The Magic of living with intention

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The Magic (Poem)

It’s a mystical power just within our reach

Tough to master but easy to teach

Like words that form after writing for hours

A strange voice surfaces we know isn’t ours

We must nurture The Magic so not to waste

Effort and dedication what it craves to taste

It grows from listening, reading and waking

Available to us all, it’s ours for the taking

The challenge lies in its resistance to idle

It only shows when we put in our miles

Have faith The Magic always comes about

It also sees precisely what we put out

The Magic can’t be fooled and it does not play

It notices when we miss just a couple days

Commitment one of The Magic’s strongest fuels

Test this truth and you see The Magic can be cruel

Fear not, The Magic can be forgiving too

It has a way of getting just enough out of you

Forgiveness is another piece of The Magic’s puzzle

Let things pass and you’ll have no trouble

Magic comes most easily with one simple action

Turns out love is The Magic’s greatest attraction

So pour love out for the world to soak up

You’ll have magic to fill even the deepest of cups

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This poem ignited my motivation to practice The 5 Buckets, write the book and start Student of Intention.

Around 5 am on a Saturday last March, I woke up with a thought I couldn’t shake. A thought about the power of commitment. How commitment enhances people, ideas and relationships. It adds strength, confidence and resilience. Commitment yields magic.

What started off as nothing more than a curious recognition developed into six stanzas. I include listening, forgiveness and dedication as other sources of magic.

As we head into the second month of 2021, can you think of a more appropriate message?

What is living with intention?

Props to my good friend, John Reed, for helping tease an answer out of me.

I define it as enjoying the pursuit of purpose.

Keep that word enjoy in mind.

I break down the pursuit of purpose into three parts: Action, Discovery and Alignment.

Action is showing up to the party. Getting out of bed, off the couch and into the world.

Hole to dig? Grab a shovel.

Mountain to climb? Reach for a rock.

Book to write? Put pen to paper.

Action is doing what needs done.

Readying our minds, body and relationships.

When we stumble onto our purpose, we show up ready to fulfill it.

The 5 Buckets help spur action. Action to practice living with intention. A practice in improving our creativity, health, learning… when open to it, download the Intention Guide and get moving.

Don’t wait. Start small. Learn as you go.

Discovery comes next. Our deliberate actions lead to awareness. We begin to better understand where we want to go, who we want to be and what we want to create.

Our Calling calls. And screams louder the more we act.

Then Alignment. As we continue steering our actions toward our purpose, The Universe understands how to assist our pursuit. Our actions and The Universe align.

Resources and opportunities surface. Helpful relationships make themselves available.

Forces join our cause.

Steven Pressfield explains in The Artist’s Journey:

It operates in real time and in the real world. It is connected to forces unconstrained by time and space, by reason or by nature’s laws. It is capable of summoning allies and assistance and of concentrating them on your behalf and in your cause. These forces are not only of the imagination - ideas, insights, wisdom, breakthroughs in your life and work - but also practical and material apparitions like friends and allies, connections, places to stay, money.

Remember that word, enjoy?

It is the glue holding this process together.

When we enjoy the pursuit, we find motivation to keep going.

We find time.

We find energy.

We find magic.

Have the gratitude to experience life and it all shows up in abundance.

Feeling extra intentional? Listen to the Student of Intention Podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.