Hello! Welcome to my website and blog.

When used as an Italian idiom, per caso implies a wonderful process by which stuff comes together to create an opportunity that is seemingly by chance.

There are many other words… luck [when preparation meets opportunity]; courage [putting what’s important to you above your fear]; karma, destiny, fate….

I like these concepts because they encourage us to increase our awareness and live in the moment.

Please enjoy my site… it challenges me to acknowledge my courage and prepare for my luck!

Katherine Zimmer
Artist • Writer • Coach
Marketing Diva

I’ve always been fascinated with the word intent… it’s concepts and implications. There are lots of facets. The adjectives: to concentrate fully on something, to be determined to do or achieve something, engrossed, fixed, eager, and unwavering. The law: trying to determine the state of someone’s mind at the time of committing an offense.

My favorite pondering space is with the noun form, which speaks to the purpose or design of something that is intended. A clearly formulated or planned purpose (intention). A determination to act in a certain way. Gary Zukov’s book The Seat of the Soul has two fantastic chapters on intention. He writes, “Every experience, and every change in your experience reflects an intention. An intention is not only a desire. It is the use of your will. You create your reality with your intentions.”

It’s one of those words that carries a lot of weight, but is often thrown around randomly to excuse or explain behaviors or actions. From the people we all know who make lots of commitments and will always cancel at the last minute… to the honest intent to pay a debt or keep a commitment that gets derailed by unforeseen reasons.

I like the more physical 13th Century definition to “stretch out, lean toward, or strain,” These ideas help me visually understand the purpose (intent) of the word. Intention takes effort… it requires focus and determination to stretch and lean. To really understand your intention requires a stretching of thought. I imagine if you are super in touch with your instincts and trust them, intent will come intuitively and naturally. For the less evolved, I think the study of this word is a great way to get started on the path to trusting your instincts.

We also make commitments to ourselves with good intentions and then the troublesome process of self-discipline comes into play. This has been an issue for me. I’ve self-helped it a lot in my personal evolution and think my lack of self-discipline comes from a lack of mentoring-with-accountability leadership during my formative and educational experiences (a.k.a. I blame my parents). Now, as an adult, I know that I can no longer use the excuse of what happened in the past to dictate my behavior in the present and future. Easier said than done.

My newfound favorite mantra is: EVERY DECISION I MAKE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS MY INTENTION. This statement rocks for me. I repeat it to myself and write it down often throughout each day. It makes me look at each decision as a positive way to honor my intentions (purpose). In the moment, the size of the decision doesn’t matter… it could be a job choice to honor and express my skills and talents or a decision to pass on the decadent dessert that doesn’t express my intent to honor my value to be healthy.

Challenge yourself: If you blow an intention, acknowledge it and ask for forgiveness… be it from yourself or someone else. Our purposes are all connected.

Resources, etymology, and my ode to the idiom:
Idiom:
To or for “all intents and purposes”, for all practical purposes; practically speaking; virtually: “The book is, to all intents and purposes, a duplication of earlier efforts.”

Word Origin: Entente, Intendere
intent (n.)
“purpose,” c.1225, from O.Fr. entente, from L.L. intentus “attention,” from L. intentus (fem. intentia), pp. of intendere “stretch out, lean toward, strain,” lit. “stretched out” (see intend). Intentionally “on purpose” is from 1661.
- Intent implies a sustained unbroken commitment or purpose, while intention would imply an intermittent resolution or an initial aim or plan. (Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
- Synonyms: acceptation, aim, animus, bottom line, conation, design, desire, drift, end, goal, heart, hope, idea, import, intendment, intention, meaning, meat, nature, nitty-gritty, notion, object, objective, plan, point, project, punch line, purport, scheme, score, sense, significance, stuff, target, understanding, volition, will, wish
- Resources:
dictionary.com, Wiktionary.com, dictionary.Cambridge.org, etymonline.com, Merriam-Webster.com, thesaurus.reference.com, and The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukov.