Intention Inspired

Today, let's reclaim more life-force energy by releasing patterns, again and again, with patient endurance.

Once we recognize a pattern and develop a practice to disidentify with it, the last step is to release the pattern again and again with the practice. Whenever the pattern rises, release it with attention. Step by step, all the triggers, associations, and components of the pattern are identified and we are able to experience them in attention. The unreleased experience is released in awareness, and the pattern falls apart.

🧸 HAVE YOU NOTICED?

The power of patterns to degrade attention is impressive.

Most patterns have been in place for a long time. They consist of solid structures of beliefs, personality traits, and behaviors. They use every available resource to degrade attention—exaggerated fears, distorted perceptions, depression, elaborate realizations, or physical illness. So good on you! It's courageous and commendable work to consistently dismantle a pattern and reclaim the precious life-force energy they require to operate.

🦁 COURAGEOUS ACTION

Consistent releasing is the key to freedom.

As we observe and release deeper and deeper into a pattern's structure, the energy stored in the pattern is released. The energy of the pattern, which is transformed into attention, increases our ability to release deeper into the pattern. The more a pattern is released, the more energy the pattern will try to consume to maintain its operation. Consistency in the form of patient endurance is the only way to get through.

💪 LET'S PRACTICE!

Whenever a pattern arises, release it immediately, with consistent R & R:

(1) Recognize when your attention is being overtaken by a pattern.

Initial recognition of a pattern usually takes place after it operates because its very function is to erode attention.

(2) Releasing the pattern by bringing attention to its operation.

Notice how the operation of the pattern affects your emotions, body, and mind.

Repeat as often as you notice a pattern.

In the end, the work of releasing patterns comes down to a single question: who is going to live your life—you or your patterns?

Recognize and Release whenever you can, it may just save your life.

📣 TRAIL MANTRA

With this breath, I release.

👯‍♂️ COMMUNITY CONVERSATION

What one thing has been key to your commitment of releasing patterns?

👋 Join the community conversation at https://iam.intentioninspired.com

💌 Get the Daily Intention Newsletter at https://intentioninspired.com/daily/

Today, let's develop a simple and reliable practice that interrupts the attention-erosion process of a pattern.

"If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in your heart."

— Pema Chödrön, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living

👁 TODAY'S INTENTION

The purpose of a pattern interrupting practice is to reclaim the energy and attention that a pattern needs to run. The practice can be very simple—for instance, if you observe that you are triggered into reactivity by stop-and-go traffic, rest your attention on your breath whenever the traffic comes to a stop. Constant observation inevitably reveals other possibilities—let's explore!

🧐 HAVE YOU NOTICED?

Patterns are only limited by the amount of energy available to them.

Patterns have no internal mechanisms that limit their operation or evolution. To dismantle a pattern, we have to disrupt the operation of the pattern by systematically bringing attention to its operation. The energy then flows into attention, not into the pattern.

💪 LET'S PRACTICE

Simplicity and consistency for the win!

Intentionally changing our behavior from a well-set pattern can be challenging. But as we play with different ways to practice reclaiming our attention, identification with a pattern becomes weaker and weaker.

(1) Bring to mind a common pattern you've noticed running your life.

(2) Think of something you can do to remind yourself to return to attention as the pattern in running:

• bring attention to a big juicy breath

• snap a rubber band around your wrist

• bring awareness to sensations in the body

• find one thing in your environment that sparks joy

• anything that reclaims your attention will do

As we intentionally separate from a pattern, we'll naturally come up with more and more ways to practice. Enjoy reclaiming that precious energy✨ 😃 🙌

👯‍♂️ COMMUNITY CONVERSATION

What is one practice that has helped you reclaim your attention from a pattern's reactivity?

👋 Join the community conversation at https://iam.intentioninspired.com

💌 Get the Daily Intention Newsletter at https://intentioninspired.com/daily/

Today, let's practice dying to a pattern by disidentifying with it.

A student asked Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Why do we practice?"

He replied, "To make the best of a bad situation."

👁 TODAY'S INTENTION

Disidentification is the process through which a pattern becomes an object of attention. The big fear in disidentification is that we won't be able to function without the pattern. Fair enough! The more our identity relies on a pattern, the more it will feel like a part of us will have to die to be free from it. Trust the process: as we die to a pattern's mechanical attention-eroding process, we naturally open to more presence and live with more intention.

🔥 RELEASING RITUALS

How do we develop the willingness to die?

by honestly facing the predicament we are in

by opening to how things are

by questioning the nature of things

by caring about what is

by practicing, one inspired intention at a time ...

💪 LET'S PRACTICE

To disidentify a pattern, we simply and consistently bring attention to it.

In disidentification, we really see how we can be more present in our life, but the attachment to patterns is so strong that we often abandon ourselves at precisely this point. For this reason, choosing weaker patterns to practice disidentifying with may be more useful than stronger ones.

(1) Bring to mind a pattern you have recognized in yourself.

(2) See the pattern as a process that operates independently of your intention.

(3) Observe the pattern in attention.

(4) The pattern will appear to disappear.

(5) You will feel a release of energy, a deeper pattern underneath, or both.

(6) Return to seeing the pattern as a process.

Observe the pattern in attention, and repeat.

📣 AFFIRMATION

I am pure awareness.

(In Sanskrit: सो चैतन्य Soham Chaitanya)

I am not my thoughts.

I am aware of my thoughts.

I am not my feelings.

I am aware of my feelings.

I am not my patterns.

I am aware of my patterns.

I release all that does not serve into pure awareness.

👯‍♂️ COMMUNITY CONVERSATION

What is one thing you notice when you hold a pattern in attention?

Join the community conversation at https://iam.intentioninspired.com/posts/the-daily-intent-disidentify-dying-a-patterns-world

💌 Get the Daily Intention Newsletter at https://intentioninspired.com/daily/

Today, let's recognize when we're operating from reactive patterns so that we can live with more intention.

"I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars." – Og Mandino

TODAY'S INTENTION

Patterns operate to degrade our attention because they operate from fears of the past or anxieties of the future. By recognizing the energetic drain of reactive patterns, we create the opportunity to live with more presence in ways that align with our most liberating intentions.

HAVE YOU NOTICED?

Reactive patterns operate stronger in adversity.

Friends, teachers, or significant others are very helpful in our effort to recognize patterned behavior. Every more helpful (though more difficult to appreciate in the moment), are the contributions that come from people and situations that create more adversity within us. By paying attention to how we react under stress, we can see patterned behavior clearly.

Reactive patterns create unfulfilled expectations.

Careful observation of actions and their results eventually leads us to recognize patterns. When our actions are consistently contrary to our intentions or expectations, we know we're operating out of a pattern.

LET'S PRACTICE!

To recognize, we simply bring attention to the pattern, again and again, and observe, again and again.

1) Take a reactive pattern you have observed within yourself.

2) Sit in attention, and let the pattern play out in your imagination.

3) Any of the following points can be used to recognize the pattern more clearly:

• shifts in the body, emotional state, or perception of things

• a repeated chain of reactive emotions

• the way the pattern projects a world

• familiar automatic behaviors—physical, verbal, mental

• familiar results, such as how your relationship with others is affected

• a divergence between your intention and what actually happens

NICE WORK!

Honestly taking a look at our patterns is a courageous practice.

It can feel vulnerable as we feel the unfelt emotions that created the pattern in the first place. The repeated practice of recognizing and observing a pattern cultivates a higher level of attention—interrupting the pattern, releasing stuck energy, and dissolving the pattern's operation.

AFFIRMATION

Lightness is my true self.

In Sanskrit: Om Svayam Agurutva.

The inner light I keep is always on and always alive.

Nothing heavy can obstruct who I really am deep down inside.

I am endlessly renewed in the present moment, so here, and now, I abide.

I recognize patterns as they arise, and in doing so become free from their grip.

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION

What is one supportive relationship that helps you recognize your reactive patterns of behavior?

We'd love to hear in our community comments at:

https://iam.intentioninspired.com/posts/the-daily-intent-recognize-clearly-seeing-patterned-behavior

Get the Daily Intent newsletter 💌👉 https://intentioninspired.com/daily

Explore The "Art" of Self-Discovery online journey at https://intentioninspired.com/discovery

Let's discover our worthiness and within it, our greater capability.

This week, we dig and delve deeper into our understanding of our own selves to realize that we can handle life's challenges with competency and grace. With our observation we can prove that we are worthy and deserving of love and happiness.

Our self-esteem is one of our deepest psychological needs.

We are generally our worst critics and our judgments of ourselves dictate how fully we allow ourselves to live and love. It can be said that our "concept of self tends to be our destiny". It is our higher self that knows the truth of who we are without judgment or analysis. In this segment, we look at our higher self.

Episode art is called "Celestial Union" by Rassouli

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Explore The full online journey at intentioninspired.com/discovery

Explore The "Art" of Self-Discovery online journey at https://intentioninspired.com/discovery

It may have occurred to you as you worked through the last segment, that it is not only our "negative" emotions that we have been burying.

We are a social species. Our connection to our "tribe" is of the utmost importance to our well-being. Sometimes we try to make sure that we do not "upset that applecart" by seeming like "too much". If we have been led to believe that what others think or feel is somehow our responsibility, it is likely that we will "contain" our passion or joy to "protect" them.

Imagine, unknowingly, walking into a group of people that are discussing the pain of someone's upcoming divorce after you have won $5000 dollars. What does your "training" tell you is the appropriate behavior?

In this segment we will observe how we may be masking or burying our passion, enthusiasm or joy (or other "positive" emotions) and why.

Let's begin!

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Episode art is called "Celestial Union" by Rassouli

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Explore The full online journey at intentioninspired.com/discovery

Explore The "Art" of Self-Discovery online journey at https://intentioninspired.com/discovery

We begin this week of our self-discovery journey by exploring emotional intelligence.

Being able to accurately and honestly identify our emotions helps us come back into the present moment by grounding ourselves in our body, assessing our needs, managing reactions with self-awareness, and engaging in more thoughtful decision-making. This is "Emotional Intelligence". Despite the fact that the words "feelings" and "emotions" get used interchangeably they are actually two different, connected, phenomena.

Emotions are the raw data, a reaction to the present reality which generally manifests as a physical/body sensation such as a change in breathing, butterflies in your stomach, sweating, etc.

Once the body speaks we make a "value judgment" based on these sensations. A "value judgment" is a rapid interpretation of the experience followed by our response (hide, step forward, yell, run, etc.). These responses can be valuable information for self-discovery once a pattern is observed.

Feelings manifest first as a thought (sometimes a thought about the emotion we are experiencing). They are an emotional manifestation of conditioning, perceptions, and beliefs. They may be influenced by emotion but our feelings can be distorted or diluted by stories we’ve created in our head based on events of the past or fears of the future—not necessarily the truth of the situation. With practice, we can ask "Is this true?" "Have I correctly identified this feeling place or the emotion connected to it?" and look carefully at how the feeling place is serving you, how often you feel it, and what experiences trigger it.

Listening to our body, informed by our sense perceptions, helps us connect to the reality of our present experience rather than to stories made up of potentially inaccurate perceptions. By becoming adept at honestly identifying our emotions and employing both curiosity and a lack of judgment we can become "emotionally intelligent".

Let's begin...

Explore The "Art" of Self-Discovery online journey at https://intentioninspired.com/discovery

To access subconscious information about the people of our past we called on our Inner Child.

There is a clear distinction between our perceptions of "The Past" and the Child Within. It is understood that the past is behind us but our Inner Child (and our Inner Teen) shape who we are as an "Integrated Self". The child that lives within has their own values, perceptions and way of processing experience and a longing to live life fully. We are witness to their presence when we act or react to experiences in the present with the consciousness of who we once were.

We can honor the presence of our Inner Child by allowing their voice to be heard.

When our Child feels heard, safe, and loved it does not feel the need to "act out" or demand our attention. If we have befriended our Inner Child we clearly see the spontaneity, curiosity, and beauty that our child provides. If we have ignored that child or resisted their presence we may be experiencing "tantrums" that are difficult to understand.

In this segment, we expand our understanding of childhood perceptions and beliefs. Let's dive in!

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Episode art is called "Celestial Union" by Rassouli

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Explore The full online journey at intentioninspired.com/discovery

Explore The "Art" of Self-Discovery online journey at https://intentioninspired.com/discovery

As we begin to understand more about the human brain we also begin to understand how our conditioning is impacting our reality.

Because of the way our brain (especially during development) processes our experiences we come up with the most brilliant solutions for surviving the wide spectrum of "traumas" we may encounter. For the ability to come up with these brilliant solutions we can be grateful. At some point, these brilliant solutions were our saving grace. It is possible, that these "brilliant solutions" are no longer serving us.

Other species, when faced with high-stress situations, run and shake off the stress hormones that are created.

Once the situation is resolved, they are back to eating or whatever they were doing. They process in real-time even if they meet the same experience many times. They do not run their experience through an analytical mind filter, they do not create a story, they do not judge themselves or the experience.

Watch as this antelope freezes from the stress response of a cheetah attack and then, once free, shakes off the stress stressful event.

Play Video

As an exercise in observation and discovery only, this week we will look to the past.

To the people and experiences of the past. Not to perpetuate a trauma story but to make peace with it. Not to blame, shame, or judge ourselves or others but to identify and gain clarity.

Let's begin ...

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Episode art is by Rassouli

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Explore The full online journey at intentioninspired.com/discovery

Explore The "Art" of Self-Discovery online journey at https://intentioninspired.com/discovery

Things that seem true and universal are often just our own unique experience of the world.

What we perceive in any given moment is not only determined by sensory input, but by our past experience, physical abilities, energy levels, feelings, social identities, past conditioning and more.

Even though perception is not reality it can certainly appear and feel like it is real. Perception can become a person’s reality. It certainly has a potent influence on how we interpret our reality. That is one reason that we have to dig so deep to unearth our conditioning. After years of habitually using our perceptions and imagined beliefs to validate or protect ourselves we have convinced ourselves that they are fact.

Keep that in mind as we move through our journey (and when dealing with others). Compassion and courage, for ourselves and others, are needed as we travel this path.

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Episode art is called "Love Glance", created by Rassouli

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Explore The full online journey at intentioninspired.com/discovery