A Prayer to Set a Delightful Intention

Can you "smell" other peoples' intentions? Over time and with more experience, you learn to detect when other people are genuine or just attempting to manipulate you for their own interests. They give you some clues by the way they listen. Are they present, curious, empathetic, or listening with an agenda? With time their true nature and intention are revealed. This is exactly how other people will size you up.

What about you as a leader? Do you know what is your leadership intention? Why are you leading the people who report to you? If you do, how do you reinforce your intention?

In her memoir, Dr. Chana Zelizer (1) who was a pediatrician shared that every day before she started work she recited the Prayer of the Physician (2) attributed to the medieval Jewish philosopher and physician Rambam (3).

"Almighty God, In your Eternal Providence you have chosen me to watch over the life and health of your creatures. I am now about to apply myself to the duties of my profession. Support me, Almighty God, in these great labors that they may benefit mankind, for without your help not even the least thing will succeed. Inspire me with love for my art and for your creatures. Do not allow thirst for profit, ambition for renown, and admiration, to interfere with my profession, for these are the enemies of truth and of love for mankind and they can lead astray in the great task of attending to the welfare of your creatures. Preserve the strength of my body and of my soul that they ever are ready to cheerfully help and support rich and poor, good and bad, enemy as well as a friend. In the sufferer let me see only the human being." (Click here for the full version ).

Dr. Zelizer wrote that praying her intention kept her true to her life mission and purpose and saved and healed thousands of patients. The morning prayer allowed her to always be present and be a good listener.

Dr. Zelizer was challenged again in her life when her husband passed away leaving her with two young kids and a big mortgage. She managed to make most of her earnings from house calls. One late night, in the middle of a blizzard storm she went for an emergency house call. When she came back drenched and tired. She told her son that she did not charge this time. "But why didn't you charge? You work so hard and need it." To that, she answered: "Son, you do not understand, they are so poor, they can't afford even to go to A&E. So I brought with me the sample medication that I get from the pharmaceutical sales representatives give me. You see son, I have three ways to charge. The poor do not have to pay, normal people pay normal prices and I charge the rich double. I always remember that I am here because of the generosity of the people who gave us food and shelter during the war. Without them, I wouldn't be here and you were not born."

On another occasion, she saved the life of an Arab boy on the same day when there was a terror attack. Challenged by her angry son she told him: "When I became a doctor I took the Hippocratic Oath. I will treat any child regardless of his/her race, gender, color, religion, affluence, or any other thing that artificially divides us. Every kid deserved to be healed. I am not a judge or the police. I am a healer."

Dr. Zelizer also won almost every year the top prize for administering her patients the least amount of medications in the entire country. As they grew up, many of Dr. Chana's patients refused to leave her and used her as their GP. And when they became parents, they brought their sick kids to her clinic.?

The benefits of A Prayer to Set a Delightful Intention

1. Your North Star: A prayer to set up intention keeps us on track towards our internal motivation. An important reminder of how we want to live our lives in the now. It keeps you inspired and motivated to be true to your internal purpose.
2. Authenticity: The practice of setting daily pure and delightful intentions through a prayer connects you to your values which reflect WHY you do what you do. Setting and living your intentions allows you to be who you are and aspire to be in the moment. You have a higher chance to feel satisfied at the end of the day, knowing that you were yourself, you did not need to pretend or put on a show.
3. Safety, Calm, and Humility: The acknowledgment that you are not almighty and that it is not all about you is a source of fostering inner calm, peace, and serenity. It is a sign of humility that unburdens you from the need to worry about yourself and what people will think of you. Prayer to set your intention gives you the strength to avoid temptations like vanity and only for self profit. Voicing your intentions to add value to others with your strengths protects you from distractions like focusing on your weaknesses and problems.
4. Energizing: By focusing on how you can benefit others you become more effective and filled with a sense of fulfillment. Doing what you do with a purpose and not just as a transaction is invigorating. It opens you to the state of delighting others and being delighted. Leading with your values raises your emotional energy and fills your heart with joy which in turn raises your physical energy.?
5. Positive emotions: Prayers for setting a delightful intention to serve others usually elicit positive feelings of gratitude, compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and hope. These induce the release of 'happy hormones' such as oxytocin and dopamine and inhibit the release of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline, thus reducing the negative impact of stress on your immune system. As a result, you feel more confident and less worried, stressed, and anxious.?
6. Prime yourself: In psychology, priming is described as a phenomenon whereby exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus. As humans, it is impossible to be motivated every day. Having a morning ritual of the prayer to set the delightful intention, will positively prime you for a better day.

As the Jewish story goes: In a panel of experts at a medical convention. A famous doctor shared that according to his research, the best intervention to avoid morning dizziness for heart and blood pressure patients is to sit up first and count until 12 before getting out of bed. His Jewish colleague on the panel said: "For hundreds of years before Jews get out of bed they sit and pray: Modeh ani l’fanecha, melech chai v’kayam, shehechezarta bi nishmati, b’chemla raba emunatecha" and that is exactly 12 counts."

The Hebrew version of?'Mode Ani'?prayer starts with "Thank you I". While it is grammatically incorrect, it signifies that gratitude should be the first word in a day that comes out of our mouths before focusing on ourselves and our needs.

So what is your prayer to set your delightful intention for your day?

(1) Dr. Chana Zelizer (1931-2006) was a refugee who lost almost her entire family in WWII and decided to become a pediatrician to save and heal the lives of children. She fulfilled her purpose and lived meaningful life of service to her community. She lost her husband in 1974 and raised her two kids Havi and Avi Liran.

(2) The Prayer of the Physician?is attributed to?Maimonides?(Rambam), a Jewish physician but was most probably written by Marcus Herz, a German physician, who was a pupil of Immanuel Kant. This prayer first appeared in print in 1793.

(3) Maimonides - the Ramban was a 12th-century Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. He was also a preeminent astronomer and physician, serving as the personal physician of Saladin.