intentions Archives | The Aligned Life

Stop right there! For a moment I want you to get honest with yourself and think about it: all your dreams, your goals, your ambitions–now why haven’t those come true for you yet?

Of course, some goals take longer to create. But I’m willing to bet that you’ve been holding onto some of those goals for a long time.

In other words, we have the best of intentions. So why is it so hard to make those intentions come true?

But before you get offended, please know I’m not writing this to make you feel bad about yourself! In fact, it’s the opposite.

When we don’t reach our goals, it’s far too easy to fall into self-blame and self-loathing. But the reality is: this is not your fault!

Good intentions are simply not enough to make a lasting change in your life.

Because there’s a sneaky invisible factor going on behind-the-scenes that’s doing its best not to let you change a darn thing!

Meet: your subconscious mind.

While your subconscious mind might be a bit misunderstood, rest assured that it’s not as if you have an Evil Dr. Hyde hiding inside of you.

When you don’t understand your own subconscious motivations, you’re undoubtedly going to blame yourself for not meeting your own expectations. But that self-hatred is totally unnecessary! It’s far better for you to understand your own motivations and learn how to work with them, rather than continue to blame yourself when things don’t work out!

Why Good Intentions Are Not Enough! 3 Subconscious Blocks To Manifestation

Subconscious Block To Manifestation #1:

Your Brain Wants To Keep You Safe

Your brain will always prefer the safety of the known to the uncertainty of the unknown. However, this is just the way you were built–not a flaw with you specifically.

Our brain is simply hard-wired to look for danger in the world. That’s because keeping you alive is its Number One priority! However, in these modern times, there aren’t that many things that can really cause us harm. Asking out our crush or giving a presentation at work is definitely not a life-or-death moment! But it might not feel that way. Our racing heart and sweaty palms are physical evidence of this!

So if you can understand that one of your brain’s primary motivations is to keep you safe (aka locked up) at home, what does that shift for you? Are you still susceptible to falling for this sneaky trick? Or are you suddenly inspired to concentrate more on what you actually want, whether or not you feel afraid of it?

At the end of the day, action is always more important to our results than our feelings! So practice going out there and just doing the damn thing until your brain no longer scares you.

Subconscious Block To Manifestation #2:

Your Brain Hates Change

Similar to the fact that your brain wants to keep you safe, is the fact that your brain also hates change. Not only is your brain hardwired to look for danger in the world, it also categorizes anything new as “dangerous”. That means it perceives anything that takes you out of your comfort zone as a threat to its survival.

When it comes to our dreams, we think of new goals and ambitions all the time! So it only makes sense that in order to dramatically transform our lives we need to do some new things too. However, now you can see the problem: no matter how much you want something, your brain is categorically not on board with this plan and it will do its best to convince you not to bother.

That means: hello self-sabotage! Like landing the amazing opportunity at your dream job and showing up late for the interview. Getting nominated for a prestigious award and picking a fight with your partner right before you go. Signing up for the gym but sleeping through your early morning wake up every single day.

This isn’t about you being lazy or “just not that kind of person”. This is about your brain keeping you in line–and you’re falling for it! It’s only once you see that everything that you really want for yourself lies on the other side of fear that you’ll be able to regain control over your subconscious mind!

Subconscious Block To Manifestation #3:

Your Identity Is Fixed

By time you’ve reached adulthood, you’ve developed an attachment to who you think you are. But is that identity helping you or hindering you?

Like many of our other ideas about the world, the ideas we have about ourselves are often in need of a massive upgrade! Again, so much of this stuff was programmed into us before the age of seven. Now just think about that for a moment: where were you when you were seven? What has changed about your life?

For example, I was living in a very small northern town in British Columbia–and I can tell you that so much of my life was not even a blip on my radar back then! ????

Obviously, a lot has happened in my world since the age of seven–and I’m sure the same applies to you! Yet the way we think of ourselves largely comes from that time in our life. So it’s not difficult to imagine how this one factor can secretly get in the way of us actually achieving the things we really want in life! Your identity dictates your actions and therefore your results.

So think about your goals: dreams of wealth, happy relationships, physical health. And think about your environment at age seven and earlier. What from that time did you pick up and change the way you think about yourself?

The good news is this is much more a self-fulfilling prophecy than it is a reflection of your actual talents and abilities. The way you think of yourself is so crucial to your results. Yet most of us continue to “try” our way to achieving what we want without doing the work to reprogram who we are.

So tell me: which subconscious block resonated with you? Which one are you going to tackle first?

I hope this post enlightened you about the nature of your own brain! It’s only once we can move away from self-blame and low self-worth, that we can come back to manifesting from a place of love! Remember, you really can have anything you desire! All you have to do is figure out how you’re getting in your own way first before it can come through.

PS READ THIS NEXT: Manifest Your Desires With Identity Shifting: 3 Techniques

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There’s only one real difference between Conscious Creators and normal people.

Intention.

Setting an intention is the very first step towards creating life on your own terms.

You always have the choice between actively participating in creating your life or becoming an unconscious passenger.

(Personally, I’ve been both, so I can tell you with 100% certainty that conscious creation is much more fun!)

But even in the Law of Attraction community, there are often big issues when it comes to setting intentions.

The very act of setting an intention is staking a claim in your own future.

Intentions become the roadmap; without them, we’re riding a bike around but not headed anywhere in particular.

Of course, lovely things can still happen to you when you don’t have a sense of direction! But if there’s somewhere you want to go, then you need to create a plan for getting there.

When you’re not used to setting a concrete direction for yourself, it can be easy to underestimate the power of this act.

But make no mistake: without an intention, we’re just reacting to what happens to us, not actively creating the life that we desire.

It’s easy to overlook how important this act is so I challenge you to try it out for a week and see how it goes!

Of course, the true magic lies not in just deciding on what you want! Once you know what you want, you’ll subconsciously start making a million microdecisions that will actually help you get there.

Not to mention, that it’s only when the Universe knows what you want that it can conspire to help you achieve it. That’s why the simple act of setting intentions makes you magnetic to the very things you desire!

So to help inspire you to start setting more intentions for your life, here are four ways you can start using intentions to create massive change:

4 Ways To Use Intentions To Change Your Life

Use Intentions To Change Your Life Tip #1:

Long-Term Intentions

Long-term intentions are the ones you’ve probably set already. Think: your New Year’s resolutions, your one-year or five-year plan. While of course, it’s important to plan long term, the problem is that those big scary goals are often too big and scary for us to tackle head on!

So it’s also important to break them down into manageable chunks so you never feel overwhelmed or like you’re in over your head. If your goal seems too out there or unrealistic, it’s time to recalibrate. Intentions should always feel invigorating yet manageable, not like you’re asking for the impossible.

Use Intentions To Change Your Life Tip #2:

Daily Intentions

Every morning gives you a blank slate. It’s a fresh beginning–and it’s up to YOU to decide on where you’re going. Daily intentions are one of the most powerful practices you can do! While we plan for a distant future, it’s often too easy to forget just how much you can get done in one day!

So every morning, right after you wake up, it’s time to get intentional about what you’re creating for the day ahead. I like to set three different intentions each morning about how I want to feel and what I want to happen throughout the day.

Daily intentions seem to work so well in part because short-term goals aren’t so scary! You can relax here and practice manifesting fun things like rainbows or white birds. Or just set the intention to have something funny or unexpected to happen! Then once you see just how magical and crazy the Law of Attraction really is you can double down on the more serious stuff! Manifesting should always be fun and this practice is a good way to remind yourself of that.

Use Intentions To Change Your Life Tip #3:

Event Intentions

Every single important event that occurs in your life is an ideal opportunity to set an intention. Think: first dates, special presentations, job interviews. When I first started doing this I found it kind of crazy how few intentions I had set in the past!

Of course, we all walk into every first date and job interview thinking we want it to go well. But why not get more specific about what we want to have happen? Do you want to share a laugh? Have a great connection or intense attraction? Be offered a position for even more money than you anticipated?

As the saying goes, when you shoot for the moon you land in the stars! So try being bold and deliberate with your intentions and watch just how often they start to come true!

Use Intentions To Change Your Life Tip #4:

Business Intentions

As much as I’m an enthusiast of the Law of Attraction, applying intentions to my business is something I’ve only recently started doing! But it’s just as important to decide on what I want to happen in my business as it is for the rest of my life!

So I’ve started setting separate intentions, for my Facebook group, Instagram and blog. I’m going to make it a habit to reset and recalibrate them regularly. But you can do the same for your work, whether you’re self-employed or not.

The Sky’s The Limit

Intentions differ slightly from goals because they’re much more flexible. They can be big or small, important or whimsical. You can set them for actual events, for your emotional or mental state or for a certain outcome. You can also set them for other people in your life or for the world at large.

Basically, you can set an intention for anything you like! They’re like a wish but with the extra added power of intention. You’re not just wishing for something outside of yourself to magically happen; you’re doing the work of deciding on an outcome and calling it into you. It’s a simple yet profound practice, which is exactly why I love it so much.

I hope this post inspires you to add more intention to your regular routine! If you try it out, be sure to report back. I’d LOVE to hear how it works out for you.

Have fun with it and thank you so much for reading!

PS Looking for more? You might also want to check out this post about how to liberate your desire or this one about how to feel abundant even when you’re broke.

Why Good Intentions Aren’t Enough! 3 Subconscious Blocks To Manifestation