From Wishes to Intentions

When you think of intention, what comes to mind? Perhaps, like me, you associate intention with manifesting, so you look up how to manifest, set an intention, and then really feel it like you’re already doing it. What happens next is usually a letdown, or you conclude manifesting doesn’t work. The question and subject of this blog is when wanting to bring something into your life that you want, are you who you need to be to receive it?

Let’s start at the beginning. Imagine I was someone dreaming of making a positive impact on millions of lives. I had a heart for positive, ethical contribution to the world, but I didn’t know what or how I would go about doing it? Like me, most people look at their passions, what they enjoy, what they’re good at. Through trial and error, I found worthwhile work that would satisfy me temporarily. It couldn’t stand the test of time and didn’t involve the passion of a magnificent obsession. Then what do you do?

One could carry on indefinitely finding something worthwhile and then lose interest, motivation, and/or money. Eventually, you think a little deeper and realize there is something you’re missing. You run possibilities through your head and act on some of them, but it doesn’t get you any closer to manifesting what you want. Sometimes, a tired voice says manifesting doesn’t work, because intentions are just wishes.

Believe me, I’ve been there, and no, I don’t have all the answers, nor am I making six figures per year. Moving from wishes to intentions and achieving my goals required me to understand why my attempts at manifesting had failed. Also feeling disconnected from my career path, I decided I couldn’t sort out my life until I understood myself better. It’s hard to express how miserable, pathetic, and lost I felt. Somehow, I had the will left to begin some heavy-duty inner work. There was no one else to blame but me. I took healing courses I thought would help, read countless books, and watched hundreds of videos online before I started.

Anything that triggered me was the obvious place to start. I yelled at careless drivers, got steamed over people who butt into long lineups, and felt contrite when I judged others. Those events allowed me to look at my behaviour in a new light. What was triggering this behaviour? I knew I wasn’t a bad person, but something caused me to react badly. Patterns and stories emerged, and I found many false beliefs were at the base of each triggering event.

My healing courses were awesome at changing my false beliefs to empowering beliefs. Many times I questioned where I was going, but I knew I was changing inside. That’s the key. As I changed false beliefs from my childhood, I became more intuitive, even compassionate.

Then, I looked at influences from my family, extended family, and experiences growing up. Long-forgotten phrases filtered into my mind: Have faith. God will provide. Working hard is the best way to get ahead. Be on your best behaviour in public and don’t clink the teacups with your spoon. Honesty is the best policy. Money troubles break up families. Always be polite. My favourite was don’t sing at the table. I used to sing at the table because I felt happy, but perhaps it was annoying. You get the gist. Those phrases had to be unpacked and dealt with through healing modalities like Reiki, EFT (tapping), and Theta Healing.

Shadow work was next. Our shadows are the uncomfortable parts of ourselves we don’t want to look at or acknowledge. The way to deal with them is to face them. I let people down sometimes, or triggered them with brutal honesty, hid my inner self from others so they wouldn’t see the real wounded me, and behaved like a flake, and a lot more. Why? I didn’t know myself, preferring to blame anything unfortunate on outside events or people. These were the roadblocks that prevented me from moving forward in any endeavour, including manifesting.

Knowing myself became a mission as I uncovered my identity at the soul level, not, as Adele Tevlin said recently, “the identity that we are renting from the stories of our past.” 1 An email from Giovanni Marsico, CEO/Founder of Archangel, offered a replay of his most recent DestinyMaker conversations with Adele, Founder of the C.E.O. Blueprint, Mindset Mentor, and Subconscious Mind Engineer. She asked the same question in a more eloquent way: “How do we re-engineer who we think we are so that we can be a match for the life we desire?”

I was all too familiar with re-engineering. Like a chameleon, my story of who I was would change. No, I didn’t make up wild tales, but I would adjust myself to what I thought might please others. This approval-seeking behaviour didn’t really please anyone, especially me. During this introspective time of seeking and intuitive growth, I also learned to surrender. It’s not as easy as it sounds! But, it’s what I needed to reconnect with my soul. Out of the blue, as I struggled with my stories, patterns, and self-identity, I suddenly felt my soul where previously there was nothing but emptiness. Elated, I renewed my passion for the journey ahead. 

The journey ahead was about whether I was who I needed to be to receive what I wanted. All I had to do next was figure out what I wanted. It’s a deceptively hard question for many people, including me. I initially wanted to reconnect with my soul and find my purposeful passion in life. What I wanted was a magical purpose, but what I found first was my identity, then, through the anguish of a vivid dream, forgiveness, and self-love.

But was I ready to receive what I wanted? My heart ached for a purpose that aligned with who I was becoming. I wanted to share my story of transformation. With all of my being, I wanted to do something that would ripple out with the power to change lives and hearts.

The answer, if I had connected the dots, was right in front of me. I heard my soul write the purpose in my head, instantly recognizing it fit me like it had always been there. My book, scheduled for publication within nine months, includes the full story. The point of this post is not what my purpose was, but what it took to change myself into the person who could receive the message describing my purpose.

I had to do a 180-degree turn inward and flesh out all the stories and patterns that were blocking further growth. Any leftover conditioning from my family and significant others in my life had to be recognized and removed or changed. After that, I definitely understand why manifesting didn’t work before. Intentions are definitely not just wishes when they’re backed by a soul-led person who knows who she is and what she was born to do and be. So I ask with so much love, are your intentions more like wishes, or are they backed up with the power of who you are becoming?

1. Adele Tevlin, DestinyMaker with Adele Tevlin, Giovanni Marsico interview on Vimeo, accessed July 30, 2025, 5:11-5:13. Video is not available to the public that I know of, so unfortunately I can't give you the URL. Email me if you'd like it, and I'll ask for permission to share it with you.