Intention: Noun.
- the thing that you plan to do or achieve: an aim or purpose
- a determination to action a certain way: resolve
- import, significance
- what one intends to do or bring about
- a concept considered as the product of attention directed to an object of knowledge
Absorption: Noun.
- interception of radiant energy or sound waves
- entire occupation of the mind
I recently came across this amazing quote by Jenna Galbut on the Instagram account @amplifyyourvibration.
There are many times I read an exceptional quote like this and the words punch me right in the face, moving me temporarily into a sort of motion. Sometimes a quote may pluck at my emotional layers, creating a momentary crescendo in my heart. Other times, reading just a few short lines by someone amazing creates tears in my eyes. The words fill me up, and I let my cup runneth over. But then something else happens. I forget about it.
Often times we are moved into action on a temporary basis. We may see a film and relate to it so much that for a transitory chunk of time, it becomes a part of us. Or maybe we have that one line that helps us to define who we are, and it becomes our sort of personal mantra. But because we are who we inherently are, we return back to our original states of self-inflicted homeostasis. We fall in love with an idea, and then forget about it because we are much more comfortable with the familiar. In fact, I love the word “Intention” so much, I’ve got it tattooed on my wrist as a reminder. But I still forget.
In blatant honesty, I lay this at your feet: I hope to all the Gods that the idea conveyed within this quote decides to worm its way into my little pink heart and create within it a birthplace for this message to be countlessly regenerated until that little pink heart has beaten its last thump.
You see, my emotional boundaries are as thin as rice paper. As a Highly Sensitive Person and an Empath down to my very core, absorption is one of those things that just happens naturally within me. If asked, I could most likely tell you the emotion of each person in a room. And if someone is going through a difficult time or is excited to the nth degree, my empathy meter puts me smack dab in the middle of their emotion.
Living with these capabilities is both a blessing and a curse.
When I say “I know how you feel,” I truly mean it. I know when you ache with lust or your bones hurt from sorrow. I feel how stress can permeate your skin or excitement makes your hair stand up. I feel these things with you as deeply as if you lived inside me. And because I feel that, if you want it gone, I’ll do whatever I can to take it from you. In exchange, I’ll give you a little piece of me to help you keep going until the emotion no longer costumes your entire existence.
However, absorbing up your emotions and doling out little pieces of who I am takes its toll. If I truly love you, I have a difficult time discerning where you stop and I start. As the definition puts it, I intercept your radiation…. And this interception consumes my brain in its entirety.
Now let’s look at this from a wider view: the whole of humanity tends to radiate with negativity. Negativity is a “permeater.” It’s like being in a car with the doors and windows locked while your Uncle Bob’s intestines spew out the noxious fumes created by last night’s triple-layer burrito.
While I currently have the privilege of inhabiting Japan, a five-hour excursion in crowded Tokyo sets me back about two days. I need time alone to clear up the inner microcosmic explosions of hundreds of tourists, Japanese office workers, and the countless train-commuters that refuse to watch where they are going. I become the ball in a pinball machine, my emotional boundaries become non-existent, and if I don’t get the much needed time to recharge, I walk around like some sort of pissed off zombie.
However, reading this quote made me wonder… What if all of us (empaths or not) took just 30 minutes to experiment with the notion that we can create our environment based upon what we decide to transmit? What if, instead of picking up the radiations of others, we decided to radiate our own full-streaming ray of unadulterated glory?
Here’s an example. I have a ten year old. I am in no way exaggerating or biased when I say this little girl has something magic within her that people love. If you met her, you’d agree. That being said, she’s still a little kid with little kid habits. And I am a mom, with empathetic/HSP/parent habits. Poor kid, right?
On a drive back from eating out, she decides that she is going to pick any color she sees and repeat it as fast and as loud as she can, over and over and over, sitting behind me in the car. My ears felt like they were on fire. My neck tensed up and my heartbeat quickened. I could feel the annoyance starting to creep out of my husband next to me in the driver’s seat. I could feel my own annoyance starting to rise, made stronger by the fact that I could feel my husband’s. And then, as if the universe was looking out for my daughter, the word “intention” flashed across my mind.
It forced me to take a breath. Then I remembered being a kid and how it felt to say something over and over until it was no longer the word you’d started with. I remembered how the word lost all meaning and became something completely different.
I started laughing. And when I started laughing, her words started to jumble together, which made both her and I laugh. I asked her to try a different color – chartreuse – which is nearly impossible to even say slowly. She got through three tries and started to giggle uncontrollably because of the impossibility of it all. This made my husband laugh, and soon we were all cracking up, trying to say colors (and later, other words) as fast as we could. Now, it’s become a regular thing that creates joy on all our rides home.
My daughter’s original intention when she started spewing out syllables was to live that moment in silliness. I could’ve killed that. I could’ve squashed her little girl fun with my annoyance. My husband and I could’ve joined parenting forces in that moment to increase the negativity in the world. But because I had recently read this quote, and because I have an affinity to the word “Intention,” our family created something beautiful.
I’ve put this into practice a few times this week, as well. When I remember to radiate my intention, instead of absorbing the noxious emissions from others, I have come to realize that I take back my power instead of giving it away. I create my reality instead of being the victim of someone else’s. You become the architect of your own actuality and the author of your own story.
Radiating your hearts’ intent creates a protective barrier around your soul like a moat creates a protective barrier around a castle. It encases you in your own brilliant magnificence and shields you from the pessimistic outlook of the world around you. It assists you in creating the life you’ve always dreamed simply by being completely and totally true to your inner self.
Am I able to do this all the time? HELL NO. But I’m hoping to learn to. I’m hoping to make the unfamilar familiar but creating a new way of living by radiating my inner truth.
Give this a try, and send a heartfelt “Thank You” to Ms. Galbut through the waves of the universe. Comment below with what you’ve experienced, I’d love to hear how your intentional radiance has changed your life!
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