food can calm
the anxiety. Yet the conscious intention does not really address the
cause of the subconscious intention and why you have the anxiety in
the first place. As such the anxiety will only arise in a different
way at some future time when environmental conditions are similar.
However, in any case, in your exploration of the why behind many of
the intentions you hold, you will come to find what you intend is
based on what you have been programmed to do because of the
experiences you have had in life as opposed to what you really want
to do or need to do. Often you will discover mind, for one reason or
another, does not even consciously understand what it is you really
need to do.
In this regard, obtaining clarity of intention can be like explore
underground caves and/or mining for minerals you wish to bring to
the surface. You will need to sufficiently make the subconscious
conscious relative to what you desire to create to bring to the
surface so that your past does not interfere with your current
efforts. In this subconscious exploration, you may find feelings are
essential for often we do not quickly or ever fully remember what
may be interfering with our creative efforts. Your feelings can and
will direct you in the way you need to go to uncover any competing
conscious or subconscious intentions or obstacles within your being
relative to what you desire to create.
Iterate your intention
(Top)
Become as clear as possible on
what you desired to create knowing you can change or iterate your
intention as your perspective changes as a result of these steps.
Since it may take time to get true clarity of intention, you will
usually find it necessary to act on what you know and not wait to
get as clear as possible. You may have to move with the information
you have. Here again, remember, there are no mistakes in creativity.
You need not penalize yourself or feel guilty in any way that you
don’t get what you seek correct the first time. Or, you find
yourself changing what you intend can be expected as you gain
experiences. You only need to take what you have learned and move
forward. Any judgement you have about no “getting it right” is only
of the mind and based on your past. You only need to look to see
what worked and didn’t work and what is effective in assisting you
to create what you desire.
Identify the desired feeling
(Top)
Since often what we think we
want is environmentally dependent, identify the type and kind of
feeling that accompanies what you desired to create so that you do
not lose focus in your creative effort as the environment changes.
This is an extremely important
concept and lies at the root of many of our problems. Feeling is
what makes us feel alive and gives us life. Unless we have a feel
and/or passion for something, we will not access the energy to act
in what we do. Without passion or a feel for what we do, we will be
lifeless and we will function much like a zombie or a sleepwalker.
There will be no passion and life in what we do no matter how
successful we think we become. You will simply function. There is
not necessarily anything wrong in simply functioning with no life in
what we do. However, it does not make like as an enjoyable
experience it can be as when we have passion for what we do.
Often we think what is external to us is what gives rise to what we
feel inside and that may be true. But it is not the only external
circumstance that will give rise to a similar if not an identical
internal feeling. There are a variety of external circumstances that
can give rise to the feelings we desire, or for that matter, we
don’t desire. Some feelings are more acceptable than others. Other
feelings we don’t allow ourselves to feel. For example, you can feel
the thrill of your team willing. But there are a variety of
different teams you could support as “my” team and each can give a
very similar feeling in their winning. Similarly, your political
candidate could win an important election and give you the same
feeling of your team winning a sports competition. So it is not
necessarily the external circumstances that give rise to what we
feel.
So, when we intend something, it is important to ask what feeling do
we desire to experience that accompanies what we intend. Often, we
end up intending what mind thinks will give us what we desire when
in reality we desire a particular feeling. In this awareness one can
create a
ritual,
meta-theatrical performance, or a
guided meditation
that represents what you desire to create to get a feeling of what
you desire. Then use your
internal compass to lock onto that feeling
to guide you in your creative efforts. The feeling for what you
desire to create will need to become a
single point focus or
meditation for your life.
Create a single point focus
(Top)
Hold your intention and, in
particularly, the feeling you desire to create as a single point
focus for your life.
Holding a single point focus with your life is much like celestial
navigation on the ocean. It is not the same as the focus you hold in
meditation. They are closely related but different. Yet, some see
mediation as creating a single point focus for their life. Many
meditation traditions talk to these points but don’t really show
people how to go and do it. Individuals learn to hold focus in the
way one uses a mantra, idol or whatever it is one uses to focus
their attention and awareness and think this is a single point focus
for their life. However, sitting and holding an mental image,
thoughts, sound or idea in meditation is different that a single
point focus for one’s life. A single point focus guides all of your
actions in life, even your meditation. It is not the other way
around. A single point focus is about keeping the end in mind for
every action you take for what you experience here and now in the
moment.
Traditional meditation whether as meditation or yogic practice, is
to sit and/or move in a precise way and either call what you desire
into your life through the focus of your attention and awareness
and/or create what you desire out of the “no-thing-ness” of
Creation. Normally meditation or yoga is done to obtain a spiritual
state or some mystical experience. That can be done and but one
needs to sacrifice a great deal of time and effort to create it.
There is an easier way and it is a single point focus for one’s
life. You need to become aware of the feel for as many thoughts,
actions, deeds and memories you have as you move through life. The
choose those as often as you can that moves you toward or into
alignment with the feeling of your creation.
A single point focus for one’s life is much more like navigating and
a ship crossing the ocean. As the ship crosses the ocean, you have a
navigation star, a point of reference that does not move, that you
continually check to ensure you do not get off course. Where as
meditation is to sit and yoga is to hold a given set of postures, a
single point focus is about getting up, walking (or running,
hopping, skipping or jumping) and freely moving into any aspect of
life and yet remaining on course for what you desire to create.
Here, every decision you make and action you take as you walk into
life is toward what you desire to create as much as possible based
on your internal compass. Although meditation is a very helpful and
useful tool in any creative effort, especially to create mindfulness
and awareness, it is only a tool that you use and it cannot become a
end unto itself.
Suggested type of action: Write, draw, dance, get a picture or make
a model, using whatever medium you choose that appeals to you, of
what you intend to create. Create a surrogate or real physical
experience, a
suorephex, for what you wish to create in your life to
get a feel for the feeling that accompanies what you desire. Then
use the words, object and feeling to focus your attention and
awareness. They can be used as a daily reminder. The words will be
your mantra or prayer and the object will become the image of your
focus. The feeling will be used as the reference point on your
internal compass. Claim the presence of the writing, drawing,
picture or model and feeling in your life as the evidence that your
life flows to unfold the manifestation of the intention you hold.
Know that as you move into and through life, facing the obstacles as
they are presented to you by consulting your
intuitive guidance you
will create what you desire.
Consider writing your eulogy and what you want said about you and
your life when all is said and done. Use your eulogy to guide you in
your life and in every moment. If you become it every moment, no
matter when you die, you will be successful in life. Read your
eulogy to another and begin to live it to make it a reality.
Paralleling your eulogy, what do you wish to create with, in or
during your life. What you desire to create with your life may or
may not reflect what you want said about your life. For example, you
can be remembered as a warm loving person in a variety of things you
do. So become aware of exactly what you would like to create in and
with your life. Declare your intention to another and ask your
intuitive guidance what you need to do create it.
Look to see if your
creative spirit is being
served (Top)
On this point, look at the
origins of your intention and look to see who or what is calling
forth your creative ability. Look to see how your creative spirit
is, or is not, being served by what is being called forth.
This goes back to the “why” behind the intent we have. Every
intention we hold, consciously or subconsciously, is
calling forth
our creative spirit and our creative ability. Yet, all that we
intend does not necessarily serve us as to who and what we are. One
may be a brilliant teacher who has a innate and phenomenal ability
to create an environment that allows children to learn. Yet, they
are told to only teach a prescribed curriculum, in a prescribed way
in a prescribed environment. So their intention is to comply with
the requirements to get their pay check. Their creative spirit is
called forth to create an energy to give them the ability to teach
but yet the flow of energy is stifled by the prescriptions imposed
by the system in which one finds themselves. The creative spirit is
not allowed to teach true to its ability. In essence the creative
spirit is not served. In any case, after a sufficient time the
muscles and/or abilities atrophy or develop slightly different to
meet the prescriptions for what is needed and the habits of the
routine become so strong one literally loses the ability it once had
such that the ability dies and needs to be resurrected. What is
occurring is much like taking a race horse in its prime and rather
than developing its muscles to run free with its spirit, one
harnesses it to a team of horses to pull a wagon. The horse can pull
but its spirit is not allowed to come out true to itself. Rather it
is crushed, stifled, and bound and its true ability is never
developed. Our creative spirit is much like this. It starts out in
freedom seeking an environment which allows it to freely create only
to find it is thwarted in its efforts, controlled and put into a box
not of its choosing that keeps it bound throughout life.
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