When we wake up in the morning, here’s what happens to most of us. Residual thought from the day before, whether it be more positive or negative, quickly comes to mind. With that and all the familiarity from yesterday’s events, the mind is quickly back on track to continue the course from the day before.

In other words, there is momentum from our repeated thinking (and the beliefs that underlie those thoughts) which is simply a fact of life. It is inevitable.

Momentum is like gravity. It’s always there, and either it can serve us…or squash us.

There Is a Moment, However…

If we are paying close attention, when we awaken there is a moment, albeit often brief, where we are free of yesterday’s momentum of thought. If we had an awesome day, it’s a wonderful experience to allow that moment to be filled with yesterday’s positive momentum, to then carry us forward into the day with hope and inspiration.

If it was a lousy day or even a lousy month, we still often have this moment of freedom as we awaken. The thoughts of yesterday have not yet rushed in. And this then is a very, very powerful point of leverage if we want to shape a better day ahead.

Intentions: How We Use This Leverage Point to Our Advantage.

This is the moment where we can start a profound shift, seizing our new understanding of momentum. Since we have a brief reprieve from the past during this moment, we can instantly begin to insert specific intentions for our day ahead. This is where we can begin to direct our destiny, rather than surrendering to the struggles of the past.

Some of you may say you have tried using intentions, and this has not worked. Let’s consider why that might be:

Intentions Are Most Often Puny.

When speaking with clients about their intentions, several problems emerge. First and foremost, many folks tend to set rather puny, weak intentions. They do not recognize that to have an awesome morning, we must live with the intention of awesomeness in our day.

Intentions Are Often Focused on What We Don’t Want.

Another huge mistake is that the human mind tends to obsess over what ‘it’ doesn’t like or doesn’t want. We don’t want the kids to be late for school, or we don’t want our spouse to be grumpy, and we really hate it if someone else is not doing what they are supposed to do. We can easily obsess over feeling taken advantage of and wallow in our anger at someone else. When asked to set a positive intention, most folks will answer with, ‘I don’t want them to do _____ (fill in the blank).

Remember: We Get What We Think About Most!

Thus, when setting useful, powerful intentions, we must turn toward what we want to experience, and abandon interest in what we dislike, disagree with, or don’t want. We must use our power to focus upon where we want to go and select intentions that bring us to a good feeling state through positive focus. Not a focus on removing the negative.

Intentions Are Often Focused Upon Others Changing First.

This is another futile, and frustrating path to using intentions. When we expect others to change, in order for us to have a happier, better life, we are on a painful, and delusional path. The world doesn’t work that way. If I want to feel better or think better thoughts today, it will be my job to prepare my path of the day with more positive thoughts and actions.

One way to do that is by focusing on intentions that are within your power or control. You are the creator of what you do next. In this magical moment upon awakening, you can insert intentions, thoughts, and a vision of HOW you want to be in this day. How do you want to greet those you love in the morning? How much would you like to laugh today? How much would you like to enjoy the tasks or work ahead of you?

Intentions Don’t Get Practiced with Emotion.

Most folks take the whole thing casually. For intentions to have maximum impact, we must practice them. In this case, we write them down before we go to bed. We visualize being the person we want to be and feeling too good an emotion of that. And we fade off to sleep, repeating the intention in our minds.

You Have More Control Than You Realize.

While the majority do not think this is within their control, it is. The problem is the issue of momentum. If you turn to the past and use that data to prove (in advance of your day today), that such efforts will fail.

You win. It will fail. You always get what you repeatedly fight for.

But if want to turn things around for yourself, as the momentum of the past really stinks, then I would ask you to consider diving deep into this leverage point. When we do Neurofeedback with our clients, we can watch the power of positive intentions change certain characteristics of their brain waves. The impact is not imaginary. It is real and will make a difference.

If you have a huge negative momentum behind you, this will take practice. And some days, the intention may only last till breakfast. No big deal. Get up tomorrow and repeat. Within a few weeks, the power of that intention will spread further and further into your day. This is inevitable, if you practice, focus on the positive intention, and take advantage of this leverage point.

Neurofeedback is a powerful tool that can help you with turning things around when coupled with powerful tools, such as using morning intentions. With depression and anxiety, for example, Neurofeedback can help correct brain wave patterns, to bring more ease and happiness without the side effects and disempowering impact of medications. Please reach out if you have questions about how you might couple your self-effort with Neurofeedback to get lasting change.