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Intention and expectation. At the beginning of 2015 as I welcomed the new year at the Oregon coast, leisurely, casually and without the hustle and bustle that forces me to make decisions when I'm not ready, I wrote this post. A post which included 22 ways to get back to simple. For me, it has been helpful and was helpful just this past week to read as a reminder about what is truly important and how to go about the everyday as well as make major life decisions.
One of the points shared is the idea of setting intentions and letting go of expectation. Lately, I have tried to do just that with many of the life decisions I am making with my new hometown. Where to live, who to meet, what to do, etc. It is a much more peaceful way to live and eliminates the let down when things don't go the way we
"expect".
A wonderful tool to aid in this approach to making small or large decisions is something I picked up from Tracy McMillian when she was interviewed by Oprah on OWN's Super Soul Sunday's last year. A simple
statement she mediates or includes in her spiritual practice is "Show me". Such a statement allows her to let go of all that is out of her control and be open to possibilities or the truth of others and the world around her. Perhaps daunting at first, but it may just be something to try.
What I've also discovered is that living a life with intentions facilitates our ability to be full of gratitude, even for the simplest of details: good weather, friendly customer service, a cheerful fellow walker, no traffic. When we set the intention of say, to remain congenial and optimistic, we recognize we don't know what the day will present to us, but we intend to greet it with something we can control - our attitude
of optimism and congeniality. What comes out of the interactions that follow is unbeknownst to us, but at least we can sit well with how we've engaged with the world.
Many may wonder, well then should I set goals? Absolutely. The key of
incorporating goals into this mindset it to be firm on the general destination, but not in how you get there.
For example, your goal may be to attain financial stability. Initially you thought a particular career path would do that, but perhaps that
changes. Or maybe you were certain buying a home would guarantee the end goal, but you realize that building a business that you will eventually sell is a worthwhile idea as well. In other words, be flexible, but focused.
Speaking of flexible
and focused. The primary goal of the simply luxurious life premise is to live a refined life on an everyday income, to choose quality over quantity, to live consciously so that each of us may wisely reach our full potential. When I began the blog more than five years ago, I had no idea a podcast would begin, and I certainly didn't think I'd be I'd be disseminating news each week, but as one reader pointed out, it makes complete sense for the brand.
I want to thank the many of you who tuned in or stop by last week's premiere episode of Au Courant Weekly. It was a tremendous success with wonderful feedback, click here or here to see what listeners had
to say. And while the news may be nearly a week old, you can still click below on the image to be taken to the first post. If you like what you hear/read, tune in tomorrow (Saturday) morning and in 15 minutes or less you will be au courant with all that is going on in the world whether it's politics, the most recent studies, arts, and everything in between.
And with that, it is the weekend (or nearly) as well as the imminent arrival of August. Where did July go? Either way, I have a feeling August is going be magnificent. What do you think? Wishing you a lovely weekend, and until next week, I'll see you on the
blog.
