I am joining Honoré again this month to share an update on my word!
Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen Hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. — Mary Anne Radmacher
Six months in and I finally got it!
What intentional living is. What is should be. What it feels like.
And it is incredible!!
News Flash: I have been living such an unintentional life!!
Aimless (yes, maybe focused aimlessness…but still so aimless!) I am sad that it took almost four months of at-home-quarantine to figure it out. (but I am not sure I would have been able to any other way…)
I started out the year with an entirely different journey in my mind for this word. Haha! Well, it sure showed me!
So what changed? I finally gave up trying to pick the path and let the word show me where I needed to be. I stopped fighting it and gave myself over to it.
Here is what this month revealed to me:
Time in meditation is the best time I can give myself. And meditation paired with some time listening and a bit of writing sets the best tone for the day. (Listening, you ask? Yes… listening. Some days it is poetry, some days it is nature, and some days it is listening for a still small voice.) I have done some form of mediation regularly for a very long time, but this quarantine has helped me hone my meditation skills… or maybe it is that there is less on my “shopping list” (see below) and that has helped remove the noise and just be immersed in the meditation time.
Time mindlessly shopping was such a colossal waste. We have been grocery shopping once every 4-ish weeks…and you know what? We have not run out of things…once. I have not done any “clothing shopping” at all this year and have not died and my wardrobe is not lacking (see Me Made May for proof of that!) No aimless wandering in a store buying things out of boredom.
This month I’ve gone to bed earlier and I am sleeping better and waking up easier! (Most nights that is… sometimes the news just can’t be avoided and then queue the tossing and turning with a dose of worry)
I am giving up trying to control.all.the.things! (it’s a work in progress…) And as a result, I have started to stop worrying about those things. (okay, maybe not entirely…but I am working on it…see above, lol)
Now, here we are on the last day of June and I am excited to see what Intentional Living will look like in July.
You can see my Intentional Journey here.
Nice post Kat! Glad this is working out so well for you. I don’t think I could go 4 weeks without grocery shopping though! We are not going every week, but before 2 weeks are up we are out of fresh produce, yogurt, etc. But, like you, I don’t miss clothes shopping or aimlessly wandering the aisles of different stores. That’s been a big surprise for me.
I find it really interesting how the pandemic initially seemed to derail our intentions and words for many of us (myself included), but maybe it also taught us deeper lessons, like the ones you’ve enumerated. I am right there with you on the meditation, less shopping, and less trying to control. Now if I could just worry less about my kids … 🙂
Way to go, Kat! (sending you a virtual high-five)
One of the downsides of smart phones is the temptation to read the news before going to sleep. It’s a really bad idea!
You are so right about how we waste time — i.e. shopping instead of meditating. Still, I can’t go for four weeks without grocery shopping: milk, fruit, veggies!
I am so glad that you finally feel like you’ve had an epiphany on your word. As Bonny alluded to, this pandemic has wreaked havoc but has also had some unintended blessings. It’s forced us to appreciate what we have, to focus on what’s important, and to be mindful of how we spend our time. I’m glad that you’ve been able to shut out much of the noise and focus on centering yourself.
As I read your words, I was picturing a screen–the kind of filter we used when we were cleaning up a garden bed, shaking out debris to leave behind clean river rock. It sounds like you’ve been able to do some good filtering, even if you didn’t realize you were doing it ’til now!
I’m glad the quarantine has given you the ability to connect with your word in a meaningful way.
What a wonderful post. Sometimes we need to be stopped to notice things that we have missed don’t we. This lockdown time has definitely made me do that and think about things in a different way. I hope that your intentional journey continues to be a good and meaningful one for you in July.
I can feel your joy jumping through my screen! Isn’t it funny – when I think of “intentional living,” I often think of being clear about a goal and pushing through to reach it. But it looks like it’s the opposite – it’s about intentionally embracing whatever comes, all while realizing that we’re learning more about our tendencies and vulnerabilities with each challenge.
Thank you for this post today! (or yesterday, actually.)
There you go! The power of letting one little word work it’s magic!
XO
oh yes, go YOU! it makes me so happy to read that you’ve found MORE in the less. these “little” words are magic (I love when I can just say “what Kym said” 😉
like you I haven’t missed the mindless shopping. We go once a week to the grocery store and that is it. Now because of the landscaping stuff we had to go to the hardware store for items to redo some of the fence. Not a big deal. I thought I missed eating out but when we visited our son and his fiancee and ate outside, I was underwhelmed. My cooking is pretty good!!
Hooray for your intentional living and for figuring it out. Meditation is valuable so I thank you for the reminder. Every now and again, I become quite anxious with all the what if’s. Almost always I haven’t been as faithful to meditation. I do know a good morning routine that includes even a few minute of meditation is helpful.