As the world around us starts to ramp up with Autumn busyness, we can experience both anxiety and excitement. Grief and sadness can show up hand in hand with laughter and joy.
One moment to the next, it can be difficult to focus on how we feel and what we want to experience. How can we live life with intention? In the midst of being overwhelmed we wonder, how can we be self-compassionate and kind instead of being caught up in the anxiety of the season?
We thought it might be helpful if Lynne Bryan Phipps, Inspirited Living’s founder, shared some thoughts this week about how to take a moment just to be with ourselves. Living life with intention is easier that it seems. As she often says, part of #LivingInspirited is being compassionate and kind with our minds and bodies one shining moment at a time.
Living Life With Intention: It Starts with One Shining Moment
“Mining the moment for something that feels good, something to appreciate, something to savor, something to take in, that’s what your moments are about.
Moments are not about justifying your existence.
It’s justified. You exist.
It’s not about proving your worthiness.
It’s done. You’re worthy.
It’s not about achieving success.
You will never get everything done.
It’s about “How much can I stay connected and enjoy this moment?”
No one’s taking score.
You get to choose.
The only measurement is the quality of your experience.
In my book, the quality of my experience equals how much joy I eek out of each moment of my life.”
I do that one experience at a time. You can too!
©Lynne Bryan Phipps, September 2022
Living Life With Intention: How do I stay in the moment?
How can we stay in the moment? How can I live life with intention?
Simply asking the question can open a world of possibilities to each one of us!
What came after the question? Were you able to consider the moment or did you notice that your mind was racing ahead? Did your mind jump to the next place or thing? Did you notice that your focus was on worrying about what might happen in the future?
When you deliberately move your awareness to this place, and this moment in time, what happens?
Are you suddenly able to notice what’s around you? Are you in a place and space you want to be?
Is it beautiful? Does it feel good? if so, let it in. Move towards it.
What if you in a place or with people you don’t enjoy. It’s important to realize. Can you move away? Can you choose not to be around it in the future? What happens in your body when you realize you have a choice?
Are you able to breathe easier? Noticing and bringing our awareness to this time, this place, is so powerful when our minds are racing ahead.
Living Life With Intention: You are Enough
This balancing act between being in the moment and the daily urges that help us get things done takes lifelong practice. It’s about being aware of how it feels to be a human being, not a human doing.
A human being is enough.
Just because you are, you are enough. You are always enough. Really knowing that we are enough is a mindset and it takes practice. Allow the awareness to seep in. Allow yourself time to wallow in that awareness. Most mindfulness and meditation practices start with grounding—the process of bringing our attention from the outside to the inside.
Living Life With Intention: Mining the Moment
The minutiae of the day has a seductive quality to it. The inter-personal connections, the chatter, the making plans for the future, the dwelling on what happened in the past. It all draws our attention from the intuitive and creative side of our brain to the logical, action side of our brain. Before we realize it, we’ve switched from a human being to a human doing. What can we do to switch ourselves back into a state of being? A state of wonder and creativity?
Berkely University Professor, Kyra Bobinet, in her book on “A Well Designed Life” asks a similar question. What feels good about your current life, what’s working, and why is it working? How can you seek out more of what is working and turn towards that? How can you intentionally turn towards what supports and nourishes you?
At InspiritedLiving, we think it’s so important to take the time to ask yourself, how can I feel the fullness of this moment? Am I able to take a deep breath? Can I feel the rain or the sunlight and smell the changing seasons around me? Is it safe to stay in this moment? How long can I just be present in my life without turning away?
Living Life With Intention: You exist. You are worthy. It’s done.
As Lynne says in her video message this week, “Moments are not about justifying your existence. It’s justified. You exist. It’s not about proving your worthiness. It’s done. You’re worthy.”
How often do we think, if I just get this next promotion, this next title, this next trophy, this next thousand likes, I’ll have what I want. It’s exhausting to constantly be looking over the horizon to the next achievement; chasing the next thing that we think will bring us happiness, status, or power.
When we shift our mindset to “I am enough,” then we open ourselves to realizing our true worth in this world. We can also connect in a genuine and authentic way with a community of likeminded people. We can appreciate genuinely and without envy, the talents and achievements of those around us. By living life with intention, we can also appreciate our own gifts.
Living Life With Intention: The Quality of Your Experience in Life
So, how do we help ourselves be in the moment and not get caught up in the dramatic tempo of what’s going on around us? One way is to shift perspective from, I am not enough, I will never get it done, to noticing the quality of your life just as it is. What are you enjoying and what feels good? Where are the joyful moments and how can you allow, even invite more of them in?
Beauty actually exists in the transience of a moment. This moment with this person will never happen again. What is beautiful and joyful about this fleeting moment? It takes practice to slow down enough to cherish a moment. To notice and cherish the light, the sounds, the smells, even the fleeting feeling. And when we do, we are rewarded with the realization that just being is enough. That’s what living life with intention is about.
As Lynne says:
“No one’s taking score.
You get to choose.
The only measurement is the quality of your experience.
The joy you find in your life.”
