What is an Intention Circle?

[jsimbouras]

Hello everyone,

As some of you may know, Kernel is starting a new recurring event called intention circles, facilitated by @Vivek and myself.

KERNEL Conversations

I guess i should start by sharing my own intention and how i position intention circles in the general matrix of things.

I personally struggle with expressing my intentions to others, and sharing them in a clear and honest way. Through being part of co-creating intention circles, I hope to learn from others how to better articulate and follow through with my intentions.

Resonding to Vivek’s invitation to be part of creating the first intention circles in Kernel I affirm that i would like to hold a space with you where we can be supportive, uplifting, and empowering for each other.

I think that intention circles is something that will evolve and be designed together through the intentions of everyone who takes part, it could potentially take many shapes and we can explore different things in its context. I see my role in it more akin to a participant in the process rather than a facilitator, and in some sense we are all facilitators for each other’s intentions. Is there a better way to describe it than “circles”?

My question for the community is: How can we co-create intention circles? What are some ideas you have for shaping this experience and making it accessible and meaningful to all who are interested?

I look forward to hearing from you and give form to intention “circles” together!

[salim]

Hey James, good to see you here! I fondly remember the Intention Circle you hosted at the start of KB7. You’d described something that sticks with me still: that the act of setting intentions works the same way, whether it’s at the start of a yoga session, a day, or something bigger like a Kernel block.

Since then, I’ve had a few experiences where I’m asked to set an intention before some kind of ceremony. I didn’t have the words to articulate them, but I knew I had them. I had a sense of them and could describe them in metaphor.

There’s something about the act of in-query, looking within for what intentions are there, that I find channeling. Like how magnets align iron molecules, I feel that just checking in with myself aligns disparate aspects of my life for me. It makes my experiences somehow more congruent.

And your idea of an Intention Circle, doing this with others, helps me do that.

[aliyajypsy]

hello James,

thanks for holding and inviting us to co-create the intention circle space with you. i joined my first session on Monday, and i found value in it. more specifically, i valued an idea you shared, that with each intention we put out into world, it’s as though we move one step closer to identifying a convoluted truth wound up in it and the more defined a vision of ours becomes. each time we grapple with an intention, or the intention setting process, we peel back a layer to unveil the starstuff beneath the surface. this notion is an appealing one - the practice of translating thought to emotion via speech, and attaining greater acuity each time we attempt it. furthermore i appreciate the awareness accompanying the practice of intention setting. it forces us to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, to slow down. you asked:

How can we co-create intention circles? What are some ideas you have for shaping this experience and making it accessible and meaningful to all who are interested?

Joan Didion says in her 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem":

“As it happens I am still committed to the idea that the ability to think for one’s self depends upon one’s mastery of the language…”

this line has stayed with me since i first read it because our words influence the way we conceptualize thought and emotion. intention setting will only be as deep and articulate as our vocabulary will allow. would thinking about our word choice improve the process of intention setting? would exposing ourselves to more expansive vocabularies, or reminding ourselves of words and phrases that capture essences we’ve forgotten or fallen out of use in English help us in our endeavor? what about when people join us whose first language is not english? how do we go about such a meta-linguistic approach?

[vivek]

@salim

There’s something about the act of in-query, looking within for what intentions are there, that I find channeling.

This is quite nice. It encouraged a small PR to the index page of Kernel’s learn track.

@aliyajypsy

i valued an idea you shared, that with each intention we put out into world, it’s as though we move one step closer to identifying a convoluted truth wound up in it and the more defined a vision of ours becomes.

I like this as well, and felt it in attending two intention circles. I got to watch as the truths unfolded, and sometimes, didn’t unfold, with the gift of stopping to notice that happening in time.

I find intention circles to be a similar mirror for unsurfacing ‘the real stuff’ referenced in WIP Wednesday’s event – I enjoy that these two rhyme, though they are very different events.

WIP Wednesday is synchronous time together meant for the “real stuff”, for learning how to love working with the difficult and resistant materials of this world. It’s not for slick demos, product pitches, or powerpoint decks.

For both of these events, I continue to think about talismans, artifacts, and ways to memorialize the experiences (for yourself, and to share with others, if appropriate to you) that balance being artful and caring.

I also continue to think about the name. I sense there might be another angle, not quite as direct, but still as clear, that allows the process of setting intentions to come as a natural part of the process, without being so ‘on-the-nose’ in the title.

The call for you to ‘define a Kernel adventure’ at the beginning of your block was an example of this – you might write about a project, a learning goal, or even an intention, but it was phrased and framed as an adventure.

I’m reminded of ‘Observation Station’ at the Temperance Alley garden, where you receive a microscope or an empty paper towel roll and are invited to look closely at a plant, or a blade of glass. It isn’t quite called a meditation, but it does have that characteristic. I think that is nice.