Feeling Stuck? Here's How To Get Free...

By Ruth Schwartz

Spiritual teacher Leslie Temple Thurston describes will as "supercharged attention." Most of us have experienced times or circumstances in our lives when it felt as if we made something happen simply through the power of that kind of supercharged attention – when we wanted something so much that it seemed to actually result in a manifestation on the physical plane. It doesn't matter whether this thing was a new job or apartment, a friend's phone call, or a parking place. Those moments when we have directly seen and experienced the manifestation of our will, our attention, our intention, show us what it is possible.

However, most of us have also experienced the seemingly opposite phenomenon: times when there are things we want – sometimes want desperately – but don't seem to be able to get, or keep. So, what's up with that?

My work with clients has shown me that this almost always results from our having a split intention. On a conscious level, we deeply desire something – but on other levels, which may be either partly or fully unconscious, other parts of us feel quite differently. It's easy to check this out for yourself by sitting quietly, getting in touch with your body and physical sensations, and then allowing yourself to imagine, in a visceral way, actually having the thing you think you want. For instance, let's say you consciously desire to heal your childhood wounds and become open to love. Allow yourself to picture being completely healed, and completely open. Feel what that feels like in your body. Imagine yourself Notice whether 100% of you is lined up with wanting it and opening to it – or if there is any part of you which resists, contracts, cramps in fear or disbelief, begins to feel ambivalent, or demonstrates some other sort of block.

It has been my observation that if there is anything that we deeply desire in our lives, which does not come to us — we will always find, if we search intently enough, that there is a part of us that actually doesn't want it at all (or isn't open to it due to fear, or some other internal barrier.) This means that we end up playing the equivalent of a game of tug of war with ourselves, and with the universe. Given this confusion, it's no wonder that what we say we want doesn't manifest fully, smoothly and swiftly!

The effects of this "inner tug of war" can be seen very clearly in our outer lives. For instance, many single people say, and truly believe, that they want an intimate relationship. Yet the unexamined and/or unhealed conflicting beliefs they are carrying about intimate relationship result in their either being unable to find a partner, or partnering with people who are similarly ambivalent – which, of course, causes a lot of pain for both parties.
Many of us are actually quite aware of these sorts of conflicts in our psyches – they're not necessarily unconscious at all. At other times, we may not be immediately aware of them, but some honest internal exploration will almost always reveal them. So, once we realize that our intention is "split," what do we do?

The good news is: even when our being and intention are split, our conscious volition — the conscious decision to realign our will and intention – does have the power to initiate a shift. This occurs not by pretending the other intentions don't exist – not by binding and gagging or denying them – but by acknowledging that they do exist, and making an internal commitment to know and work with them so that they no longer have to run our lives from behind the scenes.

Acknowledging our own mixed motives is a very powerful thing to do, because it helps us recognize that we ourselves, not any outside force, person or circumstance, are the reason why the changes we say we desire have not taken place. Once we become aware of all of the different forces competing inside us right now, it also becomes clear that our unfulfillment cannot be blamed on anything that did or didn't happen in the past. When we truly comprehend that, it is sobering, yet incredibly empowering at the same time. If we are creating the stuckness in our current lives through our own split intention, that also means that we can un-stick ourselves. The point of power is within us, always, right here, and right now.

By the way, it is of the utmost importance to hold ourselves gently and with absolute compassion as we come to understand our own power, and take on this level of self-responsibility. Otherwise, we could end up blaming ourselves for our suffering – which would, of course, perpetuate that suffering, rather than leading us out of it. Blame is never helpful or empowering; in fact, blaming ourselves for something is the energetic opposite of taking responsibility for something.

Whatever you discover needs to happen, once you understand what you're dealing with, you'll be far better equipped to work through it with the power of prayer and intention. And as you align more and more of your energy toward your conscious intentions, they will unfailingly begin to manifest.

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