Emotions or Intent?

I have not really taken the time to understand what it means to be intentional in your dealings/daily activities; until this morning as I lay in bed and I was haunted by the promises I made to get up and pursue my dreams of having a healthier lifestyle. Weirdly, I recalled a few encounters with the word and after like 12 minutes, (yes because I looked at my watch from when I woke up to when I eventually sat up) I knew what ‘intentional’ should mean to me.

People who get up and have a routine are not aliens nor is it amusing to them but they have results they intend to achieve; the same with people who have and stick to their weekly or monthly budgets or a musician who practises that routine everyday without fail; it almost made me cringe in shame when in the Nike commercial I heard Serena say practicing everyday for 30 years isn’t fun, meaning she did it and would continue to.

Occasionally I allow my activities to be dictated or influenced by emotion; while that in itself is not a totally bad thing, I realise I need to learn to act even when I am not in the mood and this is what I imagine to be ‘integrity to self’. I know the right thing to do but sometimes I do not do it, causing me to lose a moment; miss an opportunity to share a very vital message or gain something I need.

To me being intentional is being disciplined; having a clear picture of what you would like to attain and then taking diligent calculated steps to it, even seemingly vain or intangible steps. I know someone who chooses her social gatherings and when she is there, doesn’t make too much noise or appear loud and aggressive, doesn’t speak vernacular and always has a small smile hanging on her lips; she never misses the opportunity to appear beautiful, friendly and approachable and also is never afraid to say hello to who she needs to say hello to; let us just say her personal and professional market is selling!

It is easy to be jealous of people and compare ourselves to others, especially those whom we have watched grow to become a certain level of successful but we do not know their ‘behind the scenes’ so rather than dull ourselves, please let’s get up and begin to do things with intent.

What do you want?

That is one question a lot of us have failed woefully to answer; we spend day after day which eventually leads to years and we complain and decide that life has been so difficult and we are stuck at the same level and never achieving any of our dreams

Two months in the ‘new year’ have passed and while most of us started the year with a desire to make positive changes, we are still standing empty and slowly getting frustrated but the truth is do we know what we want?

A lot of us will shout “YES” because we have day dreams; seeing ourselves as we drive that nice car or laughing our hearts out at a joke your amazing new partner just cracked or being promoted at work and earning more money however what do you want?

Think about it, how do you want your life to be today? Tomorrow? And the next 4 or 10 years? Do you have a detailed picture in your mind or written in a book? Do the choices you make today in anyway lead you ……anywhere at all or you’re just ‘living in the moment’ and rolling with the days.

I recently went through this painful analysis and I learnt the truth that I have good intentions but that is it! Just plain good intentions for myself, my family, even the company I work and as a citizen of my country however I have no plans! No concrete plans that I have developed, re-structured, been consistent with and seen come to pass. And so I have been angry with myself and my own indiscipline for years but I don’t know why I didn’t do anything about it. I mean I prayed and acted right (MOST of the time) so why wasn’t that enough for my intentions to manifest into reality?

And I came up with the following answers:
- I did not have a clear, unshakeable, convincing vision of what I wanted; yes, I wanted a good life but ‘good’ is vague! And relative too. So even when an opportunity for ‘the good life’ came, I missed it.

- The times I eventually had some sort of plan, I gave up too easily, I wasn’t consistent and generally didn’t believe in myself enough to just fight for what was in my heart/mind.

- I was lazy and lacked discipline; seriously, like for NO reason I can define I will waste time or procrastinate my day away.

- I was afraid and allowed past disappointments to leave me in doubt of my abilities; I just always had a story for why I would fail even before I started and felt like my heart won’t take another break. And sometimes I was afraid because I knew the hard work and consistency that went into maintaining success and progress.

It is one of the most difficult cycles to be in: to know you SHOULD do something about where you are but then you don’t so you end up so mad with yourself when nothing has been accomplished then you sink into this dark place which just makes you  more weary and depressed so STILL you do nothing. It’s like an alcoholic who gets drunk to forget how messed up their life is and then when they get sober, are so disappointed with themselves they get drunk again in order to forget and numb the emotions; it’s just a vicious cycle of pain.

Like the video above (which I unashamedly got from the Notebook movie), we have no idea how badly the people connected to us feel when we are constantly clueless or making excuses; when we just remain static and over time become such angry or dejected individuals and in effect frustrate them too and in some extreme cases lose a loved one because they cannot just keep waiting for us to get it together!

We need to just STOP! In the midst of life’s madness and decide to know what we want. So when things get tough, when you lack peace, when you have no money, when people throw rubbish at you, you can STAND firm and KNOW what you are working towards. Stop blaming your lack of talent or opportunity, those are not even factors that matter.

You can’t keep sending out mixed signals and then expect anyone to trust you completely to deliver! Everyone wants loyalty and consistency; no matter how much they like you, people will be scared that you may bail and then few years down the line you realize you have lost important relationships; it is painful to realize that it is your fault that you are alone.

I read in a book that the “The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.”

So please go ahead and decide what you want! Really think about it, “What do I want?” A ridiculously hard question yet NOT impossible to answer! And when you figure it out as well, you’ll see it is not impossible to attain too!

** God has NOT given us the spirit of fear but the spirit of Courage, Love and Self-discipline.

And this is my sincere prayer for you: that you grasp, accept and apply this truth as well as get the strength to follow through every single day! May you not record a loss or mourn because you didn’t get up and get it together, AMEN.