The Distinction Between Effort and Intention

When you realize the distinction between effort and intention, you have discovered one of the keys to success. Train yourself to work first in consciousness before springing into action.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian

Our daily meditation practice gives us the tools to manifest our useful intentions. The witness consciousness we employ every day to monitor our meditation helps us differentiate between the willful desires of ego and the helpful intentions of our higher self. We can then mentally and verbally affirm our intention and release it into a supportive universe. When we first begin this practice of useful affirmation, we are delightfully surprised at how often things manifest. When they do not, we can re-examine our motives and re-tune our intentions. All this is much easier than the path of brute effort.