So, how are YOU living life, in the driver’s seat or the passenger’s seat?
Does it really matter? ABSOLUTELY!!
If we are in the passenger’s seat being driven around and guided by everyone else, both in our life and decision making, I feel we are missing out on adventure, joy, comfort and worst of all God’s chosen gift for us! We will never discover it if we are afraid to step out of our comfort zone!
Living With Intention means that you are living with a purpose and maybe even with divinely inspired direction and purpose! That is my desire!
Many people’s inner voice keeps them in the passenger seat with their negative self-talk. That negative self-talk, over time, will become the reality because it is what you will come to believe. I am not good enough, I am a failure, I will never lose weight, etc…
We can be our worst enemy’s, holding ourselves back from the best parts of life.
This is something that I too needed to work on, but over the last two year. Since being sick, I have made it a point to change things in my life. I started to realize that even though I am an embracer of dreams and a go-getter, I was still holding myself back. Even though I focused on the positive, I had negative things to say and negative internal beliefs. We all have unnecessary baggage from life and past experiences! The good news is that WE CAN change that!!
Once I have made those changes I was able to not only clear my head of garbage which made room for so much more positive, but I also made room to hear that small quiet voice of the Holy Spirit! What a powerful combination and there is nothing better than divinely inspired direction.
When we are divinely directed, we know we are on the right path. Unlike heading down roads we choose ourselves without direction where we hit wall after wall. With divine direction the doors will open. Not that it will be all unicorns and cotton candy, there will be bumps along the way to strengthen us, but we will not be going in circles or hitting a dead end road while experiencing nothing but misery!
My goal this year is to Live With Intention (#LivingWithIntention), to be true to myself (#BeTrue2Self) and to be true to Jesus (#BeTrue2Jesus). Not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. I feel, for myself, living this way will bring me joy and completeness.
Will I struggle and go off track? Most likely at some point, but I am SO determined to focus on this, my hope is when I do go off track I will quickly notice and pull back in! This goal will be life changing and my hope is many other people will be joining me on this journey!
Are you in?
So, what are some ways that you can focus on #LivingWithIntention?
1. Spend the next two weeks analyzing how you spend your time and while you are analyzing how you spend your time also analyze what gives you joy and what doesn’t.
Additionally on this subject, what might be some things in your life that are missing? Things you might have done in your earlier years that gave you great joy and that got pushed aside as life took over.
- Once you have analyzed things, it is now time to determine if you haven’t already some areas of your life that are hogging your time in unhealthy ways such as social media, email, worry, etc. Now it is time to get a handle on these things and either remove these things from your life or put a timer in place when you get involved in these tasks and only allow yourself so much time with these time hogs so your time can be spent in the areas that give you joy!
You may have also noticed some areas in your life that you might wish to give up or no longer partake in? We all overextend ourselves and it's time that we all clean house and simplify so you can give your time to the important things in your life!
3. Now that you have figured out what needs to go, let’s start making a list of what should stay and what you would like to add that will bring you joy. During this process, you may realize that this may take some discipline and may require you to now more than ever, guard your schedule so you can be #LivingWithIntention!
4. This one is a BIG one for many of us…. I had to work through this several years ago, learning to say “NO”! No is not a bad word and it is not a bad thing. It WILL NOT cost you to say “NO” in most cases it will open new doors where your “YES” will be better spent! There is SO much stress added to our lives because of a quick “YES” leaving our lips. There is a really easy solution – ok over time it will become easy. When you are asked to commit yourself to something new, use these words. “Thank you so much for thinking of me, my schedule is pretty full so let me check my schedule and I will get back to you!”
By using this simple method, you will give yourself a chance to think about this to see if it is a healthy addition to your schedule, to pray about it and to make an educated decision versus a spontaneous decision that could do nothing more than add a lot of stress to your life and possibly that of your spouse.
I would also like you to consider maybe how often you say “YES” for your spouse or children. I have experienced that outside of our home and I have to say that is dangerous to me! Always honor and guard your families schedule and use the same example above to give them the opportunity to see if it will fit for them or not. In other words, do not volunteer other people's time!
Another thing to consider, when you are offered an opportunity, don’t just pray about it, but talk to your spouse about it too! I truly want to honor my husband in everything and although he is my biggest cheerleader per say, he also may be able to see the downside to things that I may overlook or the opposite for that matter. It is good to get feedback!
5. NOW, you need to be sure that you write down all your goals and your new desires. Once you write them down it is like writing that in concrete. It is expressed and is now something you need to hold yourself accountable for. If you need accountability help, join me on Facebook Live every Wednesday at 10:30 am PST or watch our YouTube channel for the replay and feel free to leave your comments below.
I spoke about all of this on our Facebook Live this week and the replay is on our YouTube channel.
It's time to find yourself, your joy, happiness, focus and put simplicity back into your life!
I will ask it again, Are YOU in?
If so, share that with me in the comments below and also share with me some of your struggles and your celebrations…