The Power of Intentions with Elaine Starling

The Abundance Journey explores all the ways abundance shows up to help you expand the abundance you embody Express and experience as your journey unfolds.

Hi, this is Elaine Starling, the abundance ambassador and the host of The Abundance journey, podcast and video show. And I'm so psyched that you're here with me today because I want to share a little bit about intention and attention. This is exactly what I speak about in my TEDx talk, called Abundance is a choice. And with over 160,000 views and counting, we're really making a difference in how people view an abundance mindset and a poverty mindset. Now, one of the country's most foundational concepts is the idea of intention. Intention is how we want to feel in the present moment. And there are two different extremes for your intention, on one extreme, you may really, really, really want to be right. And so you're judging every single conversation, every single interaction, do they agree with me or don't they agree with me, there is a right and a wrong and I'm right, and everybody else is wrong. That kind of tunnel vision really doesn't serve you. So that's a big challenge. The other extreme of intention is being receptive, wide, open and comfortable hearing different perspectives and different ideas. Because you're confident in yourself, you don't feel the need to defend yourself, you already know what's a priority for you, you're open and willing to discover new opportunities and new ideas that might serve you. So one of the things that I really love to do is state what my intention is for the day, or state what my intention is for a project that I'm working on. So I wanted to share with you an example of one of the intentions that I use pretty regularly. I always start with in love and light, I hold the intention that I notice and joy, and appreciate even more, the divine love and guidance embedded in my own, and other people's thoughts, spoken words, and deeds. Let me break that down for you just a little bit. For me, it's all about the love and light, it really is. I know that we are partnered with the divine to get things done. And when I start acknowledging love and light, that that is the foundation of everything, it just kind of opens me up, it makes me much more receptive automatically. So I love starting my intention in loving light, I hold the intention. And I love the whole idea of I'm going to notice, it's it's kind of like When have you ever been looking for shooting stars on a dark, beautiful Starry Night, it's pretty interesting because you do have to kind of focus at one area of the star field. But then you open up your peripheral vision so that maybe there's a little flash of light off in the side and it grabs your attention, then you actually see the shooting star. But if you're super focused in just one area, you block off most of the starfield and you miss a lot of the shooting stars. So I love the idea that I deliberately notice I'm opening up my peripheral vision, to pay attention to anything on the outskirts. That may not be my normal idea of an opportunity. But something could surprise me something could come in at an unusual angle, they'd be really, really valuable for my business or for my life. I'm also going to enjoy it. I believe life is supposed to be joyous. Life is supposed to be fun. I want to make sure that that's the attitude. That's the energy that I play in all day long. No matter what I'm doing, whether it's a personal endeavor, or professional endeavor, I want to bring the joy to everything I do. So I don't just notice, I enjoy. And I appreciate for those of you who've done the abundance activation that at the end of my interviews, you know how important appreciation really is appreciating is all about the difference you can experience in your life. So I don't just notice opportunities, I enjoy the opportunities, and I appreciate the difference. It can contribute to my life or to my experience that really makes a difference. And I also specifically say so in love and light I hold the intention that I noticed, enjoy and appreciate even more. I already am, but it's even more it's even bigger. It's even more impressive. There's more there. And what am I noticing, enjoying and appreciating the divine love and guidance that is embedded in my own, as well as other people's thoughts, spoken words, and deeds are actions. So when I notice the divine love and guidance that is there for me, I'm in partnership with the divine. I'm asking questions, I'm seeking answers, and I'm trying to accomplish specific goals. And I'm not alone, I'm in partnership with the divine, I am divinely guided to find exactly the right tools and zactly, the right partners, exactly the right opportunities. And I it just takes a huge weight off knowing that it's not all on me, I have some support here. And by acknowledging that in my intention, and reminding my subconscious mind, look, there's hidden easter eggs all over the place, there's a lot of great opportunities embedded in tiny little things that you never would be paying attention to not your wildest dreams. But because you've told your unconscious mind by using this intention, look for this stuff, there's hidden opportunities all over the place, pay attention, notice it, and joy it and appreciate it. And all of a sudden, interesting things start to happen. I've used this example before, but I can't tell you how often I'll do the celebrating in advance, right, especially early in the morning. And I'll say, Hey, I would love to be two mentors. Because I'm really trying to figure something out. I'm trying to work out a puzzle for my business. And I really want guidance from two mentors today. And because I voiced that, and I write it down, my non conscious mind is activated. And as I'm out, going through my day, the weirdest things start to happen, I'll be standing in line at the grocery store or at a Starbucks, total strangers are standing in front of me, they're having a conversation, I have no idea what they're talking about. I don't know who is involved or what they're working on. But something they say, is exactly what I needed to hear. It's just like, serendipity out of the blue, I get a new idea. And it's not even that much about what they were saying. It just triggered something for me. And it's that simple. It's that easy. But we have to manage our intention. What's the intention that you want to have today, because picking the right intention makes all the difference in your experience, your intention in your heart, how you want to feel determines where your attention goes. And you want an intention that keeps you open and receptive. And then you want to make sure your attention is on all the things that are working for you. Because there's a lot of things that are working for you the same time, they're things that are not working for you. So pay attention to what is working, that is going to really open you up and inspire you and keep you in action so that you get a ton more done, and you have a lot more fun. So it's time to activate abundance.

Yeah, baby, we do this every single time. Celebrate in advance, celebrate in advance by creating an intention for yourself, because it will guide you through your entire day, create an intention at the beginning of every single project that you're working on. It really helps set the tone and keeps you centered and focused on what you're going to accomplish and how you're going to feel as you accomplish. It makes a huge, huge difference. So celebrate in advance what this can mean for you that you're willing to show up and try this. It's playful, it's fun, it's silly. Don't take yourself too seriously. Have fun with this. That's what it's all about. So step one, celebrate an event step to acknowledge acknowledge the power of your intention of where you're coming from, of who you are being in the moment. That is what leads everything. Everything that you do has to align with who you are in your heart and your intention how you want show up. If you are trying to step out of bad habits and do something different, but you haven't changed your intention inside. You'll never get there. Your intention drives everything else. So very cool to know acknowledge just how important your intention is and appreciate the difference that can make in your life. When you have a solid intention. You have this Guiding Light Ah, leading you to everything that you want, because that's what creates all those lovely serendipities. So, activate abundance by deciding when you're going to create your intention. Now I create my personal intention early in the morning when I'm journaling and I'm sitting for guidance, I create my professional intentions, right before I start a meeting. And I usually say what my intention is with the people that I'm meeting with. It's a way for me to celebrate in advance what our experience is going to be. Right? makes a ton of sense, doesn't it? So that's what I'm going to activate abundance and then I celebrate that this is a process that's incredibly powerful, and it's not difficult. It's super easy, but most of us don't remember to do that. Set your intention before every conversation. lead the conversation with your intention. And this is a shared vision and the value that everyone will receive from the conversation. It will change everything for you. This is Elaine Starling the abundance ambassador, I look forward to seeing you with the next abundance 30 episodes.