Setting an intention is not something we as humans often do consciously, but unconsciously we always have all kinds of intentions. You set an intention to feel good anyway. No one thinks "I'm going to make it all hard on myself," even though that can sometimes be the effect of your behavior.
The intention behind it is always something positive, only sometimes how you achieve that positive can cause other problems in the long run.
Then it can be time to set very conscious intentions. How this works and how hypnosis helps you with this can be read in this blog article.
What does intention mean?
An intention means you want to do something to achieve a certain goal[1]. For example, you meet with a friend because you intend to have a good relationship with her.
You often have these kinds of intentions subconsciously, and this influences your behavior. For example, if you work for someone you don't like, this can unconsciously cause you to not do your job well because you don't have the intention to help your boss or the company you work for move forward.
If you want to do just that, because you are subconsciously fully behind the company's goal, then you are more likely to work on the company's goals with more energy.
Conscious deployment of an intention
You can also consciously set an intention. In other words, you set an intention. In a study of having a particular reaction to a shock, it was found that people who set an intention beforehand to deal with it in a certain way suffered less anxiety than people who had no intention before the event[2].
This did involve the intention to avoid certain things, so that does not mean it will help overcome anxiety.
Most people use intentions to achieve health goals, such as having the intention to exercise more or eat less chocolate.
Setting an intention allows you to think more clearly about what you can do to achieve the goal associated with the intention. However, there is often a gap between having an intention and actually changing your behavior (or taking steps) to achieve your goals.
Visualizing Intentions
To actually change your behavior, it can be helpful to visualize how you will behave in certain situations.
For example: If you go to a restaurant for lunch and you normally order a nice juicy hamburger, but you want to change this for your health, you visualize ordering a salad instead.
You visualize the waiter walking up to you, asking if you would like something and what you are going to answer. "A salad with goat cheese please.".
This makes it easier to actually change your behavior with intention[3].
Even if your intention has more to do with feelings, such as "I choose to be happy," you can visualize or think in advance how you want to feel in certain situations. For example, powerful when there are moments of stress or when your happiness requires you to set limits.
Thinking of "if-then" situations also helps you recognize or see certain things more quickly. Even when you are busy with completely different things (source 3).
New habits with your intention
The "then" part in "if-then" plans are actually the first step for forming a new habit. Thinking this through properly can very quickly cause you to automatically change your behavior.
In a study in which people thought up counterarguments to a situation in which they faced racism, and the subjects were then placed in such a situation. Showed that people prepared the rebuttal much faster, than people who had not set such an "if-then" intention (source 3).
Other trials also showed that the response time for the new behavior was much faster when the intention was clearly set, and well thought out or visualized.
Priming intention
Even being unconsciously primed to have a certain intention helps to more quickly demonstrate behaviors that fit the primed intention. A hypnotherapist can help you set intentions consciously and unconsciously.
In a study where participants consciously intended to solve puzzles, they were also given the priming to do so as quickly and well as possible. Participants did not realize on a conscious level that they had been primed. They could indicate this afterwards, but the priming did cause the puzzles to be solved faster and better than in the group of people who did not receive the priming.
This was especially the case who combined unconscious priming with a conscious "if-then" intention. Therefore, in addition to consciously setting an intention yourself, hypnosis can help you achieve your goals faster because a hypnotherapist can give you suggestions that prim you to achieve certain goals extra quickly.
An "if-then" plan allows you to delegate certain tasks more to your unconscious and thus not depend on your willpower to tackle certain things in a different way (source 3).
Action plan at intention setting
Another way to change behavior with intention is to have an action plan. For example, many people who go into business get coaching because they are unsure of what is involved in making a business profitable.
The coach then provides an action plan.
Whereby the intention "to be a successful entrepreneur ", is better achieved (faster or at least has a better chance of success than without an action plan).
People who want to quit smoking can also benefit from such an action plan. However, this is often accomplished with hypnotherapy in 1 go.
So with an action plan, you mainly think of certain steps you will take, but not in what context or situation you will do certain things. The if-then situation does work better, but this is also a way to optimize your intentions moves.
The great thing about this type of planning, priming and if-then intentions is that this causes your self-confidence that you can achieve your goals to rise as a result.
Remembering your plans and not letting them hold you back
There are a number of obstacles people may encounter when it comes to fulfilling certain plans or intentions. Like remembering that you had a certain intention, such as the intention to pursue hypnosis training.
When you're busy with other things in your life, it can slip away for a while.
So it can be helpful to write down your intention and hang it somewhere where it can be seen daily, so at least your memory won't let you down. If you also write down where and when you are going to make a particular choice or action, the chances of succeeding become even greater.
Indeed, another obstacle is not knowing when you can register for something, such as hypnosis training. That's why we also have a calendar, so people who want to become hypnosis practitioners can always register for a particular group.
And the third obstacle may be having limiting thoughts about the behavior associated with the intention (source 3), such as the idea that you don't like school, or that you have a fear of exams and therefore never want to take an education again.
These types of limiting beliefs, whatever they are about, can be very well removed with hypnotherapy.
Even if you know that you are hindered from making the right choice in certain situations, such as that you are going to smoke at a birthday party anyway, it is important to have a plan for these types of situations as well, in order to set a successful intention that way.
A hypnotherapist can use multiple techniques to remove such obstacles, so that when you set an intention you make it a reality.
Learn Hypnosis
Want to set intentions yourself or help other people do so? Then knowledge of hypnosis is indispensable.
Come to the free online master class, or order the book The Three Minute Reset for an introduction to hypnosis.
Want to see demonstrations of hypnotherapy? Then come to one of our events, or register for our training.
In fact, the techniques are always demonstrated before you start using them yourself. Then you can immediately see what problems and obstacles the techniques are good to use for.
Click here for our training courses.
Have a question about our training? Schedule a 1-on-1 consultation here.
You can take the training both in class and live online. Ideal if you are away for a while, or if you don't even live in the Netherlands and still want to learn hypnosis.
Sources:
