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Healing is a process of restoring balance, energy, and meaning.  It involves the unification of desire, purpose, action, receptivity and faith.  It doesn’t necessarily mean nothing hurts or your condition goes away, but it does offer you a new relationship with life, yourself and others.

Intention

Intention involves assigning a focus to your day or specific task, choosing a deliberate idea or theme to pay attention to, in order to create a desired experience.  For example, someone facing a terminal illness may intend to find a way to restore complete health, or to die with ease and peace, feeling resolved about relationships and life choices.  Intention is personal.

It helps to practice assigning intention in daily life.  When heading to work, or after meditation is a good time to initiate setting an intention – such as, “May I and those around me be fully protected.  May I find ease and joy in every encounter.  May I feel effortlessly productive and nourished.  I intend to ask, share and shine today.”  In a way, it’s sort of like prayer – in that we are opening up, asking for what we want – but instead of beseeching God for a favor, we are claiming the ability to manifest our desire through the process of clarification and concentration.

A good intention is specific, though not too specific – enough so that we’d recognize it, but not so narrow in focus that it feels constricting – as if we are trying to control the outcome.  Intention-setting really enhances a quality of life and is process-oriented rather than performance or outcome-focused.  The neatest part is we needn’t have any idea HOW our intention will come about! Once we commit to the vision, the process generally tends to unfold.  The more receptive and willing we are to act on intuitive prompts, the easier it happens.

Intentional Healing

Intentional healing puts these two together – we align with what we want.  We orient towards something positive.  It doesn’t work very well to set a negative intention – say to avoid running into an ex-friend or partner.  Focus on what you want, in the most positive terms.  What you want can change from day to day, week to week, even hour by hour.  So it’s important to establish an intention when you are feeling at your best – and not beleaguered or in shock.

Start by Asking

You can start by asking yourself, “What do I want?”  It helps to preface it with, “If I had all the time and resources I needed. . . because we can limit what we think we want based upon what we think is practical, when in fact, it’s just that we are viewing possibilities through a lens of limitation.  Then record your responses – much like a brainstorming session, where you do not editorialize or even evaluate your answers.  Just get the creative juices of desire flowing.

Many of us don’t even ask this important question!  A mentor in healing, Jerry Sanders, recommended we take this question out into nature, on a walk, or into conversation with spirit, an acquaintance or even a stranger!  Daydream – be willing to use your imagination – think expansively and see what comes.