“Intention is a conscious choice from within and the mindful exercising of that choice. Intention is personal activism in alignment with our deepest, most peaceful truth and our highest purpose for our greatest good. It is the conscious creation of a soulful life.”

Adrienne Enns

in·ten·tion·al·i·ty

/inˌten(t)SHəˈnalədē/

noun

the fact of being deliberate or purposive.

What does it mean to live your life intentionally or with purpose? What does that look like? 

First, it’s letting go of the belief or the idea that your life is happening to you. That the world around you is just spinning and you are simply along for the ride. Believing that life just happens to us creates an idea in us that we have no control over what happens to us. We are victims of circumstance. 

I’d like to offer that, while things in our lives happen that are beyond our control, living intentionally is what helps us create a dynamic where we have control over how we process those things. 

Have you ever had someone do or say something to you that made you feel bad? What I’m offering is that the other person can’t make you feel anything. How you feel is caused by your thought about what the other person said or did. And you get to choose your thoughts. That’s intentionality. 

Intentionality is taking the time to be aware of the thoughts you are having and asking yourself if you like that thought and how it’s serving you. Do you want to keep the thought? Is that thought protecting you from harm? Or keeping you stuck? Would dropping the thought or changing the thought help you to move past the hurt feelings? 

This is an easy concept when it comes to health and fitness. Easy to accept. Hard to implement. 

Have you ever gotten to the middle of the afternoon and suddenly realized you forgot to eat all day? 

The easy part: make a plan, intentionally write down what your schedule is, when you plan to eat and what. Adapting your meal plan for your busy schedule so you can make sure you are fueling your body is a good way of being intentional. Following the plan isn’t always easy, but daily practice of intentional thought and action can help create better habits. 

The same concept goes for fitting in your daily workouts, or connecting with the people in your life who are important to you, or processing through grief or trauma. Daily intentional action. 

Here’s my suggestion: make a list of all the things you can do every day (big or small) that will bring more intentionality into your life. 

Here are some suggestions:

Daily prayer, meditation or quiet pondering 

Reading a paragraph or chapter of something that uplifts or inspires you 

Daily journaling (writing a thought download) 

Making a schedule

Keeping a food journal 

Making a meal plan

Planning a get together with friends

Showing up when you said you would

Writing a daily workout schedule and following it 

Calling your best friend on the phone 

Listing 5 things you are grateful for 

Telling the truth even when it’s uncomfortable 

Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself one thing you love about you. Make it something different everyday. Then Journal it. 

Be unapologetically, authentically you, even when others don’t agree with you

I hope each of us can work a little better each day to become more intentional in our lives. You get to create your life. You get to make that happen. It is each of your choice. It is all up to you. What are you going to do with it today?