How we can live a purposeful life
By Tina Hallis | Illustrations by Stacey Anderson
Sometimes it can feel like your life is living you instead of the other way around. Maybe there’s too much to do and no time to pause and consider what you actually want to do. But, there’s a way out of this vicious cycle. With some self-reflection and by taking steps every day, it is very possible to live our lives intentionally and on purpose.
To really understand how to live life intentionally, it’s useful to consider what it feels like to live without intention. A helpful analogy is comparing it to riding the bumper cars at the fair. Other drivers are constantly bumping into us, pushing us every which way. We’re continuously reacting to each collision, backing up, turning around, just in time to get rammed again. This can be fun if it’s just a game and we’re not trying to go anywhere. But if we continually let our decisions, actions and emotions be reactions to what life throws at us, we’re just surviving instead of choosing our life.
Don’t be misled. Living with intention is not about getting it right every time or being perfect. It’s a direction we aim for so we can get better at choosing what we want to think, feel and do. There are many challenges that get in our way. There’s the constant pressure to fit in and to please others. There are frustrations and obstacles that we can’t control that seem to push us off our path. We have life experiences that leave us cautious and wounded.
And then there is our strong survival instinct. Since prehistoric times, it has kept us alive by making sure we focus on any dangers or problems so we can protect ourselves in the future. In today’s world, it can feel like our minds are antennas that constantly bounce between channels focused on bad news, drama and worry. It’s not easy to take control of the remote and change the station to something positive.
The great news is that we have the ability to overcome these hurdles. We can choose how we respond despite these negative influences. Here are some tips to make that choice easier.
CLARIFY YOUR VALUES
ENVISION YOUR FUTURE SELF
FOLLOW ONE COURSE UNTIL SUCCESSFUL
REMOVE OBSTACLES
BUILD RESILIENCE
TAME YOUR MIND
Living with intention is about choosing a path, a direction that is true to your purpose, values and beliefs. There will still be obstacles and collisions as if you were riding the bumper cars, but your intention will guide you back on course. Each of us needs to find the path that feels best for us. It may be cultivating a trait that’s important to us such as patience, compassion or generosity. It may be dedicating our thoughts and actions to topics that matter to us like domestic violence, environmental sustainability or social justice.
When we live without practicing intention, our lives are controlled by our survival instincts, our habits that have formed from our life experiences and the pressures and norms of society. We are at the mercy of what happens to us. To live our best life and be our best, most authentic self, we need to notice our ingrained reactions and then purposely choose how to move forward or respond. This gives us the amazing power to create and design the kind of life we want to live and how we want to be in that life.