LIVING INTENTIONALLY... POST TWO

The modern world measures success in what material possessions we own and/or in our social status in the community. Thus we often end up focusing our time and energies on doing what it takes to make enough money to buy the things we think we need or trying to move ahead in our social status. But we are "human beings" not "human doings"!It is important to be the kind of "human being" we hope to be. Being intentional about developing ourselves as the kind of person we choose to become, leads us to a more peaceful and purposeful life.

People even compare their "busy-ness" with others hoping to one-up each other on how they're doing in moving toward these goals as if busy-ness itself equaled success. At one point in my life I was "over-busy", caught up in what I thought was expected of me as a professional working with troubled youth. I had my Franklin Planner with me at every meeting, filled with activities, meetings, and to-do lists. I remember one meeting sitting around a table where everyone had their planners out and trying to come up with another meeting time that worked for everyone. Everyone talked with pride about how busy they were, as if the busier they were, the more successful they were. It dawned on my then that this was a strange way to measure success. Have you noticed that when you ask people how they are, that many people answer with "busy"? After that meeting I began to talk less about being busy. I tried to focus more intentionally on the kind of person I wanted to become and the kind of life I wanted to live, focusing on what was important to me. Thus began the project of INTENTIONAL LIVING. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with planning or Franklin Planners, but when you base your importance on filling up that planner it can get in the way of what is truly important.

 Susie Steiner, a nurse, recorded 5 top regrets of the dying.  Listed here are the reasons she found:

1) I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2) I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
3) I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4) I wish that I had let myself be happier.
5) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Are you ready to create an intentional life without regrets? Live your life purposefully? Become the kind of person you intend to be? Begin now! Go here to learn all about it.

It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.  Thomas Paine