WAIT A MINUTE! What’s your heart’s intention?
When I first heard Willow’s ‘Wait a Minute!’, it quickly became my car cruising song and something I play when I want to move and build up some energy.
In the chorus, Willow sings “Hold on, wait a minute! Feel my heart’s intention.”
It took me several listens for that line to really sink in and one day it turned into a self-reflective question.
“What is my heart’s intention?”
Sometimes things take a wrong turn, someone takes something we say the wrong way, we feel misunderstood, or we simply don’t get the result we were hoping for. When I find myself in these situations, I often beat myself up and wish I could rewind, take it back, do it differently—or just hide in a cave for a few days. We can’t change the past, but we can live with intention and move forward with the truth. I don’t enter a situation with the intention to hurt, offend, or anger anyone, but it will inevitably happen. The truth isn’t always pretty and sharing it with others can get pretty ugly. But if we are truly coming from a place of love and compassion, then we gotta give ourselves a break when others don’t accept or like what we say or do.
So the next time you run into a sticky and uncomfortable situation (and you’re in the shower replaying it all in your head and thinking about the million possible other ways it coulda-shoulda gone) try the following.
1. Take a deep belly breath and a soft and slow exhale. (keep this on repeat as you do #2…and for the rest of your life, preferably! :P)
2. Ask yourself, “What was my intention behind all this?”
What was the motivation behind what you said/did? Be real about it. Were your intentions good or not so good? If you feel you were misunderstood, where was the disconnect?
3. Make it right or make peace with it & move on!
If you started off with a bad intention and it wasn’t received well, you kinda had it coming, and you likely owe someone an apology. Take responsibility and commit to being better next time. Ain’t nobody got time for ill-willed actions, even if you feel justified.
If you truly feel your heart was in the right place, decide if there is space and the need to clarify. Remember, even if you take the time explain yourself, you might not be understood or forgiven. Make the best you can of the situation and move on from it as cleanly and quickly as you can.
4. Reflect & Adjust
You can’t rewind, but you can reflect and learn from your situation. We also can’t change other people, so the best question is how can you show up differently next time to be better understood?