I've often said that happiness is not a pursuit, not a destination, but rather an intentional practice. Jonathan Fields, author of How to Live a Good Life and founder of The Good Life Community says, "Life is neither journey, nor destination. It is, instead, a daily practice."
I feel that our daily intentional practices are the key to leading a good life, a life of more sustained happiness, inner peace and well-being.
Marianne Williamson refers to her morning intentional practice of meditation and prayer as a necessary daily purifying process. She often discusses how we cleanse or purify our bodies each day by showering, brushing our teeth, etc. and how it's equally, if not more, important to cleanse and purify our mind. She poses these questions, "Do we purify the anger, the bitterness, the resentment, the grudges? Do we purify the thought of being inadequate and not enough? Do we purify the stress?"
She recommends that every morning you spend time in meditation and prayer. She suggests going through all of the people that you know you will interact with during your day and set your intention to interact with them with love, kindness and compassion. She also suggests that you set the intention to act with love, kindness and compassion toward everyone you interact with, even those who are unexpected. Pray that you can be of service and be used as a vessel for God by asking, "Where would you have me go? What would you have me do? What would you have me say and to whom?"
I would add that you start off your daily meditation and prayer with gratitude. This sets the tone, raises your vibration and helps to connect us to a higher source.
In his book, Jonathan Fields says to, "Think of your life as three buckets: Vitality, Connection and Contribution. These are your Good Life Buckets.
Your Connection Bucket is about cultivating deep and meaningful relationships.
Your Vitality Bucket is about optimizing your state of mind and body.
Your Contribution Bucket is about contributing to the world in a way that is deeply aligned with who you are and what matters to you.
Your quest is to keep all three as full as possible. When your Good Life Buckets are full, life is amazing. If any one runs dry, pain ensues. If two run dry, you are in a world of hurt. If all three are ever empty at the same time, you’re no longer alive—by any definition."
He goes on to say, "Your only job is to wake up and ask yourself, 'Which bucket needs a little love today?'. Then, go about doing a little something to fill it, while also remembering never to abandon the others."
The key goal of a daily intentional practice is to function from a place of being intentional versus operating from a place of reactivity. Reactionary versus intentional. You can imagine the difference in your day, and your life, if you are reactionary versus intentional.
In this new year, what do your daily intentional practices look like? How strong are they? Could they use being ramped up? I would love to hear your feedback on this post. Please drop me a comment or send me an email.
I feel that our daily intentional practices are the key to leading a good life, a life of more sustained happiness, inner peace and well-being.
Marianne Williamson refers to her morning intentional practice of meditation and prayer as a necessary daily purifying process. She often discusses how we cleanse or purify our bodies each day by showering, brushing our teeth, etc. and how it's equally, if not more, important to cleanse and purify our mind. She poses these questions, "Do we purify the anger, the bitterness, the resentment, the grudges? Do we purify the thought of being inadequate and not enough? Do we purify the stress?"
She recommends that every morning you spend time in meditation and prayer. She suggests going through all of the people that you know you will interact with during your day and set your intention to interact with them with love, kindness and compassion. She also suggests that you set the intention to act with love, kindness and compassion toward everyone you interact with, even those who are unexpected. Pray that you can be of service and be used as a vessel for God by asking, "Where would you have me go? What would you have me do? What would you have me say and to whom?"
I would add that you start off your daily meditation and prayer with gratitude. This sets the tone, raises your vibration and helps to connect us to a higher source.
In his book, Jonathan Fields says to, "Think of your life as three buckets: Vitality, Connection and Contribution. These are your Good Life Buckets.
Your Connection Bucket is about cultivating deep and meaningful relationships.
Your Vitality Bucket is about optimizing your state of mind and body.
Your Contribution Bucket is about contributing to the world in a way that is deeply aligned with who you are and what matters to you.
Your quest is to keep all three as full as possible. When your Good Life Buckets are full, life is amazing. If any one runs dry, pain ensues. If two run dry, you are in a world of hurt. If all three are ever empty at the same time, you’re no longer alive—by any definition."
He goes on to say, "Your only job is to wake up and ask yourself, 'Which bucket needs a little love today?'. Then, go about doing a little something to fill it, while also remembering never to abandon the others."
The key goal of a daily intentional practice is to function from a place of being intentional versus operating from a place of reactivity. Reactionary versus intentional. You can imagine the difference in your day, and your life, if you are reactionary versus intentional.
In this new year, what do your daily intentional practices look like? How strong are they? Could they use being ramped up? I would love to hear your feedback on this post. Please drop me a comment or send me an email.
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