Do you ever feel like you are surviving instead of living?
With each passing day instead of doing what you really want to do, you always find yourself doing what you have to do in order to just get through it.
You know you want to work towards getting that promotion and make more money, you know you want to travel to the places you see on TV and have only dreamed of, you want to work out and get in shape, You want to indulge yourself in your talents, you want to help others and make a difference in this world. But each day responsibilities, life’s pressures and quit a lot of other things just continue to break you and make you feel that those things we want are an endless wish list.
Most of us are living that way.
We think and hope that this cycle will stop at one point, when certain conditions are met and things magically get better, but without effort on our part, it won’t. Annie Dillard once said:
‘How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.’
So this may very well be the rest of our lives, unless we decide to change things. Small daily actions can work for us, or against us. It’s up to us to choose which.
It’s up to us to live intentionally each day.
What is intentional living?
Intentional living has been defined as any lifestyle based on an individual or group’s conscious attempts to live according to their values and beliefs. These can include lifestyles based on religious or ethical values, as well as coaching, personal transformation, and leadership training. (Wikipedia)
In other simply words it is living the kind of life that makes you feel like you matter. That fulfills and enriches you every day.
How can you do that? Consider the following ways that will help:
Realize that your life is made up of choices
Every morning is a new day full of decisions and opportunity.
You get to pick your attitude and your decisions. You don’t have to let the circumstances of your past negatively determine the pattern of your life in the future. You have a choice in the matter. You do not need to be stuck in the same pattern of living that you have been for years… realize that every morning is a new opportunity.
You can leverage the power of small actions each day to your advantage. When you look back, you’ll see it was the small but consistent actions that made the most significant impact.
So start today.
Make a decision…
Stop comparing your life to others. That is their life not yours. There is no sense wasting yours being jealous of theirs.
Decide how to live your life.
Decide what you want your life to look like and then and “be” that. Make a decision about how you want to feel, how you will spend your time, who you spend it with and design your life. Make it up!
You were born to live your life — determine today to be good at it. After all, you probably will only get one shot.
Define a purpose…
Identify what you want your life to communicate and contribute.
What is your message to everybody else in the world?
Find a passion to live for that is bigger than yourself. Write it down. It will bring new meaning to your life. It will wake you from the slow death of only living for yourself.
Your purpose should make you want to look forward to the next day. Your message will push you to act on it every single day in order for you to communicate it and spread it.
Starting Setting goals
Goals give us something to work towards to and keep us busy and motivated.
Goals move us and goals shape us. Set goals that are directly in line with your defined purpose. By their very nature, they will introduce intentionality into your life.
Having a goal to meet will put urgency and meaning to your daily actions.
Set goals and get into the habit of achieving them.
Express gratitude every day.
Most people do not appreciate what they have until it is too late.
Whether it’s writing down three things you’re grateful for in your notebook, sending a text to a friend, or a letter to a family member, expressing gratitude simply makes us happier.
By acting on it daily, you begin to establish an attitude of abundance and gratitude. You realise that what you have is enough and this will make you to stop chasing one thing after the other.
Gratitude is the key, the one thing that you can do right now, to have a lot more in your life.
Final Thoughts…
Each day is just as important as the next in creating the life we imagined for ourselves.
The small intentional things that we do today, tomorrow and the day after that; will pile up and after a while when we look back we will realize that they made all the difference.
Progress and change is made one small day at a time.
So start now. Start here. The worst thing you could ever waste is your life. Instead, commit yourself to live intentionally and on purpose.
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Thanks for Reading 🙂
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