Intent…

The word intent has been coming up a lot for me lately. I find it in reading, I find the necessity of using it in writing, I find it popping up in conversations. Why? What is it about this word that I’m being told to look for?

I know that I’m the kind of person that intends to do things. I always intend to complete the writing assignments I have. And eventually I do, but it’s usually cutting it close to the deadlines. I intend to do dishes and then get caught up in doing something else. I intend to rake the leaves, but it rains on that day. I intend to do a lot of things that don’t always get done.

Perhaps that’s the key. Intent is not the same thing as intend. When you intend to do something you have it in mind and even have plans for it. That doesn’t mean you complete it or even make good those plans. But intent is different. Intent is the other side of the words meaning. To have intent is to do something with a specific purpose in mind.

A few days ago I wrote about how when you’re pagan you do things with intent and create change through the force of your will.

I haven’t been doing that at all. I’ve been going through the motions but not feeling anything when I do it. I can sit here at my desk trying to write and I find myself with my chin in my hand completely bored with what I’m supposed to be interested in. This is no way to do things. I wrote an article about Zen tea drinking meditations and I realized that I never did any of the things I talked about. Not any more. I used to revel in the feeling of things. In the motions.

As I write this I’m starting to think that perhaps this is part of the journey I’m on. This realization of what I used to do compared to what I do now. I need to do everything with intent, as I once did. I need to go outside and be amazed by the different colors of grey and blue the sky has. I need to enjoy the motions of what I do to see the beauty in the shuffling of my feet or bounce in my step. I should see the action for what it will bring, what it causes, and then watch and feel the reaction.

Move through life with intent.

Pounds lost: 12.5 (376.5)

Daily insight: There’s beauty in the simple act of walking across a room.

Ounces of water consumed: 80

Steps in the right direction: 44