Una Palabra Sola Episode 13, intención
La intención is all about doing or being one step closer to your ideal self or to your ideal life - it’s the intention that runs the motor that leads you on the path you’ve always wanted to be on.
intención: (n) intention; purpose, aim, goal, objective; resolve or determination; significance
Related words: intencionalmente (adv), la intencionalidad, el intento, intencional (adj)
Antonyms: segunda intención, mala intención (ulterior motive), sin querer (unintended), inadvertidamente (unintentionally)
From the Latin “intentĭo”, to stretch, strain, exert, concentrate; commit self to a course of action
Life happens… the only difference is how we respond.
1:34 La vida ES fluida — that’s the only thing we know, she changes all the time.
4:45 The etymology is built on doing, on action - not trying to do an action, or thinking about that action. What’s one thing you can start doing today?
21:12 Allow and surrender to the temporality of life. Nobody’s getting out of it alive, and there are seasons and cycles that are constantly moving and shifting.
27:15 Knowing which season you’re in can help you manage those expectations.
For reflection:
When was the last time shit hit the fan, and did you respond with intention or reaction? How would you have liked to respond? ________________________________________________________________________________________________.
What are two intentional actions you can do today to help you reach your goals? _________________________________________________________________________________________________.
What season does it feel like you’re in? Describe it… ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Forget goals and dreams for just one minute… what’s one thing you wish to have happen? Put some intent behind it… then change the language and make it into a goal. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Una PS has been a labor of love from the beginning. If you’d like to join our lil’ love fest via the Deseo program, click here to sign up! We all have our own wishes and desires when it comes to language, and with some resources and accountability, I can help make yours come true.
TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Hola y bienvenidos. Hello and welcome to Una Palabra Sola, where we get to learn Spanish one word at a time. I'm your host, Megan Miller, founder and teacher at Aprovechar Language Solutions. Empezamos and let's dive in. Hola, hola, otra vez. Hello and welcome back to Una Palabra Sola, a place, a space, a wonderful, amazing moment where we get to learn Spanish una palabra a la vez, one word at a time. And with a new month, a new season.
0:45
If you are listening to this when it drops live or if you are in a new month, a new season, , going back to school, friends, friends, kids transitioning from summer to fall or autumn activities, , new moon phase. Basically, this is when we get caught up in kind of creating new routines. We get caught up in the busyness and we get caught up in creating monotony. This reminds me of, there was this internet meme that was like, I like my routine until I get bored, and then I want excitement, and then I want my routine. And that brings me to our word today, which is intención or intention.
1:34
La vida es fluida, de verdad. And I use ser, la vida es fluida, here, because it is a characteristic, meaning, the only thing that is really known in life is that it's going to change. Shit's going to happen. It's going to be something new. And... A very good way to manage that change with the constant change, is con intención, with intention. So la intención, it is la, it is feminine, , it is un sustantivo, it is a noun. So as with all nouns in Spanish, they have their genders, and this is la intención. And usually, um, 9.8 times out of 10, any word that ends with that C I O N ción suffix is going to be feminine. Fun fact. So, una definición, for example, intention, la intención, it could also be purpose. It could be your aim, your goal, your objective, your resolve, your determination. It could also be kind of the significance. So, in a word, it could be kind of mindfulness, right? If you're doing something with intention, you are mindful about it. You're doing it with a purpose. You're doing it with razonimiento. You're doing it with some sort of reasoning. It's this pensamiento de hacer cierta cosa. Whatever that cosa, whatever that thing is, you're thinking about it in a certain, or una manera cierta, so in a certain way.
3:16
And really how la intención is used, you can have buena intención, which is good intention, or you can actually have kind of this ulterior motive, como antónimo, as segunda intención, which literally translates to second intention, which I don't really understand, but this is the world. It changes every day. Who knows. This might be changed. You would also think of el opuesto de buena intención como mala intención, like bad intention, and that's usually with animales. So that's with animals. With humans you would use segunda intención. So a weird little wonky fun fact. Como todas las palabras en español, casi todas, this is from Latin intentio, which is to- this is an interesting definition here - to stretch, to strain, to exert, or to concentrate. Meaning, you're committing yourself to a course of action. And that is intention. So, intention, you're, obviously from the Latin definition, acting. It's not necessarily thinking about doing something and it's not trying to do something, like, this is pure Yoda vibes. Do or do not, you are either being this way or you are not, you are either doing this thing or you are not, that is intention. It's very fuerte, right? It's very strong, intention. You're just going to go. So, sinónimos. Just jumping right in are ganas. Ganas is one of my favorite words because you can tener ganas, you can have ganas.
If you're like, oh, no tengo ganas, it's like, I can't give two fucks to even try to do the thing. Ganas, I guess, not in un inglés culto way would be translated to fucks. Not translated to just a not suitable for work way, so actually translating them the way that a normal translator would, ganas are like the want to do something. So if you have ganas, you have this want, you have this desire, como propósito. Propósito is a purpose. A propósito, for example, if you can be like, emailing about a thing and then you're like, okay, so my purpose, my objective, right? That's propósito. Pensamiento is just like a thought. So it's a little less fuerte, it's a little less strong than pure intention. It's just like maybe you're gathering the intention, right? It's a little bit more just like wispy. You can also have ánimo. Ánimo is, it might remind you of the English word animate. Ánimo is like, um, me da ánimo, or like, it just, it lights you up, right? You want to do something, you want to be something, you're just, I start bouncing in my chair when I think of ánimo.
6:29
So como ya dije, as I've already said, antónimos, you have segunda intención con los humanos, los seres humanos, that's like ulterior motive. You can also have inadvertidamente, which is like inadvertently, unintentionally, accidentally, by accident, inadvertidamente. You can also have, and this is a little bit easier on your tongue, you can have sin querer, which is like unintended. Like, oh, yo hice algo sin querer. Like, I did this thing and it was just unintentionally and I didn't want to do it. I didn't set out to do the thing. Alright, so intention, it's all about setting out and it's all about doing things right off the bat. For related words, you can have el intento, which is the intent. You can have intencionalidad, which is like deliberateness, intencionalidad. Para describir, to describe a verb, this is an adverb for you, intencionalmente. Hice algo intencionalmente, I did this thing intentionally. So that's your adverb, it can describe a verb. Intencionalidad, el intento, those are both nouns. You can have, well, no tuve intento, I didn't have this intent of like, hurting your feelings, but I did, so here we go. Which is kind of a shitty apology anyway. It goes back to that intencionalidad; you can also have intencional. So that's a lovely adjective for you, intencional. This is an adjective and means intentional. This is to describe a person, place, or thing, intencional. So you're describing them as being intentional, versus you're describing a thing, intencionalmente, you're describing a verb, rather, intentionally, that goes back to the action. And that's the difference between your adjective and your adverb.
8:42
And so, for related verbos, you can pretender, which is to aim for or aspire to, pretender, it looks like pretend, it is not, pretender, to aim for or aspire to. You can decidir, you can decide, you can desear, you can wish for or want something. So it goes back to the doing, right? The doing, the being, that present participle, the ing, in English. Fun fact, when we learn Spanish. A lot of times, I've seen this. we want to say that we are doing -ando or -iendo. So estoy hablando, estoy describiendo. I am speaking, I am describing. And we want to say that all the time. Grammatically, that ING is only when we're like actually doing the thing, to emphasize that we are doing the thing at this moment. At this moment, I am waving my hands around because that's how I talk.
Al revés, on the reverse, it's the same thing. A lot of folks will like to learn English and automatically have that ING. So, it's not necessarily like, what are you doing? It's like, I am mowing. Or, I am trimming the flowers. Or, I, you can tell I work with a lot of landscaping companies, teaching English and Spanish. It's like, I am drawing. I am riding a bike. And it's like, are you doing that right now? And I hate it because I have to be nitpicky on grammar. Because otherwise, we just, we say so much and much and much with that ING that, by definition, using it so much dilutes it. You can't be cooking and cleaning and talking on the phone and praying and drawing and playing a game all at the same time. We are not octopus people with octopus arms. Although that would help the multitask.
11:04
So, as we kind of think about how we use our language and how we use that kind of -ando, -iendo in Spanish or that ing in English, it is very important to kind of take a step back con intención, with intention, because this is where life happens.
Life, shit happens, right? Shitty things happen, great things happen, life happens, there's always something, right? And if there's not always something, and if you find yourself being bored, maybe that's where you're like, well, how can I make life a little bit more lively? So, as life happens, it's more about your reaction to that happening than the actual events. So, in the last few months, we've had horrific wildfires, we've had tornadoes, we've had hurricanes, we've had tropical storms, we've had war. We've had really shitty things. And, yes. That's happening, and it's going to continue to happen, right? But how are you reacting to it? So, this is where you can take control of that reaction con la intención. You can really be intentional about what you allow, what you surround yourself with how you react, what you say when you react, how do you reflect on your feelings, and how do you communicate those feelings? How do you reflect on your needs? How do you communicate those needs?
So, within that reaction, and within all of our intention, this is where we can kind of destacar, we can kind of emphasize and pull out where the focus is, and what the significance of that focus is. And I do have to remind you, in the power of pronouns. For example, I remember a very uncomfortable moment, there's a little bit of shame there, at the dinner table where a person was complaining that the recent hurricane would jack up their homeowner's insurance policy and that, basically, they would have to pay more because of this natural disaster.
The rest of us were at that dinner table staring at each other like, is this actually happening? What the fuck? Thinking, but at least you didn't lose your home in a hurricane. So, that can be like a, oh my god, what's wrong with them moment? Or, how can we fix this? But as we talk about intention, I want you to kind of take a step back and remember the intention or the intent of that sentence of like, oh my god, I'm going to have to pay more money because of this natural disaster.
It was very them-focused. It was focused on that person. It wasn't community-focused. It wasn't focused on people of a certain area or victims or anything like that. The sentence and the whole kind of train of thought, even if that is kind of indicative of setting a dog's shit on fire, was very scarce. It was scarcity. It was fear-driven. It was, “I can't believe that I need to do this, and I don't know how I'm going to do this” moment, kind of spinning up their own anxiety and their own narrative there. Versus being very compassionate, like, oh my god, this natural disaster happened. How can we, you know, help?
14:44
What do they need? So, it's not compassionate. The focus is on different sides of a T chart, if we're looking at conjugating a verb grammatically. But it's also on different sides of the pronoun spectrum. So, it's more of me or I vs. you or they. There are a lot of times, as we think about intention, sometimes it is as simple as changing the pronoun. Instead of, you know, oh my god, I can't believe that this happened. What am I going to do? Really spinning that up. Whether you were venting or whether you're angry or whether you're feeling in a certain way, that's okay, right? Language is simply a way for us to communicate our emotions and our thoughts and our feelings. And if you do that, that is fine. Because that's how we process, right? That's how we process those emotions and thoughts and feelings.
If you're using language with intention, you start to become a little bit more mindful of it, and you start to become mindful of the own narratives that you're spinning in your head of going, oh, well, I need to do this, and I need to do that, and I can't believe that they did that, and oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, and then you can take a step back and be like, okay, so that was just venting. That's fine. How am I going to move forward intentionally with this? Maybe it's taking a step back and looking at your pronouns. Is this all me-focused? And if so, how can I move that so that instead I'm benefiting, I don't know, an organization at work. Or I'm benefiting a coworker. I'm working to benefit a company.
And the same goes with chisme. Chisme is a very big part of cultures all around the world because gossip helps us form relationships. However, are you chismeando? Are you gossiping because you genuinely care and you're super-involved in what this other person does? Or, is it to have something to simply talk about and fill the air? Like, is this a celebrity gossip moment and you're like, ah, I'm so well removed from this and I don't even know what they're doing, but like, who would name their child Apple? Obviously people do. Is it to have something to talk about and feel the air? Is it because you genuinely care and you're, you know, involuncrado, and you're kind of involved, or you're involving yourself in somebody else's thing?
Or is it like a weird superiority thing? Are you gossiping because you like the little rush of power that you get when you're like, oh, and you'll never guess what happened after the STD test. And they're like, oh no, tell me more. Intention simply says, any of those three options, there's no right or wrong. Do what you do. You do you. However, intention is figuring out why you do that. Does this feel good? Do you want to continue doing it? Okay, cool. Then go for it. Or, is this something that you learned in childhood, or you learned growing up, and you don't even think about it, you just kind of do it?
18:33
Like, for the longest time, I hate dead air. I will sit and talk about anything. I have many weird random facts in my head, and they all come spilling out of my mouth when I get anxious. I feel anxious, I feel nervous when no one else is speaking. I started to become really intentional about it, and I started to kind of breathe through the discomfort of having dead air is not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe we all just need to take a step back. I'm not going to say that I am fixed, or healed, or better, or good, none of those words. I'm a little more intentional about how much air I feel like I need to fill. At the same time, and I still probably do this, right? So, it all starts back with that el intento, that intent, the commitment of doing or being someone. So when you have enough intent, kind of like Pokemon cards, you got to collect them, you can then become intencional, you can become intentional, which is, by definition, having intención. Having that intention. First, you have to collect your intent. As Yoda said, do or do not, there is no try. So, what do you want to do?
What, who do you want to be? Right? You start kind of collecting that. I'm a big proponent of writing that down. Literally by hand, writing it down. You do not have to write it, inscribe it into wood, or rock, or whatever. It's simply just writing it down with a pen and paper. It just gets it out of your head, and it lets it live somewhere. So those are your intents, right? Then you can become intentional, which is your lovely adjective, which can describe you, it can describe a thing, it can describe... Doing something intentionally. And then the intention, la intención, starts to build and build and build.
20:51
The weird part about learning more about habit work is the role that our identities play. The best, meaning, the most useful, the most routine, habits are really those that align ourselves with our identities. That align our own actions with our sense of self. So, for example, I'm bilingual. Soy bilingüe. I'm a weightlifter. Yo levanto pesas. I'm also an analytical person, and I know that about myself. And those are things that I want to continue doing. And because I know that, and because these are things that I want to continue; that, in turn, makes me want to practice Spanish. That, in turn, makes me want to lift weights and see how much I can lift things up and then put them down without breaking myself. This, in turn, helps me memorize more verb tenses or figure out how many parts make up a whole. Because I know that I'm analytical, because I know that I like to kind of pick things apart and put them back together, and that I like to lift things up and put them down, and that I really like to converse and connect and help and support people of all shapes and sizes and colors because I can speak the languages that they do.
Versus, I'm a runner. That is not something that I've ever aligned myself with, not only because I have bad knees, because I've never seen myself as one before. I have a lot of emotions, personally, most of, if not all of them are negative around running. It's not something that I'm really aspiring to. I don't have the intention of running. Every time I do run, it's like, ugh, can I stop now? I've only done five steps, but can I stop?
It's totally personal, it's totally customizable to how you see yourself. What is your sense of self, what's your identity, and what are you doing? What are you doing, and who are you being over here? And then that helps you kind of bridge those gaps. And then of course, once you have that identity alignment-habit created, then the hard part is just doing the damn thing over and over and over again until you don't think about it anymore. It's like learning how to type with a new keyboard, right? The first couple times are awkward as all hell, and then you get the muscle memory, and then you get to going, and all of a sudden, you're like, new keyboard, who this? Like, Yep, this is totally fine.
The other thing is that this Latin definition; it was kind of surprising to me because it had stretching in it. And stretching of course made me think of the actual activity of stretching. Meaning, it's not entirely comfortable. It's not something that, you know, is like flopping down on a bed. Yet, it's also not the most terrifying thing. It's not walking on coals here. Stretching. It's just a little bit to where you feel your limit and then you're like, yep, we're done here. And if you stretch a little bit every day, you're going to be hell of a lot more flexible in a month than if you never stretched.
And that is important because growth, as we talk about personal growth, professional growth, language growth, it happens in almost indiscernible nudges, and indiscernible moments. But it only takes one. It only takes one event, one moment, one conversation, and then you realize, oh, shit, I went through that conversation in Spanish, great. Or, hey, I actually rolled my TR and said tren instead of train. And, holy shit, that was growth. I'm doing so well.
25:13
The thing with language, specifically, is that there's no immediate gratification, right? This is why, like, Babbel and Duolingo and all of these little apps are so fuckin useful, if anything, just to consolidate and practice language, but it also makes us feel accomplished. Because learning can be a bit of a slog. Thinking about the intent and the goal really helps get around that need for immediate gratification, to create a mindful routine of Spanish practice or just life in general. Thinking about, okay, well, what can I get that can be gratifying pretty soon? Maybe immediately, maybe not… and then what am I actually trying to do here? We have this need, especially in Western culture, that's like so participation trophy-driven. We have this need to feel accomplished, to feel productive. And this is why getting the little ding ding ding, you did everything correctly, really helps our immediate gratification. It helps kind of create that dopamine loop in our brain of, Oh, I did a good thing. Yay! I get a point. I get a brownie.
This is where... when we stretch, when we kind of do things that are a little bit uncomfortable and then we get gratified when we get that little ding, ding, ding, that's what makes it a success. At the end of the day though, it's not necessarily about hacking our habits, because humans be weird, man. We are so fucking fallible, malleable, everyone is a little bit different, what works for one person may not work for the other.
27:09
When it comes down to it, it all comes back down to that intention. It all comes down to el intento, los intentos, la intención que tienes. So, if you have this intention, you have that commitment, whether that is to yourself, to your family, to your friends, to your work. However, I started this saying... This is a new season. It's a new month. Things are moving. Things are shifting. And with that intention, I believe that the best, “best”, that the happiest or most contented people celebrate and expect that their intention, their commitment is going to fluctuate with those seasons. This might be a season of you. This might be a season of family as people get back to a new school routine. This might be a season of friends. Maybe someone in your friend group has a big life change coming up. Maybe that season is to your work. It's a really big, important sprint moment at work.
All right, so when you expect, when you celebrate that change, that flux, then you can set your intentions correctly. You can actually set your expectations correctly and say… not even correctly. Appropriately. You can say, okay, well this is, you know, a work season. I know that. And I've reflected on that, and here's my intention. I want to show up and give work 80%. They, they absolutely need me 80%. The other 20 are going to be to family. And we're going to see friends, and friends are going to become an intention next month. And you can kind of expect, you can celebrate that intention, that flux, right?
Allow and surrender to the temporality of life. Life is made of fleeting moments, temporary emotions, temporary feelings, temporary jobs, temporary conditions. Life will continue to happen. Your reaction, or reactions, more realistically, your reactions, who's surrounding you, who's around you, how you are, who you are, all of that is changeable.
And if change is on your mind para español... Check out my monthly program called Deseo at DeseoSpanishProgram. info. You will notice Deseo is one of our synonyms for today, which is desear, to wish or want. And that is all that I ask that you come with, with Deseo. Everything else related to Spanish will be handed to you and worked with you, whether that is grammar, pronunciation, comprehension, or just having a good time developing and being held accountable to a lovely Spanish habit. So, once again, that is deseospanishprogram.info. And también, check out the show notes, transcript, or request a word at aprovechar.me. Until next time, un abrazo fuerte.
Gracias otra vez, and thank you so much for coming along with me on this ride to Una Palabra Sola. Be sure to check out the show notes for additional worksheets and materials. If you have a word that you would like me to review, please feel free to let me know at aprovecharlanguagesolutions.com. Hasta la próxima vez; until next time.