Do you remember Cinderella with Brandy and Whitney Houston?

The best part in the movie is when Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother magically appears and slays Cinderella’s life right before the ball. It gets even better when they start singing "Impossible," dropping magical gems all the way to the ball.

I like to think that I am Cinderella and Oprah is my Fairy Godmother.

After graduating, I felt stuck in my circumstances and it seemed like I was never going to be able to move forward. Like most graduates, I had believed that life after college was going to skyrocket me into the direction of my dreams. All the studying, procrastinating (read: lazy Sunday’s on the couch with my roommate watching Real Housewives of Atlanta), partying, and hard work made me feel like Wonder Woman when I walked across the stage and received my overdue recognition.

But once I realized I had to move back home and continue my job hunt—after thousands of applications, follow-ups, and interviews—I felt hella discouraged.

Everything appeared impossible. I was unsure of how I was going to get a steady job, be a social butterfly, and deal with my crazy family. Then Oprah effortlessly floated her way across my phone screen and changed my life.

“Intention is one with cause and effect. Intention determines outcome. And if you are stuck and not moving forward, you have to check the thought and action that created the circumstance.” - Oprah Winfrey

I had so many desires: moving to California; working as a Marketing Director for Big Company A; dating someone who looks like Idris Elba; acting as the hybrid version of Joan and Lynn in someone's group of girlfriends; basically, I wanted a whole new life.

Let me tell you, I started doing some serious manifesting. I was visualizing, taking action, and affirming all of my desires, and NOTHING was happening. My intentions, much like my priorities, were all out of whack!

Check Your Vibe

When you begin to tap into your magic, you realize that everything is a vibe. My vibe was way off: My intentions and my desires were not lining up to help me create this beautiful life I couldn’t stop imagining.

If I was 100 percent honest with myself, the material THINGS were not going to fulfill my true desires. My intentions were selfish. I desired to get things, look cool, be seen, and post pictures on Instagram. The belief that my material world influenced my internal feelings was the illusion I held onto. Before I could manifest any real change into my life, I had to become conscious of the fragile and fleeting material world that we live in.

If I truly wanted change to take place in my life, I had to change my thoughts and tap into my power to create new realities by refocusing my intentions.

Intention Reminds You of Your Purpose

What is something you wanted when you were younger? I wanted to be and do everything: live in a house with stairs (I only thought rich people had stairs); be Kelly Rowland in Destiny's Child; become editor-in-chief at Essence; fall in love like Sidney and Dre (Fun Fact: My favorite movie is Brown Sugar). The list goes on for days.

Yet, the world has a funny (and mostly evil) way of stealing your joy.

Growing up, we are always playing dress up and searching for an identity to claim. We play these games until some "responsible adult" forces us to join their lame club. Up until this point what we are doing is looking for purpose. We learn that purpose involves having a steady job, a successful marriage, and some rugrats to join the snooze fest of a party we are having. Life becomes less of a game and our purpose becomes illusioned as adulting. At some point, we have to dive deep and find the joy and fun that came with that endless dress-up party we were having.

I decided to put on my cape and become my own superwoman. Clearly, my purpose wasn't at the job I had or any of the jobs I applied to. Things kept getting worse and I kept getting sadder. This sadness forced me to look at various aspects of myself, get rid of those agreements that I clearly disagreed with, and begin living for myself.

I decided to put on my cape and become my own superwoman.

Through the process of unearthing myself, I rediscovered my purpose. All this happened because I reevaluated the reasons behind my why and tapped into my magic.

In the midst of all the intentional fun you are having, your purpose will be magically revealed to you. And most likely it will be something you were doing since you blessed the world with your presence. Once you begin to get clear about the vision you have for yourself, your intentions and your desires will begin to align so you can live your best life.

Intention Determines Outcome

Nothing good has ever come from anything planned with bad intent.

All you have to do is look at your life and you will be able to see what kind of intentions you have been setting. And if you want something good, then you have to put good into everything that you do.

Nothing good has ever come from anything planned with bad intent.

I was not ready to receive the guidance that got me closer to my desires. When I graduated college, I did not expect to end up on the couch at my grandparents house, but I did. My intentions were full of fear and worry, so that is what I received more of.

What if I decided to be open to what life had for me? What if I decided to feel worthy of my dreams? All I saw was my fabulous life, yet I didn’t believe I was worthy of living that life. And from the beginning all I put into my desires was fear and worry. That was a poor place to try and manifest from: wanting, fearing, and worrying.

Your outcome will be clear from the beginning because it will be whatever you are putting into your desire at that moment!

I changed my intentions, and I changed my life. I stopped focusing on what type of role I would have in whatever company hired me, and I became patient. My intentions became heart-focused and not fear-based. I decided I wanted happiness on my own terms and that is what The Universe has given me.

Intention Makes You Surrender

I wish I could tell you that suffering post-graduation was on my list of things to do when I was growing up, but it wasn't.

In the first grade, I got my first journal and I knew that I wanted to be a writer. I thought I took all the necessary steps by getting my degree and writing about a ton of topics I didn’t care about. My desire was to be on staff at Ebony or Essence, eventually working my way up to editor-in-chief. I was gonna write about cool stuff like fashion, music, and culture—but The Universe was like "Nah, sis" and here I am.

That is the thing about Intention, it will make you surrender to the will of whatever is guiding us through the sky.

When I first began this journey, I sat down and made of list of everything that I desired. On that list, I put that I wanted to be great because it would allow me to be independent, inspirational, and live in a house with stairs. I am still working on all those things, but I set an intention that resonates with what I truly desire for my life. I trust that The Universe will lead me to the place of my highest good. I am not too sure where I will be tomorrow, but I am surrendering because whoever is in charge has a better view than I do.

I trust that The Universe will lead me to the place of my highest good.

The idea of letting go of your dreams and leaving everything up to chance is incredibly scary. Trust me, I am full of fears. Yet when I let go and let The Universe take me where I am supposed to go, my desires show up quicker and life becomes 100x better.

Setting intentions is a great way to enhance your magic because it gets you into the groove of living life with purpose. You can add more magic into your life by being honest about what is happening now and how you can change it.

Sometimes we are stuck because The Universe is preparing the field for us. It may seem like nothing good ever comes to those who wait (because setting intentions that align with your purpose and your heart requires a whole lot of the p-word), but you truly have to believe in your worthiness to receive what your heart desires.

Start setting those magical intentions, and in no time you will be singing “Impossible!," at the top of your lungs!

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