Intention determines cause and effect (karma): whatever we intend, whether we know our intention or not, determines what we say and do. Which in turn determines whether we create suffering or peace in each moment.
In this way, the ancient texts say, we are the authors and heirs of our karma. What if we could pay attention closely enough to see, before we said or did anything, just what our intention was? Even better, what if our intention could be (mostly) generous and loving and kind?
Paying attention to intention, and cultivating kind intention: what about an intention for 2023, to do that?
Intention determines cause and effect (karma): whatever we intend, whether we know our intention or not, determines what we say and do. Which in turn determines whether we create suffering or peace in each moment.
In this way, the ancient texts say, we are the authors and heirs of our karma. What if we could pay attention closely enough to see, before we said or did anything, just what our intention was? Even better, what if our intention could be (mostly) generous and loving and kind?
Paying attention to intention, and cultivating kind intention: what about an intention for 2023, to do that?
Wake Up Call #377: Attention + Intention in 2023
Hi everyone, it’s Judi Cohen and this is Wake Up Call 377. Happy (almost) Gregorian New Year.
With just a couple of days to go before we say goodbye to 2022, I’ve been thinking about New Years resolutions versus intentions. We’ve probably all made resolutions but then what happens if we don’t live up to them? For my part, generally I either forget them, or I get irritated or disappointed with myself for not making them happen. How does that work for you – or, maybe you always follow your resolution. That’s amazing.
And then some folks I know don’t make resolutions at all because they feel they’re doing just fine and there’s nothing to change. Maybe that’s you.
Lots of ways to think about new year’s resolutions.
Instead of resolutions today, or for the end of 2022, I want to consider intention.
I could just substitute the word “intention” for the word “resolution” and then I’d be saying, I intend to work out five times a week in 2023. But I’d be meaning the same things as saying I’m making a resolution to do that. What I want to talk about is the practice of intention, meaning, intention in each moment.
So much of the time I’m running on autopilot. I have a commitment to slowing down, to paying attention to what’s going on in my heart, my body, this mind that’s comprised of both of those and much more – the gut, the nerves, all the senses.
Like just the other day: I was feeling grumpy. And I noticed I was acting grumpily. I could see it, and it was bugging me, which I guess was a good sign. But, I also felt stuck. I kept wishing “grumpy” would shift, wanting to feel less grumpy, wanting to feel kinder, more generous, more connected. And it just wasn’t happening.
Finally I realized I had to do something. So first, set the intention to let go of grumpiness. But still, there was something left, a residue, strong enough that grumpiness was still lurking. So then I did just a tiny little bit of metta practice. And slowly, slowly, like a creaky old woman getting up from a deep, comfortable chair, the mood shifted, and finally lifted. What a relief. And it lifted so much so that later, my partner said, “Is this a special night or something?,” which it wasn’t, but there was this change of mind, or of heart, and it was palpable
And I had that fist-in-the-air internal moment of feeling like, yes!, mindfulness – the dharma - is so cool.
What I’ve just described, though, is maybe what you could call the “back end” of intention. Grumpiness was happening so I set a different intention – metta - but grumpiness was springing from an intention, too. In other words, before each grumpy word and action, there was also intention. Or else I was being unconsciousness, defaulting to whatever was happening behind the curtain. That’s the mindful perspective: everything springs from intention. Think of it as a springing interest: we may not know what our intention is (or we might know but not want to see it), intention happens, then we speak or act. This is what Jack Kornfield, the co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and one of our great Western mindfulness teachers, says:
Becoming aware of intention is a key to awakening in moment-to-moment practice. In each situation that calls for our engagement, some inner intention will precede our response…. When our intentions are kind, the … result is very different from when they are greedy or aggressive. If we are not aware, we will unconsciously act out of habit and fear. But if we attend to our intentions, we can notice if they spring from the body of fear or from our deliberate thoughtfulness and care.
I love the way Jack presents a binary choice: if we attend to our intentions we can notice if they spring from either fear, on the one hand, or deliberate thoughtfulness and care, on the other. I think what he’s saying – and this is a little bit sad, to me, yet also very resonant – is that our default is fear.
Fear of what? Fear that we won’t get what we want. Jack offers this example: “Even the simplest words can have a vastly different effect depending on our intention. The phrase “What do you mean?” can sound accusing and judgmental or considerate and humble.”
In other words, if we don’t set an intention before we speak or act, whatever conditioned intention lurking beneath the surface will govern those words, those actions. And because we’re human, and in our case also because we’re lawyers, the risk we run is that the conditioned intention will be to try to get what we want. Which is sometimes just fine but even when our job is to get what we – or our clients - want, another and maybe better intention might be to understand. The inquiry Jack suggests is, “Am I speaking from a subtle sense of control or self-righteousness, or do I really wish to listen, to learn?”
What if we set an intention in our professional lives (or in our personal lives, too) to attend more closely to intention. And whenever we notice that our intention is anything other than generous and loving and kind, to re-set to one, or all, of those? Would we be less effective or more effective lawyers? I think more, but if you’re willing, try it and see. I’m going to do it.
As often as possible, I’m going to try to notice it before I speak or act. And when I forget – which I know I will – then I’m going to try to pay attention after the fact (which is often easier although not necessarily more pleasant, especially if my intention wasn’t kind). And either time – before or after – if the intention is anything other than generous and loving and kind, course-correct. Maybe it’s a moment or two of metta – that worked for me that one time. Maybe it’s an apology. I’ll know – we’ll all know – because the intention will be there.
If you decide to join me, then also, watch and see whether, over time, by attending more and more closely to intention, the neural wiring starts to connect into a default intention that’s more frequently generous and loving and kind – and patient and ethical joyful – dana, sila, k’shanti, virya: all the good things.
Let’s sit.
Intention determines cause and effect (karma):
whatever we intend, whether we know our intention or not,
determines what we say and do.
Which in turn determines whether we create suffering or peace
in each moment.
In this way, the ancient texts say,
we are the authors and heirs of our karma.
What if we could pay attention closely enough to see,
before we said or did anything, just what our intention was?
Even better, what if our intention could be
(mostly) generous and loving and kind?
Paying attention to intention, and cultivating kind intention:
what about an intention for 2023, to do that?
[Play the John Lennon Imagine video at the end of the Paramitas – whenever that is! (It’s bookmarked under Music.)]