“Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving” – Kahlil Gibran 

How you start the day sets the tone for the rest of your day. The best way to bring mindfulness into your life effortlessly is through living with daily intent. Setting an intention that aligns with how you want to be, live and show up in the world is a powerful way to help you stay grounded and reconnect with what matters most. 

Too often we begin our days with urgency, feeling the pressure of what lies ahead. Or we find ourselves stuck in a state of “waiting” or “wanting”. Waiting for the next vacation, wanting a better job, a truly meaningful relationship, success etc. Sounds familiar?

It is not uncommon for our minds to seek some kind of release or fulfilment and in the process our minds have a tendency to be concerned with keeping the past alive or projecting itself into the future to ensure its continued survival.

As human beings we have a tendency to confuse need with want.

“ The single greatest factor in unhappiness is want: wanting more than we have, what we don’t have, or what we cannot have. Want is a bottomless pit… “ (Schutte, 2012, pg. 115)

Consider changing your thought patterns around want. Regular mindfulness meditation practice offers you the gift of shifting your attitude and focus from: “I want” to “This is sufficient”. You may still want things, but you don’t confuse wanting with needing them to feel complete, happy or fulfilled.

An intention is a guiding principle that comes from the heart and is an aim, purpose or attitude that you’d be proud to commit to. Our intention creates our reality, thus focusing your mind on a specific intention during a meditation brings it into your focused mind, your thoughts, your heart and in turn helps to bring it into reality.

Practical mindfulness tips for living with daily intent:

1. Clients often ask me: “When is the best time of the day to meditate?” When you wake up in the morning after a good nights rest, your body feels fresh, thus your mind feels fresh too and this is a good time to get in touch with the deeper part of your being. However, the best time is also what is convenient to you.

2. Begin your day with a sense of mindfulness and intention. Take a moment to relax into your body and just rest with this simple question: “What quality do I most want to cultivate today?” If you notice that your mind is wanting more, perhaps you may choose to focus your intention on the quality of gratitude or generosity. Focus on something you would like to see more of in your life.

3. When you know which quality you want to focus on, just set that intention. For example: “Today I am going to be grateful”. In your meditation see if you can loosely visualise how that intention will manifest in your interactions or behaviours throughout the day. How will you live in line with that intention if only for today?

4. Create a mantra, for example: “this is sufficient” or “gratitude” or “I can be happy if I have what I want, or don’t have what I want. I am content” and set a reminder on your phone to repeat a few times throughout the day. Putting your intention on paper can be very powerful.

5. Imagine standing in front of a mirror and offer your intention out loud.

6. You can also use informal mindfulness to practice your intention throughout the day by tuning in with yourself. Take a mindful pause while you are waiting for the kettle to boil or your email to open and ask yourself the following three questions as suggested by Deepak Chopra (www.sonima.com):

• Am I aware? Are you aware? That brings you to the present moment just by asking this question.
• What am I aware of? Become aware of everything around you. Don’t put it into words, because then you camouflage reality with a description of reality. You can also become aware of not just your external world, but also your internal world (your thoughts, sensations, emotions etc)
• Who or what is having this experience?

Every time you ask these three questions you are in the present moment, you are expanding your awareness of the external and internal world, and you get in touch with your inner being which is not your mind and not your body, but the field of mindfulness awareness in which both mind and body arise and subside.

My challenge to you this month is to give up wanting as a state of mind and start living with daily intention!

References

Schutte, R. 2012. Set yourself free – Reon Schutte’s 10 principles to break out of your personal prison through the power of choice. HenschelHAUS Publishing, Malaysia.

www.sonima.com