It’s the season of Intentional Living, with the focus in January to dive into “Living a Life of Purpose”. The lineup of the month of January’s podcast includes the stories from guests who authentically live intentionally and a life of purpose.
What does day-to-day intentional living entail?
You’ve likely seen the phrase living an intentional life pop up in conversations, especially during the beginning of the year.
I’m not a fan of resolutions personally. What has been working for me is the act of intention setting, also called Sankalpa in Sanskrit.
Perhaps you are wondering what does it really means to be intentional? Or you are curious what does it look like to act with daily intention, or truly live a purpose-filled life.
For me, intentional living means focusing my energy around creating life-based on my core values and beliefs.
To simplify, this year I honed in on one key phrase that describes my intention: Relax & Be Present.
This intention is not about remaining passive, but rather consciously and willfully taking value-based action with an intended outcome or goals.
Below are three ways on how I’ve designed my life to live intentionally.
3 Tips for Intentional Living
1. Set a Morning Intention
My intention setting is part of a larger morning routine that includes a sadhana (meditation practice) and brief moments of introspection and gratitude. Each morning I reflect on what intention will best serve me, and I write it down. Some days I have the same intention. Much like setting my intention for the day, I also set my intention for my life, and how I wish to take action through my day which manifests through setting clear intentions.
- Sankalpa for Meditatation: if you are seeking to cultivate a daily meditation practice, view this article for an infographic on how to set your intention for a morning meditation practice.
2. Plan Ahead
I set some high-level goals, that align with my core values. Each morning I write down the key goals I have which set the tone for the day in terms of what I intend to accomplish. Since I’m a visual person at the beginning of each year I set a plan that helps me navigate my year, and I create a vision board. My vision board maps to health, family, career, finances, my home life. This is where I also emphasize my keyword or phrase that matches my intentions, such as Relax & Be Present.
3. Act with Awareness
Developing moment-by-moment awareness of my breath, my attitudes, and even my energy is an ongoing daily thoughts challenges. This challenge however is what helps me pause and bring focus on ‘my why’. Simple daily activities when done with awareness allow me to be more present. For example, when I’m sweeping the floor I remind myself that I am cleaning so I can bring more harmony to my home. When I’m making dinner I notice how my senses are engaged, from the aromas of the food, the tastes, textures, sights, and even sounds. Or when I exercise in the morning I remind myself that I’m performing the action so that I may be entering a more relaxed or calmer state in my meditation.
Stories of those who are intentionally living a Life of Purpose
The podcast guests for this month have these things in common:
- They each have intentionally designed a life where they are living their purpose.
- They have clarity on how they plan on showing up for themselves and others.
- They act with a positive mindset.
Their stories illustrate how our life lessons and the skills we develop over the course of our adulthood can help shape us and manifest a life of purpose.
Here are highlights from a few of the podcasts guests this month who illustrate that they are living a life of purpose.
Leanne Brennen – Mindset Motivator
Leanne’s day job is that of a freelance illustrator and animator. Before having children she would not have thought that she would find herself producing prolific artwork, especially for helping others manifest their dreams. However, Leanne’s desire to continually grow led her to continually do deep inner work to heal her soul.
During the pandemic, Leanne harnessed her mindfulness, mindset, and illustrator skills to launch ‘100 Epic Days’ – an accountability program to help people release perfectionism, incorporate one’s personal purpose-driven work into their daily life, and intentionally come alive by creating work that comes from a place of love. Through this program, Leanne created the Epic Affirmation Card Deck.
Stay tuned to listen to Leanne’s story this month on the podcast Omnipresent Awareness, during the season of Intentional Living.
When we let go of the outcome, and embody the person that lives in the future vision we hold, magical, unexpected things happen. I am here for the magic. I am here for the surprises, and I invite you to join me
Leeane Brennan
Jillian Benbow – Positive Mindset Community Builder
Jillian early on recognized the nagging feeling in her heart when she realized she wanted to serve humanity in a bigger way by using skills to build and support communities. She became a mom at a young age, which influenced many of her life choices, particularly around work-life balance. Through deep soul searching, she became aware of what gave her life purpose. Personally and professionally she intentionally paused to learn stories of others, and she realized those stories connect us. She also mindfully learned to pause and notice precious moments that connected her to nature. It’s no surprise that her professional life is about helping the community of like-minded people make meaningful connections.
With over a decade of experience as a digital community expert, she helps business owners craft a community experience that is safe, valuable, and fun. She is currently the Senior Community Experience Manager at SPI Media, and hosts the host of the Podcast ‘ Community Experience’.
Jilian’s mantra is ‘Dare to Live the Life you Have Dreamed for Yourself’.
Dare to Live the Life you
Have Dreamed for Yourself
Jilian benbow
The SPI community happens to serve many of the other guests in this month’s podcast series, particularly the solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and mompreneurs.
To learn more about Jilian’s story and how she serves at SPI, stay tuned for her podcast on Omnipresent Awareness.
Dr. Laura Jaget – Adulting Motivator
Dr. Jaget is not only an accomplished chiropractor who retired in 2020 after 28 years in practice, but has been a nationally ranked NCAA Division I tennis player, a chiropractor, a business owner, a wife, a mother of four amazing, accomplished children, a healer, a teacher, dabbled in boxing, marksmanship, ballroom dancing, and is most recently, playing senior pro pickleball.
As part of her ‘2nd Act’, she created the podcast HOW TO LIFE, a powerful platform geared toward helping newer adults take the fear out of “adulting” through motivation and inspiration that provides audio (HOW TO LIFE) and short video (On her YouTube, Mominars) tutorials with practical instructions and lots of encouragement with the intention of removing fear out of adulting. After recognizing the challenges many younger adults face she found a new life purpose to help motivate and inspire a new generation of adults to live their best life.
Stay tuned to listen to Dr. Jaget’s story on the podcast Omnipresent Awareness during the month of January.
