Setting an intention is clarifying to the Universe (God, Source etc.) what your desires are and also letting the Universe (God, Source etc.) know that what you desire or pray for is for the higher good off yourself or for the higher good off whoever else is involved.

I think most people automatically set an intention when they ask or pray for something and they know the higher reason for doing so... I don't think it's anything that you have to think about too much.

Personally I don't think you have to write every prayer or intention down, but I do find for some things putting them in writing gives me more clarity... but I'm sure this is probably different for each individual.

I think, for any prayers or intentions, we really just have to put them out there once... they're always heard the first time. The key is trusting that and having faith that they will be answered.

What is your intention? In other words what do you want to happen. Lets say you want to manifest a car as you would like to go on country rides and also for general transport. Your intention is to have a car for those reasons and any other reasons you like. In other words You intend to have personal transport in the form of a car.

Yes it is much better to write your intention down on paper or computer and to be as specific as possible and give as many details as you can. For instance mention what colour, make and so on. The reason this is done is to imprint your subconscious mind with the idea of you having a car.

Visualise and imagine yourself in the car driving and actualy see, hear and feel yourself actualy driving Your car. Imagine saying to your friends did you see my new red car (name the make of the car) and imagine them answering. "Yes it's a cool car or it's a beautiful car" Feel the excitement of having your beautiful brand new car.

Do this till you feel that you actualy have a car even when you dont yet for the moment you feel you have the actual car and are excited about it your mind and the Universe will manifest opportunities for you to get the actual car itself.

Good luck

I like to define "to set an intention" .....as making a decision. When you are intent on having something...you have decided that you will have it. You deserve it. That energy of decision combined with "knowingness". This feeling invokes a strong and quick response from The Universe...which in turn rushes to support you in every way.

I think it is probably like a dinner bell. It tells all the cells of your body at the same time, what their current focus should be. It gives us a target to focus on as well to help prevent distractions. If we set our intention before we work out, that we want to have lots of energy and focus for the workout, then if we stray in our minds to what's for dinner or stress from work or that fight with a family member, then we have our intention to reign us back in.

there was once a man who had lost speech. one day, there was a terrible fire in his house, and he shouted with fear..FIRE !!! FIRE !!! . that is the power of intention. this was a real incident by the way. we all have heard of stories where a woman after seeing her son come under the tyre of a car while doing some repair work lifted the car all by her own. this is the power of intention. when we are trying to manifest something, we are actually telling our subconscious/superconscious that we really want it. this is why repetition is so much focused on, this is why we are told to feel and imagine, as in this way we will be able to make our intention clear that we really need something. by principle, repetition is not required for manifestation. there was once a yogi in India. he was naked and was into samadhi. and he walked into the court of the King. the king was disgusted by the disrespect this naked man had showed him, and took out his sword and immediately chopped off the yogi's arm. but as the yogi was in samadhi, he did not react at all. he went back to his home without even knowing that his hand has been cut off. thats not over yet. now the king repented as now he realised that the person was not an ordinary man. so he went to his hut, and asked to be forgiven. it was only then that the yogi realised the state of his arm. he immediately toughed the place where there was no arm, and INSTANTLY an arm manifested. reason being that he had so much power in his thoughts and so much conviction in them, that it happened immediately. thais is why i sed that in principle repetition is not required. but as we are ordinary men with weak minds, we need repetition to make our intention clear.