When my children were young and starting to do chores around the house, we struggled with getting them to do a good job at their tasks. They would go through the motions of washing the dishes, but the dishes didn’t really get clean. They would vacuum the carpet, but not really care if the vacuum was clogged up and not picking anything up. As I think back on it now, they were doing exactly what they thought they were supposed to be doing. Their purpose was to wash the dishes or vacuum the carpet or whatever. Once they went through those motions, their purpose was accomplished and it was time to play.
How often in our lives are we just “going through the motions”? Of course, I didn’t just want my children to go through the motions of doing their chores. I wanted the dishes clean, the carpet clean, etc. That’s why I assigned them those tasks. But it took me a while to get them to understand that concept. In my own life, there have been times when I was just going through the motions, even though I didn’t always realize it. When I was young, I was taught (or so I understood) that if you be good and work hard, you’ll be rewarded with success. Later, I found that doesn’t always work. There were times when I was working like crazy and being a good boy and saying my prayers and so forth, but still I couldn’t get ahead. I realized that there was more to it. So I started listening to CD’s and reading books by people who were experts on how to get ahead in life. Many of them made it sound so easy. I tried implementing their suggestions, but still my progress was very slow and I would finally give up in frustration. I just wasn’t getting it.
Over the past few years, things have been turning around for me. I’ve picked up again on motivational speakers and authors and I think I’m finally starting to “get it”. It has a lot to do with faith. However, I prefer the word “intention”. I see intention as the purpose behind why you do what you do. Having a strong intention doesn’t guarantee success, but it makes it a whole lot more likely and will take you further than having a weak (or no) intention. Have you ever seen a football team come out onto the field where it just didn’t seem like they were there with the intention to win the game? It can be very frustrating when you’re the fan rooting for them to win. In any endeavor, if you don’t have a strong intention to win, the chances of winning are greatly diminished. Having an intention to “do your best” or “not lose” is NOT the same as fully intending to win.
In writing about faith in the past, I’ve referred to one of my favorite examples in the New Testament where the woman was cured of an issue of blood simply by touching the hem of the Savior’s clothes. Jesus felt virtue coming out of him, which in modern terms of energy work, we could say that he felt an energy shift. When he found the woman and determined what had happened, he told her that her faith had made her whole (healthy). I really don’t think Jesus was telling a little white lie to show humility. I believe he always told the truth. So it was the faith of this woman and not really an act on his part. Imagine if a friend of this woman told her to go and touch Jesus’ clothes and she would be healed, but she reacted with an attitude of, “OK, I’ll do it, but I don’t think it will work”. Do you think that she would have been healed? In this case, I would definitely say no.
In the healthcare work that I do, I’ve often wondered why two doctors would do apparently the same thing, but get very different results. There are many variables, such as the skill of the doctor, the condition of the patient, etc. However, I think there’s more to it. In the 30 years that I’ve been in practice, I’ve seen differences in myself as well as other practitioners, things that couldn’t always be explained. Now I see that a lot of it has to do with intention. One chiropractor can give someone an adjustment without much expectation, another can do it with the intention of helping the patient feel a little better, while yet another can do the same adjustment with the intention of seeing a miracle take place in the life of the patient. Will that last doctor always see a miracle with every adjustment he performs? Probably not, but he or she will see a lot more miracles in their practice than the doctor who never expects miracles or who is not treating with the intention of seeing miracles.
The same is true in every profession or endeavor. There will always be setbacks, but if your intention is to succeed, almost nothing can stop you. Whether you’re sweeping floors, bussing tables, or doing brain surgery, if your intention is to succeed, you’ll not only do a better job but receive greater satisfaction as well. Remember, wanting and needing is NOT the same thing as intending. I spent many years wanting and needing and working myself to a frazzle, but just getting more and more frustrated with not being able to provide sufficiently for my family. Even being deserving isn’t enough. When you’re not raised with a strong intention to succeed, when you’re just used to trying hard and doing your best (which isn’t wrong, but often is not enough to put you over the top), it can be tricky to learn. People who have found success often make it sound easy – “if I can do it, anyone can do it”. However, changing patterns of thinking that you’ve known all your life is seldom easy. I’ve been helped by people like Leslie Householder (author of The Jackrabbit Factor), Wayne Dyer, Russ Rosen, Angela Barrus and others, including my office partner, Joe Kepo’o, to help turn my thinking around. I still have to work at it so as not to drop back into old patterns of thinking, but to the extent that I’ve managed to have more purpose in my life and career, to the extent that I’ve been able to put more intention into what I do, I’ve been able to see far more success, not just monetarily but in helping people to have more miracles in their lives. THAT, my friends, is my true purpose in life. It’s why I do what I do – to change lives for the better through helping people heal both physically and emotionally. Life is wonderful.
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