When we intentionally create space in our lives, we can intentionally decide what to fill it with.
Cait Flanders
There’s this universal secret we hear all the time but never really apply. This secret just sits there, ready to be used, ready to elevate your life and transform your reality. Legendary leaders preach this and old wise sages write it in books, but only a few heed to its instruction. The one secret that people often dismiss is the power of intentional living.
The definition of intentional is, “done on purpose; deliberate”; therefore, intentional living is the process of being deliberate and conscious with daily decisions. It’s being aware of your values and the direction you want to go in life. Intentional living in a world of hasty decisions and quick fixes is a game changer.
For someone who has imperfectly applied this principle for the past few years, I can attest to its powerful effects. I often use minimalism and intentional living interchangeably because being intentional is what minimalism is all about. It was through minimalism that I learned to actively apply this principle to all areas of my life.
Throughout my journey of intentional living, I’ve noticed positive effects that I believe can convince you to pursue this phenomenon:
It creates more balance.
When you take the time to evaluate the key areas in your life, you’ll find that there’s probably a lot of clutter that doesn’t need to be there.
Once you decide what brings value in all key areas and discard the rest, the excess that you rid yourself of will create room for you to spend quality time in important areas such as your health, social life, personal life, ect.
It brings more joy.
Living a simple life often leads to less stress, and less stress can lead to more joy.
Being intentional with the things you bring into your life whether that be friends, possessions, new work projects and so forth, will effectively put you in a position where you’re surrounded by things that are meaningful and bring you joy.
You unsubscribe from the rat race.
When you’re focused on cultivating a life full of purpose and deliberate intent, you have no time to keep up with the Joneses.
You’re not constantly consuming new trends or constantly chasing meaningless pursuits that you’re told by society will make your life better; instead, you’re in your own lane.
You have goals that you can actualize.
This is a no-brainer or at least it should be. When you have a clear understanding of your values and have created balance in your life, you now have the time and capacity to plan and execute goals you set for yourself.
For me, some of my personal goals were to have a consistent posting schedule for my youtube channel, blog and social media platforms. I had the time and space to schedule this into my calendar with no problem, but it required sacrifice.
I had to sacrifice the urge to pursue meaningless activities such as binge watching Netflix or catching up on the latest celebrity gossip for the opportunity to work toward my goals.
Less distracted
I would like to say that intentional living rids you of all distractions, but it doesn’t. What I will say is that when you are in alignment with your values and you’re focused on meaningful pursuits, you’re less likely to get distracted by all the outside noise.
I can attest to this beautiful gift of intentional living because when I set forth the intention to be deliberate with what I invite into my space — both physical and mental, it produced an intense desire to focus only on what truly matters. I no longer have the desire to spend hours scrolling on social media because it doesn’t contribute to me reaching any of my goals and it isn’t in alignment with my values.
There truly is power in living a life with intention. It brings joy, meaning, focus and freedom. Don’t go one more day without pausing and deciding to experience the power of intentional living.
For more on intentional living, visit my minimalism page.
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