6 Steps to Living With Intention
Living with intention is a personal attempt to live a life of purpose and meaning. We are living in a world where we are stretched to our limits. We have a million things to do in a day, and in the hustle and bustle of daily living we are lost in a maze of endless things; jobs, families, businesses, schools, friends, relatives, News, some of which, if truth be told, we can do nothing about. The maze deepens, the meanderings increase, and before we know it we are completely lost.
We are here, we are there, we are at work, we are at the office, but in all this, we are nowhere really, we’re lost at sea. We’re caught in a rat race with no end in sight. We get our first job, salary is good, and suddenly we want more money. Things we could live without in the past we now can’t live without. We did well without a vehicle but now we can’t, and because we have a salary we’re lured to take a loan to buy a vehicle.
With intentional living we manage our lives in that we recognize our values, we lay down the law upon which we live. We base our lifestyles on religion, political, ideology, or the need for self-improvement.
Intentional living requires us to be aware of what we want in life, our fundamental beliefs, and to put concerted efforts to behave, make choices, and make decisions reflecting our beliefs, values, and principles. It requires us to define our priorities, know what we want in life, and live every day in alignment with those priorities. In a nutshell, know who we are, know what we want in life, and go for it. We do not live by a to-do list, or in a bubble of busyness, we pursue a life of purpose, direction, clarity, peace, and joy instead.
So what can we do to start living intentionally?
• Practice Gratitude
It’s such a cliché but it’s profoundly true. However, being grateful for what we have opens our eyes to see what we have and that we have more than most people. You’re grouchy because you can no longer afford sugar because of the pandemic? Some people do not have the bread and the black tea that you have, children who are surviving on one meal a day. Be grateful for the little things you have. Be grateful for your job even if your boss is a monster. Be grateful for your good health, be grateful for your business even if it is not thriving as it was pre-COVID, that it’s still standing whereas many have fallen is a reason enough to be grateful.
• Become self-aware/Conscious of Yourself
This simply means, “Know thyself and to thyself be true.” It means you are aware of yourself and your surroundings. Be aware of how different areas of your life relate to each other, for example, how does your family life relate to your work life? Is there a clash between the two? Be aware of your traits the good, the bad, and the ugly. Be aware of your feelings; how do you feel when angry, for example. Be aware of the atmosphere you are in and be the one in control. If you are aware of yourself and your surroundings you will manage your emotions, and how you react or respond in different situations.
• Be Mindful
Be mindful of how you speak, not everything should be voiced or spoken, it is said that silence is golden and it’s true. Be mindful of the people you let into your life; cut people off from your life when necessary. Be mindful of the places you visit. Be mindful of what you consume; not only what you eat but what you hear and what you allow your eyes to see.
• Declutter Your Life
Cleanse your life. Declutter your house, your work, your life, and your emotions. Listen, information from magazines published 10 years ago is obsolete throw them away. When our pantries are full of stuff it’s we can’t find stuff inside when we need it. When our computer disks are full they become slow to operate, the same is true of our lives; clutter slows us down, makes us irritable, and we become distracted, clutter invites chaos. By decluttering we create space to maneuver and to move freely.
• Exercise Daily
To exercise daily requires discipline, and that discipline extends to other areas of our lives. To live intentionally means having the discipline to start something and seeing it through. Procrastination, half-hearted efforts, have no place in living a life of intentions. Excising daily will put you in shape for starters, and gives you energy to last throughout the day.
• Meditate
Yes, meditating is a great way of quieting your mind and getting rid of the noise from without. Sometimes, we can even meditate and think through different scenarios and events that may or may never happen. Now, this does not mean that we create problems where none exists, it means we become realists to know that life is not perfect. We will experience hardships and challenges in life, it’s not a matter of if but a matter of when hardships and challenges will happen. Make a habit of meditating and thinking through your response to events that happen out of your control. Suppose you were to lose your job suddenly, how will you respond? will you dust yourself up, start that business, go back to school or will you jump off a bridge to your end?
In conclusion, these 6 steps are not exhaustive, they are a drop in the ocean when it comes to ways we can become intentional in our lives. Practice them, when we live with intention we are filled with purpose, our priorities are in line with what we want for our lives. We become proactive rather than reactive. And as Richie Norton said, “Intentional living is the art of making our own choices before others’ choices make us.”