Most people love to set their intentions

The beginning of the intention-setting process is fun and full of potential!

You can dream until your heart is full, and then dream a little more.

But unfortunately, not many people see their intentions actually come to fruition.

That’s often because they set off with great purpose.

They do all the things that they’ve been told they should do. They complete their gratitude journal, say their affirmations and make their vision boards.

But then they get stuck.

They fall short of knowing exactly what they have to do to turn their intentions into reality.

They’ve created the perfect environment to nourish their intentions, but they don’t know what they need to do within that environment. They don’t know what to do between setting their intentions and actually achieving them.

So they feel as though they’re stuck in limbo.

You do need to create the right environment

Whilst affirmations and gratitude journals, etc are an essential part of the manifesting process, they’re not the whole process. They play a supporting role by helping to keep you focused and on track.

Think of it as being like when you garden. It’s essential to have the right soil to plant your seeds in, because the right kind of soil nourishes them. It gives them the best chance to grow and thrive.

Without preparing the right environment (or soil), you’re taking a gamble and hoping for the best.

Imagine throwing your seed out of your window and hoping it lands somewhere it can grow. Sure, it may find some soil. It may even land in the grass. But it could also land on concrete or paving stones. And whilst it may somehow manage to sprout between the cracks and then make the best of growing in its new surroundings, it’s not likely to thrive to its full potential.

Of course, that seed you threw out of the window might also never make it to the pavement. It could get eaten, or trampled on or washed away… In any of these cases, it would have no chance of even beginning to grow.

However, if you kept the seed and planted it in a flowerpot, it would have a much better chance of sprouting. And if you then kept it in the greenhouse and regularly talked positively to it (?) it would have a much greater chance of growing strong and healthy. That means it would be much more likely to thrive once it was ready to plant directly in the garden.

But creating that environment is only the first step

To grow a healthy garden, you need to do more than just plant seeds in the right kind of soil. As any seed starts to sprout and grow, you need to weed around it. Then, as it becomes a plant, you need to regularly water it, prune it, keep weeding around it, and eventually transplant it.

Saying affirmations and keeping a gratitude journal are a lot like getting the soil ready to plant the seed of your intentions in. They’re essential, but only the first part of the process.

For example, let’s assume you’ve created a nourishing environment for your intuition. You say your affirmations, and you’re clear on your vision. The next stage of the process forms out of the initial energy of potential and possibility, and things start to become a reality.

But… as you move forward, you may start to feel challenged. As your intention begins to grow, much like in your garden, you may come across some weeds.

These ‘weeds’ may try and slow you down. They may make you doubt yourself or question whether you can actually have what you desire. So, just like with your garden, you may need to do some ‘weeding’ in all areas of your life.

This may require you to (among many other things):

• Be intentional with your thoughts, energy and resources
• Be discerning about who you spend time with and how you spend your time
• Believe in yourself and your ability to ‘do hard things’ or make necessary changes
• Ignore any doubts you have
• Ignore the judgements and expectations of those around you
• Learn new skills
• Let go of old habits
• Overcome old stories, beliefs and patterns of behaviour

Ignoring the ‘weeding’ stops your intentions from growing

If you don’t clear the weeds that show up as you start taking action towards your dreams, they’ll slow you down. They may even sabotage any chance you have of successfully bringing your intention into reality.

As a result, you may tell yourself (and completely believe) that your intention ‘just wasn’t meant to be’. You could fall into the trap of living within the limits of your expectations, instead of in the magic of what’s really possible.

Now don’t get me wrong, weeding is hard work. It can be messy, accompanied by blood, sweat and tears… Hopefully, that’s only metaphorical blood, although the sweat and tears are likely.

But there isn’t a single person I know who’s achieved their biggest dreams without also getting messy with this kind of weeding.

How to tell if your intentions have a chance of happening

Not sure whether you’re ready to put all that effort into weeding?  When you set your intentions, ask yourself one question:

“Am I willing to do whatever’s necessary to bring this intention into being?”

Then answer it honestly.

If the answer is ‘Yes’, brilliant. Keep going!

That means you know how important your intention is to you. So when you come up against obstacles and challenges, you’re ready and prepared to do what’s needed.

If the answer is ‘No’, that’s brilliant too!

Now you can stop dreaming about what will never be more than just a dream. You can refocus your time, attention and energy on something that you are willing to make happen.

Asking – and honestly answering – this one question can save you a whole heap of time and energy after setting your intentions.

It also helps you to understand the motivation behind your intentions.

Often, people set intentions based on what they think is expected of them, or what they think makes them sound like a ‘good person’.

But when you set intentions this way, it’s hard to stay motivated in the face of any challenges.

Instead, you become disheartened and confused about why you can’t stick with your intention. The truth is that it was never ‘your’ intention in the first place.

So, are you willing to do what’s necessary?