Sabbath for Intentionality

Sunday is my day to be quiet (at least for a while), with the spirit, in quiet contemplation and prayer, and in community with nature and other bipeds.

The sabbath is a celebration, a holiday. I keep it holy with my attitude: I don't rush, complain, or worry. Everything I do has a flavor of peace. I schedule some work, but it's work I find fulfilling, or uplifting. Simple is a great word to describe my ideal activities for the sabbath: Simple tasks, simple foods, and an undemanding schedule.

Agenda:

1. Read "12 Tiny Things"

2. Harvesting practice

3. Afternoon Beingness routine

1. Read "12 Tiny Things":

I'm just starting this small book by Heidi Barr and Ellie Roscher, subtitled, "Simple Ways to Live a More Intentional Life". It's a book of practices how to tend your roots and "remember who you are".

"There may be days, seasons, and stages where external circumstances make intentional living challenging ... Tiny things are available to us all. One tiny thing at a time, we can find ourselves thriving and more in love with our lives."

Section One is Space, about intentional time, and creating room to breathe. When we feel overwhelmed it can be hard to pinpoint the priorities. "If we want more peace, we can broaden the space in our lives, reside in it, and appreciate it." Just taking time for a few long breathes gives us space to identify possibilities.

Most of the examples in this book were never exactly my problem. My overwhelm is in my mind: I have so much to say and not enough mentally alert time to get it down. I have so many ideas for projects and never the focus to complete them. I know what my priorities are, and I could probably do them all if I could mange my energy and attention. 

The Tiny Thing is to Say No to something - could be an activity, a possession, or a thought in my head. Notice the space this creates, and dwell in its power, potential and peace for a bit. 

2. Afternoon Beingness Routine:

My theme this next month is balance and intentionality: Living on purpose, and making deliberate choices that reflect my values and goals, rather than passively going through life. I want to reclaim intentional time, clarity of purpose, inner peace, equanimity, flow, and to remind myself to look at change as an adventure not a disruption, and to love life as it is.

I set an intention to practice an afternoon Beingness Routine with water, a protein snack, and a pause to think about intentional time and flow: just BE, in this moment- aware and awake, listening to my intuition, because making self-care and being present a routine part of my afternoon will help me to gather afternoon energy and balance, at a time when I often feel exhausted and a little depressed.

Beingness is the fundamental quality of existence, simply being rather than doing or having. The trick is to be aware of my beingness, my essence, with a deep presence, which I will feel as peace, aliveness, or inherent worth.

My low time of the day is the afternoon. I feel impatient, unsettled, and itchy, and often respond by going numb and tuning everybody out. I have scheduled plenty of interesting things, but cannot seem to connect to my beingness long enough to feel alive.  

This week I intend to write a script for afternoon Beingness that will bring me to a place of possibility and excitement for life, and counteract the numbness and overwhelm I often feel. When I begin to feel myself go numb it's probably already too late. I need a script to catch myself before lethargy sets in. Because of that, I will begin this script as soon as possible after getting up from my afternoon nap:

1. Drink green tea or an N-R-G drink, and eat a protein snack (yogurt or cheese).
2. As I eat, pay attention to the Me inside the chaos of noise around me - Say the mantra: Being Me: Mindful, loving, and present.
3. List 5-Things to do, beginning with simply tidying up the cup and bowl I'm using, and progressing to one creative, hands-on priority project. Do the simplest, smallest step on that project.

3. Harvesting practice:

Harvesting is an Ongo technique

, "a practice consciously reflecting on learning experiences through the lens of celebration and grief." It can be a useful monthly, weekly, or even daily practice.

1. Reflect on an experience and look at journal entries.

2. Write about a thing that was enriching, what I said or did and the Needs it touched. Take time to savor and celebrate, and write any insights.

3. Write about a thing that created loss, what I said or did and the Needs that went unmet. Take time to be in mourning, and write any insights.

4. Write about any actions or requests for myself that come up out of these celebrations and mournings.