Lakeshore Drive in Chicago was impassable last night due to a record-setting blizzard.  The Weather Channel is reporting thunder snow.

We have sunshine in Seattle.  It is time for me to return to my Journey to Joy.

Every journey needs a destination.  We experience joy when we love and are loved in return.  This is the mission of all our lives.

To achieve this mission, we need a clear intention ~ a unique reason for being.

What Is Intention?

Intention is our core point of view about life.  It reflects the unique path we have chosen to achieve our life’s mission.  Intention is what we seek ~ consciously or unconsciously.

My family of origin was steeped in poverty.  We weren’t poor.  Far from it.  But, there was most definitely a poverty of Spirit.  Lots of “poor me” control dramas.  Lots of martyrs who relished trumping each other with life’s angst and who resented other’s blessings.  They pulled themselves up by putting other people down.

This is the dark side of intention.  This is the hypocrisy of many “Christian” families ~ they go to church whenever the doors open, but they don’t seem to absorb the message of God’s love.

This morning I realized that my greatest act of teenage rebellion ~ I had thought I skipped this phase until I was in my 30s ~ was to get a job at age 13.  It was my way of saying, “screw you!  I’ll make my own damned money!”  And, I did.  I found the best paying job in town for a teenager and hung onto it.  I worked at the local library.

This morning I realized that the intention of my life has always been abundance.  Yet, I did not embrace it fully.  The “screw you” rebellion of my youth was still casting a shadow on the light of abundance.  My impoverished conditioning still had its hooks in my subconscious mind.

Intention and Sanctuary

We cannot manifest our life’s intention unless it is supported by the sanctuary ~ the safe havens ~ of our homes.  Unfortunately, many abuse survivors struggle with how to create a safe haven for themselves.  We associate “home” with chaos and tension.  We create an environment that pleases other people rather than one that feeds our own souls.  The net result is that our homes are cluttered and clogged.

We know we need to jettison, but we don’t know where to start.  What should we toss overboard?  What should we keep?  What will we need for our journey?

The answer lies in our intention.  And, we can’t be clear about our intention unless we have removed those childhood hooks that keep us tethered to the people who abused us.  In some cases, those hooks have been imbedded in our psyches for so long that we aren’t consciously aware that this is the source of our pain.

Sustaining Intention

There will always be people who challenge our intention ~ people who test our commitment ~ people who secretly wish we will fail miserably.  We need to jettison these people from our lives, or they will sabotage our success.

This is why fences have gates and houses have doors.  We need to exercise caution over who we admit into our lives.

We also need to make sure that when we open the door to our homes that we are entering a safe haven ~ an oasis where we can relax and re-create ~ a place that embodies and supports our intention.  We must have a sacred space ~ an environment ~ that helps us create and manifest our intention.

Intention helps us focus on what we need to keep and what we need to jettison.  Intention helps us set our priorities for each day.  Intention keeps us from getting distracted.  Intention is our internal GPS that keeps us on the right path in our journey to joy.

My intention is abundance.

What is your intention?  How are you manifesting it in the environment of your home?  Is your intention clear or is it cluttered?