Intention is Everything

By Mark Spencer, ITA NLP Trainer, Advanced NLP Coach

In the Video (below) Jim Carrey starts with

It is interesting when we consider intentions. Our intention can be taken as our purpose that we may have in mind for performing an action or setting off in a direction, so that we can reach a goal or an outcome. Some intentions take a lifetime to fulfill, some are satisfied in minutes.

Intentions are behind our many actions

Often our intentions are not vocalised, yet they are the driving force behind so many actions we take. When we face difficulties in achieving a goal, or we may even lose sight of the goal itself, in those moments – if we take a moment, and we remember the original intention we had, we can sometimes modify the goal or outcome to more accurately suit and satisfy the intention.

Hit and Miss?

Some of our actions are hit and miss – sometimes we reach the goal or outcome that we have set ourselves only to realise that it didn’t really meet the purpose of the original (unexplored) intention. When a mismatch happens, there might be a misalignment or an aspect of the intention that was not met or satisfied by the outcome. Like taking a holiday to a recommended location because you absolutely needed a break, but the specific nature of the location actually turned out to be too active for the relaxation you had in mind (real intention), or the place was too quiet and secluded when your real intention was to be emersed in the local culture, activities and new experiences.

The key here is to actually explore more of the details and depth of the intention, then align the possible outcomes to the intention, and then consider the associated consequences. Our deep intention might not be what the TV, magazine and brochure ads provide us with as a reason to travel to the location. These marketing ads in various shapes and sizes hit us with all the destinations, descriptions, products offers, grouped options. You might be influenced by their clever marketing and take the trip, but might also be disappointed afterwards when it does not match your true intention.

So, exploring the intention in full is the safest answer. By doing so, we can immediately draw upon our shortlist of important criteria, get specific answers that go deep into the topic or area we are working with.

Being intentional

There is much written about being intentional, and this paragraph is not about this common terminology. It is about simply considering the intentions as a separate facet of the goal setting process, rather than as many of the self-help sites that talk about “being intentional” and “acting with intent”… that basically try to make a distinction between being “intentional” as opposed to being “haphazard” or “unplanned”. There is however, a pattern we can follow to fully explore intentions.

The more we consider our activities from an intention stand-point, the better the outcomes and consequences will be for ourselves and those around us. From an NLP stand-point, we would use the Intentions, Outcomes and Consequences pattern to uncover the Intentions and even the intentions of those intentions, the potential outcomes, and the consequences both positive and negative, visit all three of these to gain more insight and adjust ourselves. The Intentions, Outcomes and Consequences pattern is a process that allows the person or client to check the full alignment between the Intention (having been fully considered unconsciously), the proposed Outcome, and the expected consequences, whatever form that the consequences come in, negative, positive, neutral, unrelated, inside their sphere of influence, outside, immediate and ongoing. It is a very enlightening process for all who experience it.

The Intentions, Outcomes and Consequences pattern was created by John Grinder, and we teach it on our NLP Foundations course.

Imagine an Intentional world

If we were to delve into our own deep intentions more often, I think we would have much better lives. These intentions are our driving force behind so many of our actions, in so many ways. They are closely aligned to our values, and our beliefs and even our (conscious) dreams – the things we wish for, conspire to create.

Imagine a world full of well-grounded people, living in a state of grace and harmony, where the world was although full of variations, was actually functioning perfectly, with a great sense of balance and yet each individual was free in their expression of their life, because they were all acting on intentions flowing from a deep sense of humanity, love and compassion… what a world we could have.

Jim Carrey says, “Our intention is everything… He goes on to talk about the role of spirituality and “intention” in his life.

Jim Carrey: Power of Intention & Visualization (Video)
Simply Refresh or Reload your screen if the video doesn’t load 1st time….

Another reference outside of NLP that might be of help for people who find that there intentions often end up not so well received: NVC explores intention from a non-violent perspective