Does awareness have its own power to bring about results? In other words, leaving aside the work needed to create an accomplishment, can you find a quicker, easier path by being more conscious? To find out, you must use a different kind of focus, known as “clear intention” according to Deepak Chora, MD and Founder of The Chopra Foundation, in his post Conscious Lifestyle: Awareness Skills – Holding focus.

Chopra goes on to say, “Knowing what you want, uncomplicated by confusion, is a clear intention. Your body obeys clear intentions more easily than confused intentions. Every time you hesitate or feel mixed emotions, your intention is no longer clear. It’s the difference between running a marathon burning to win and running the same marathon worrying that you might collapse halfway through. The brain is thrown off by mixed messages, even when they are subtle.

The problem of mixed motives leads to much frustration. Think of how hard it has been to make decisions in your own life when you felt ambivalent, indecisive, or unsupported in your decision-making. These factors affect not just you but the entire situation. Worse still are decisions that must be made where there is distrust, rivalry, and hidden agendas. A group of people with mixed motives isn’t conducive to reaching any goal smoothly, and when a bad result occurs and outsiders ask, ‘What were they thinking?’ The answer is usually, ‘They were thinking too many things at once.’ ”

“In every area of life, intentions become murky when you;

• Don’t really know what you want,
• Think you don’t deserve to get what you want,
• Feel skeptical that any result will come,
• Have mixed motives,
• Experience inner conflict.”

Focused intention has long been given inexplicable power, says Chopra in his post. “With clarity comes focus, and when you are focused, the power of awareness is activated. The secret to holding focus is to make it effortless. The image of a genius with furrowed brow concentrating like mad is the wrong image. Awareness likes to be focused when it is pleased – that’s why two people in love can’t tear their eyes off each other. They drink each other in; there’s no effort involved.

So apply your focus to the things that charm you. Put your energy on things you love but also on things that most easily hold your attention and make you feel energized and vital.

That kind of focus is effortless but not passive. It involves the following:

• You relax into a receptive state.
• You are quiet inside.
• The experience is allowed to sink in.
• You are filled with a subtle feeling of curiosity, pleasure, wonder, or love.
• You appreciate this feeling and allow it to linger.

In short, this is one of the gentlest skills in awareness, and one of the most pleasing.”

via The Conscious Lifestyle: Awareness Skills – Holding focus | LinkedIn.