Living with Intention as a Regular Habit

“Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We feel more alive. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation and healing.”   Jon Kabat Zin.

Yes, everything we do in our day to day living can be intentional, conscious and done with awareness. I love this so much, and yet have to constantly laugh at myself at failing so dismally at being intentional. Does this ever happen to you?  I find myself in the house, retracing my steps in the attempt to remember why I walked into this room. Surely I came here to get something, what though? Ha ha, so much for being intentional.  Yet the moments when I am fully engaged in what I am doing, time does expand, the moment does become vivid and I feel so alive.

This brilliant illumination came to me not in a Himalayan temple, but in my tiny kitchen. The dreaded task of emptying the dishwasher faces me again. Ugh, gotta get ‘r done quickly so I can move on to something more fun.  What if I did this intentionally? What if I took the time to place each plate, glass and piece of cutlery intentionally into its assigned place? Aha, now I am placing my world in order. There is a satisfaction about that, a warm feeling of my breathing and of being productive. This is enjoyable and I feel vividly alive.  I am transformed by simply taking  time, this NOW time, my real life,  and doing the simple task well. I am healing my unconscious habit of hurtling forward to the next thing, totally missing this moment!

Oh that was easy!