Hello, Inspiration Archives

Chasing Intention

February 11, 2013 by Farewell Stranger ·

Being intentional is surprisingly difficult. I intend to be intentional, but then I forget and go back to flitting around in my usual way, doing lots of things but not really paying attention to any of them.

This is both a surprise to me and not.

This challenge appealed to me because I know I do this. I’m fully aware of it, often in the moment. I don’t like feeling scattered but that’s how I end up feeling when I’m not focusing on something with intention.

There’s a lot of noise inside my head right now. Some of it is actual noise, like the sounds of a child to whom “quiet” means something different than what it means to me. He talks incessantly, and when he’s not talking he bops and pops and thumps in a seemingly never-ending cacophony of sounds that is the trademark of a four-year-old boy.

Perspective is nice, if you can get it.

But much of the noise is of my own creation, or perhaps just a normal part of life. There are whispers of laundry that needs doing and the annoying tap that is the constant reminder to figure out what’s for dinner. There’s the whirring calculator tallying how many times I was up in the night and the steady tick of a clock making its way towards bedtime. Ideas for keeping two boys entertained rush in with a whoosh and depart, either tossed aside or rejected, with a whimper. The noise echoes a traffic jam as it all becomes too much and then it reaches a crescendo and I lay on the horn and say STOP. ENOUGH.

Quiet. I need quiet.

My best moments, when intention comes in and stays instead of playing Nicky Nicky Nine Doors on my brain, is when it’s quiet. When the house is quiet – either asleep or away. When I’m walking. When I find a patch of sunlight and that light helps me see clearly. Sometimes quiet is a cup of tea.

Maybe I need to invite intention to tea.

I have found them — those moments of intention — over the last 11 days. Not always 20 minutes at a time, though, and sometimes (I admit with a feeling of shame) I’ve counted something as intentional after the fact.

But is that really the definition of intention?

in·ten·tion
noun

an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result.
the end or object intended; purpose.

In some ways, intention is means to an end, and so I suppose if I have had moments of focus or joy or productivity then I can count those as intentional. But to me, part of the point of this exercise is to boldly and deliberately seek out those activities that quieten my mind and those moments that bring me joy. There is a presence about it that I haven’t quite mastered yet.

And so, as I sit here in my quiet house, spending some time writing intentionally, I vow this: I intend to be more purposefully intentional. The road is paved and waiting.

Filed Under: Hello, Inspiration · Tagged With: #20minutes, admissions, favourite activities, living life, perspective

Wrap-Up: 30 Days of Exercise

February 3, 2013 by Farewell Stranger ·

It’s done. I did it. I managed to get some form of exercise for 30 days straight, thus knocking off another item on my life list. Final evaluation? It’s not so hard.

Let me explain.

When I put that item on my list I had no intention of trying to do hard core exercise for 30 days in a row. I just wanted to push myself to move. Admittedly, I have a fairly specific idea of what constitutes exercise and my goal was to exercise every day and not just say, “Meh, that counted.” Well, my friends, I think I had three days where I determined at the end of the day that what I had done that day was just gonna count. That’s the way life works sometimes, and I’m okay with it. (Mostly.)

Having said that, some observations:

A loose definition of exercise worked better for this than a strict one. If I had forced myself to bust my butt for 30 days in a row I probably would have psyched myself out by day four. And I didn’t push myself to do 30 minutes every day. Sometimes 20 minutes of yoga is enough. 20 minutes of Jillian Michaels’s 30 Day Shred is definitely enough.
My determination in the beginning to focus on the goal of getting outside more — to get fresh air and just be in that moment — was one of the best parts about this. I breathed it in, and it felt damn good.
It helps to sweat. The three days that I decided I could count, but just barely, involved walking. I did some intentional walking on a few of the 30 days and really walked – I went long and far and hard. I did hills. I walked until it made me sweat. On the days I just strolled, I sort of felt like it wasn’t really enough.
I need to incorporate more yoga into my life. I knew this already and that was one of the reasons I was excited about this challenge. In the end I did more yoga than I had originally intended (which was partly due to rolling my ankle halfway through the month) but it left me in a much more calm and centred place. My flexibility is better for it too.
Variety is good. Variety is very good.
I really like a good, push-yourself, kick-your-own-ass workout. I need to do that more often. Jillian Michaels and I will continue to be friends.
I like running. I miss running. I’m incredibly annoyed that I hurt my ankle because it put me off running for a good part of the 30 days.

So there you have it. Not so hard and, in the end, really kind of beautiful.

Filed Under: Hello, Inspiration · Tagged With: #30DaysStraight, living life, running

20 Minutes of Intention

January 31, 2013 by Farewell Stranger ·

This horseshoe is on a fence in my neighbourhood. I assume it’s a symbol of the farms that used to be on this land, but I’d never noticed it until I was paying attention one night.

About halfway through my 30 days straight challenge, high off the energy of working towards something and doing something that was good for me, I started thinking about what’s next. Something different, but equally challenging and equally good for me. I didn’t have any ideas at first — I did think about 30 days of green smoothies but I’m basically doing that anyway (because, yum!) and it’s not really much of a challenge — so I put the idea to bed for a bit. And then this morning I got an email.

A while ago I joined Go Mighty, which is about making a life list for people who want to “connect and collaborate to do something good for themselves and others.” Just the sort of thing I love. I have played around a bit in there and would actually like to get more active with it. I think it’s a great way to focus on your goals. In any case, this morning’s email was about their February challenge: 20 Minutes of Intention. The idea is to take 20 minutes a day to show yourself and your goals a little love.

“Savor every bite of a delicious meal. Write a poem. Memorize phrases from a language you aspire to learn. Go for a jog. Make something with your hands. That thing that brings you joy? Do that for 20 minutes every day and share it with the Go Mighty community…”

Easy, right? Well, yes and no. Easy in that the 20 minutes doesn’t have to be a good-for-you-but-not-really-fun sort of thing. Difficult in that finding 20 minutes to focus, even on something that brings us joy, can be tough. But if my 30 days straight challenge taught me anything… Well, actually, it taught me two things that relate to this:

If I am deliberate and mindful and intentional about it, I can fit 30 minutes of something into my day. Every day.
Even when I don’t feel like doing something I know is good for me, I always feel better afterwards and that makes it worth it.

I knew that second one already, of course, but it’s good to be reminded of it.

If you’re interested, check out the info about the #20minutes project. Just like I did with my 30 days straight challenge, I’ll share some thoughts and pictures from this one here on the blog, as well as on Facebook, Twitter and Instragram.

So…who’s with me? I’m looking forward to February already.

Filed Under: Hello, Inspiration · Tagged With: #20minutes, #30DaysStraight, Life list, living life

Exercise 30 Days Straight: An Update

January 15, 2013 by Farewell Stranger ·

January 1st came and I started this whole 30-days-of-exercise, life-list thing with enthusiasm. I went for a run and felt alive. And I kept going day after day – I ran, I walked hard, I did yoga. I boot camped. And not once, for nine days straight, did I feel like I didn’t want to get some exercise. I wanted to get out there.

Then came day 10. On that day I was aware of the required exercise, not as a weight or an obligation but a question. What should I do? By all rights that day should have been a day for a “proper” workout, but I wasn’t feeling it. It didn’t happen during the day, and by 9:30 I was sitting down with a cup of tea, having almost forgotten that I still needed to do something. I certainly wasn’t going to break the streak after getting a third of the way through the 30 days, so I put the tea down and chose yoga. Jillian Michaels would have to wait for the next day.

It felt like a bit of a cop out, to be honest. And if I had planned it better I probably would have done some cardio or strength training. But maybe what my body needed — what I needed — was a day of being kind to myself. My hamstrings were still complaining loudly after boot camp on Day 7, and my back has been bothering me. (It’s a recurring thing unrelated to my recent bout of exercise.) I want to make yoga more of a regular practice and not something I just do when I’m signed up for a class, and it’s what felt doable that night. So that’s what I did.

And that’s what this whole thing is really about. It’s not about going hard core and busting my butt for 30 days in a row. It’s about getting out there. It’s about moving. It doesn’t matter how, necessarily. What matters is that I listen to myself.

Compilation of photos I’ve taken during or after workouts

For me, going for a walk every day wouldn’t feel like exercise, but to another it might. I already know I need the harder stuff – the stuff that really makes me sweat. I need to feel the sore muscles and chug the water to feel like I’m really doing something for my body. But I also need the balance. I need a walk in the sunshine, at a quick pace, to get some fresh air and appreciate my surroundings. That’s when I soak in the view. It’s when I really catch the rays of the sunset.

And I need the gentleness of yoga and the mindfulness it brings too. During my Day 10 session I felt my sore muscles giving, just a little. I felt the tension — brought both by boot camp and by life — starting to ease. But, even so, when I got to Shavasana, I felt myself wanting to get up. My tea called, mere seconds away from being warm again, and the quietness of the house suggested bedtime. But I didn’t listen.

Instead I listened to my shoulders and my back. I stayed on the floor and I let go. It was only for a few minutes, but that’s all that mattered.

Sometimes you just have to do it.

On Day 11 I fulfilled my promise to sweat with Jillian.

And so it continues.

***
Speaking of goals, one of the things I’m working on this year is getting more writing opportunities. (Related aside: Did you see that I’m now blogging for Huffington Post? SO excited about that.) In exchange for telling you about it, I was given a trial membership to Wealthy Web Writer, which is described as “the writer’s roadmap to making money online.” I’ve explored a few different writers’ sites like this, and the thing I like about this one is that, in addition to the usual tips and job listings, it features some very specific training (like the 3-Minute Guru videos that cover all sorts of things you might want to know how to do) and resources (like a Building Your Business section that addresses the things writers need to know but may not be instinctively good at). There’s a community aspect and they take suggestions for training. They also accept submissions (so, hey, another place you might be able to get paid for your writing).

Overall, I quite like this site and the people behind it seem genuinely helpful. That said, I’m hopeless at using things like this and tend to look for resources as I need them. If I were throwing myself 100% into freelance writing, though, this might be a very handy option.

Filed Under: Hello, Inspiration · Tagged With: #30DaysStraight, writing

Explore: 2013

January 3, 2013 by Farewell Stranger ·

I first chose a word for the year (“seek”) in 2011 and, boy, did that turn out to be the right word. Then last year my word was “vibrant” and I’ve decided, upon reflection, that it was the right word.

I’m notoriously non-committal when it comes to “inspirational” stuff like this. I hear about a concept that I like and jump on board, but then my interest wanes or, more commonly, I end up unsure if I’m really on the right track. Either way, I can usually be counted on to give it a few weeks and then move on to something else.

Not with this whole one-word-for-the-year thing.

I’m not big on setting resolutions (another thing I was very good at abandoning almost immediately). I think it’s because resolutions tend to be things that I feel I should do (or shouldn’t do, in some cases) and shoulding is really not a terribly useful way to get motivated. But, I’ve discovered, I’m all over putting something out there and being open to seeing what comes of it.

In that spirit, my word for this year is EXPLORE.

My chosen word came to me sooner and more easily than in previous years. It was just there, and there was no question about whether it’s the right word. It just is.

I want to explore all kinds of things – items on my life list, writing opportunities, my writing here. I want to get to know our new(ish) community better – it’s lovely and pretty and so close to so many things I want to dip my figurative toe into. I want to find my running spirit in this new, snow-filled environment. I want to take more trips — nearby and possibly farther away — and I want to spend more time in the mountains just breathing.

I want to continue to keep in touch with dear friends from back home and find new ways to connect with them on a regular basis, because they lift me up. They were sent into my life for a reason and I’m not going to let geography push them out of it.

I also want to figure out my relationship with Connor. I haven’t written a lot about it aside from the delight of his four-year-oldness, but I’m struggling and the voice in my head is whispering that if I don’t do something about it I could become irreparably disconnected from my beloved first boy.

So that’s my word. Explore.

See you out there.