Struggling with my One Little Word: INTENTIONAL #olw

Thank you Ali Edwards for your wonderful and honest blog post from January 26th: Daily Work at Home Rhythms & Things I have Learned. It was just what I needed to read. I have been struggling with the word I've chosen and that I felt called to me this year: INTENTIONAL.  This word has been mocking me since January started. I want to be more Intentional, to waste less time, to actively chose what to do and then to be doing that and not thinking about other things. I love the way you phrased it in your post:

 "I think one of the most important things in setting up your day is to be fully aware of your core values. If you don’t know what you value most it’s pretty difficult to keep that focus first and foremost in your heart and mind. What do you want your life to be about? How do you want to spend your time? What’s most important to you? If those things aren’t being nurtured it’s likely time to make some changes."

 Maybe the problem is that I haven't spent enough time thinking about what my core values are so therefore I can't be INTENTIONAL about focusing on them.  It is also possible that I butting my head up against perfectionism -- something that I struggle with frequently, or that I am being too hard on myself -- that maybe January is just going to be a slow, lazy, snowy, cold month. Maybe I should just stop fighting, and resign myself to being INTENTIONAL about taking it easy in January instead of mentally beating myself up for not making headway on any of the projects I want to get done this year. The whole point is to do something (or not do something) and then to be okay/intentional with that -- to not feel guilty about what I am NOT doing.

Thank you also Ali, for leading me to the blog Be More With Less: Life on Purpose by Courtney Carver. When I saw the title and banner on her blog I immediately re-focused on my word and why I chose it. Life on Purpose -- that's the essence of what I want -- nap on purpose, eat on purpose, be productive on purpose, spend time with Emma, Jim and Chloe on purpose, work when I'm at work on purpose -- reach out to friends on purpose. I've only just started to explore this blog, but I've liked what I've read so far -- though I am not ready to give up Facebook yet. The guest post on her blog on the 26th was Farewell Facebook by Rachel Jonat of Minimalist Mom.

Lastly thank you Ali for reminding me to read less, think less, and just do more. I too spend way too much time reading about systems, solutions, philosophies, decluttering -- and not so much time just doing it.  As you again said so well at the end of your post:

"I like to read about ways to bring peace and calm into our lives. But what I’m really working on is reading less about it and doing more about simply living that way. "

I remember reading this poem way back in High School and loving it and being inspired by it them. It's Welcome Morning by Anne Sexton. To me it really celebrates the essence of everyday life or ordinary sacred life which is so much of what Ali and other bloggers I read have been writing about. So, I'll close with this favorite poem -- I need to re-read it now anyway.....

There is joy
in all:
in the hair I brush each morning,
in the Cannon towel, newly washed,
that I rub my body with each morning,
in the chapel of eggs I cook
each morning,
in the outcry from the kettle
that heats my coffee
each morning,
in the spoon and the chair
that cry, "Hello there, Anne!"
each morning,
in the godhead of the table
that I set my silver, plate, cup upon
each morning.

All this is God,
right here in my pea-green house,
each morning,
and I mean,
though often forget,
to give thanks,
to faint down by the kitchen table
in a prayer of rejoicing
as the holy birds at the kitchen window
peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it
let me paint a thank you on my palm
for this God, this laughter of the morning
lest it go unspoken.

The joy that isn't shared, I've heard,
dies young.

~Anne Sexton

Amen.