Tighten Up

New Age spirituality talks a lot about the power of intention. But people often have a very lazy definition of what intention is. “It’s my intention to go running today” usually means: it’s a good idea, but I probably won’t. “It wasn’t my intention to hurt you” usually means: I’m sorry you’re upset, but that’s your problem.

The original meaning of intention, however — from the Latin tendere, to stretch — is related to words like “tension” and “intense.” In other words, it conveys a highly energized state in which there’s actually a little strain. In this sense, an intention to change your life is no different from a yoga stretch: if you’re not feeling some discomfort, you’re not really in it.

I, like many modern people, often diagnose myself as someone who works too hard. But recently on retreat, I saw that it’s more complicated than that. Yes, I have often wanted to project the *image* of someone who’s hardworking, and I have certainly hurt myself in pursuit of that image, but there are also parts of me that are legitimately lazy, meaning, they just don’t want to do the work to be happy.

Laziness is hard to talk about. We get very defensive about it. But it’s a real, destructive habit of mind that can’t be explained away by past traumas or the ills of society. You hear people say that the good things in life should never require effort, or that the best way to fight capitalism is to take a nap. Well, there’s nothing with a wrong with a nap, but the truth is that changing the world, starting with ourselves, is going to take more effort, not less, than we’re used to making.

In the end, though, it’s not about quantity of effort. It’s about WHERE you put your attention, intention, and tension. If you put them on money, fame, or praise, then yeah, you’re going to burn out. But if you put your focus on wanting to be a person who acts with love and compassion and helps others do the same, you don’t need to fear intensity. Don’t let yourself crumple in self-doubt. Don’t let your heart go slack. In the immortal words of James Brown: “Tighten up!”