What does it mean to live intentionally?
Intentional living is not about perfection, it’s about living a life that aligns with your values and beliefs and making the effort to self-reflect and address those things that are out of alignment.
We are on a journey to live life more intentionally. It’s a decision we make every day – some days are better than others. It’s not enough to know our hearts’ desires; it’s important that we actually do the work to get there. In fact, this space that we’ve carved out is part of us getting there. We are sharing our journey with you and want to encourage you to live your life intentionally and with immense joy.
Below are 5 things we are doing to foster our journey of intentional living:
1. Express gratitude before starting each day.
Just about every day, I go on a gratitude walk. I carve out the time before jumping into the daily hustle and clear my thoughts so that I can spend some time with God and prepare mentally and emotionally for the day ahead. I start by acknowledging all of the things I am grateful for and then ask for the strength and mental clarity to take charge of my day and be in control of my thoughts.
It has been a few months now since I’ve started doing my walks consistently, and it has made a big difference in how I navigate each day. And it’s not necessarily about the walk, because I’ve had various morning routines in the past – from exercising to journaling. But it is the act of being intentional about expressing gratitude that makes the difference. I choose to walk, but you can do any activity as long as you do it with intention.
2. Set goals and make an action plan to achieve them.
Our daily goals are often simple and they change from day to day, but they are small goals that will eventually help us realize the big dreams. Today my goal was to budget. Each time I budget, it means we are being intentional with our personal finances. When we are intentional with our money, the dream of debt freedom gets that much closer.
3. Create a list of life priorities and what brings you joy.
Knowing what makes you happy is one thing but there is just something about writing things on paper (or in the notes app on your phone). Jot down the things that make living important and reflect on them as needed. That could be daily, or once a week. The point is to keep an eye on the things that bring you joy so that you incorporate more of that into your life more frequently.
4. Filter out negative thoughts and redirect them into positive ones.
Honestly this one can be challenging because there are so many outside influences that can affect your thoughts. From demands at work to life challenges, it can be difficult to navigate through it all to find the positive. We’ve had to train ourselves to immediately identify the negative thoughts as they arise and redirect them.
This is where the list of priorities and things that bring you joy comes in handy. When those negative thoughts come up, we pick something from our list to focus on, shifting our thoughts from negative to positive. This isn’t to pretend that everything can be solved just with positive thoughts, but most times it does help us change a bad day into one that we can manage.
5. Therapy!
We are proponents and participants of regular therapy sessions – with a professional. We haven’t done couples therapy in quite sometime, but our individual sessions are scheduled regularly. Sometimes sessions are weekly, at times they are monthly, but we know that it’s important to protect our mental health. We make the effort to speak with our respective counselors and prioritize it. Finding a therapist is like finding a partner. The first therapist you sit with may not be a good fit, so don’t get discouraged. Take your time and find the right person for you.
These are just a few things that we are doing to live life more intentionally each day. It doesn’t always go as planned and we aren’t always successful at it. But we are actively working to make each day one that reflects our life’s goals.
What changes have you made to achieve your goals? How are you intentionally creating the life you desire?
With Intention,
Sean & Simone
This was a really good and timely read!
I recently achieved a personal goal of paying off my car loan four years earlier than scheduled. In doing so, I had to cut back on a lot of unnecessary things and really had to be intentional with my spending over a series of months. It got tough at times, but staying focused on the ultimate goal (financial freedom!) and having an accountability partner really helps.
Haven’t been as intentional in other areas, but this post offers great tips on how/where I should begin. Thanks for sharing!
4 years earlier than scheduled! What an accomplishment which certainly took a lot of intention. Congratulations! Accountability partners are great added motivation. We have some financial goals that we’ll be talking about here as well so keep checking back. We can’t always be intentional in every aspect of life, so having some focus areas really helps. Thank you for commenting, we appreciate you.