intentionality, week one
Jan. 8th, 2018 09:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingLast year my church decided to give each month a theme that would inform sermons and various adult RE programs. This year, taking that a bit further, there is now a set of "possible ponderings" included in the order of service to give people some take-home activities.
This month's theme is intention, and the "ponderings" are as follows:
January 7-13: What dictates your days? Your to-do list or your intentionality? Do you begin by asking, "What do I have to get done?" or "What do I want this day to be about?"
January 14-20: How are you doing at the work of intentional authenticity? Are you succeeding at being the same person on the outside as you are on the inside?
January 21-27: Are you serving a purpose or living a lifestyle?
January 28-February 3: Are you too intentional? Is it time to put down all the "doing" and pay a bit more attention to "being"? Has your long list of intentions left you feeling exhausted and even lost?
...
I do use to-do lists to organize my days, but I wouldn't say they dictate it. They just help me remember stuff I want to do, since my unaided memory is sadly sieve-like in that area. And I generally start the day asking "What do I want to get done?" which is a subtle but, I think, meaningful distinction, because it reminds me that tasks are on my to-do list because I want them to be there -- because I want the kind of life that completing them will help me achieve. (Clean house, not hounded by debt collectors, doing creative work, etc.)
I generally want to end a day feeling that I have done useful things. I don't need to finish everything on my to-do lists, and the tasks don't need to be large, but I want to be able to mark at least one or two things off and say, "Ha! Got that done!" and know that I have brought something new into the world and/or removed a weight from my mind.
Like, one of yesterday's tasks was to fold some clothes that I am donating to my church's recycling sale this summer, so they're all together in a box in my front room rather than spread higgledy-piggledy over my armchair. It was useful, it produced a tidier (and therefore less mentally stressful) apartment, and I felt good about getting it done.
Occasionally I want a day to be about family/friends or about rest (or even more occasionally, about going places/seeing new things), in which case I will specifically note on my to-do lists things like "socialize with parents," "TAKE A NAP," or "visit [site] with [person]." I also note things like "read book X" so I make sure I have enjoyable leisure tasks that I can look forward to, and which then feel like accomplishments rather than distractions (because I can cross them off my list once completed).
Also I throw my to-do lists away after each day. It's psychologically helpful to me to NOT have any tangible reminder of the items I failed to complete on any given day. (This, I think, is the chief reason bullet journaling would not work for me.) Anything important gets moved to the next day, and unimportant things just vanish into the ether and I can stop worrying about them.
So those are some of my thoughts on to-do lists and intentionality. *wry*
This month's theme is intention, and the "ponderings" are as follows:
January 7-13: What dictates your days? Your to-do list or your intentionality? Do you begin by asking, "What do I have to get done?" or "What do I want this day to be about?"
January 14-20: How are you doing at the work of intentional authenticity? Are you succeeding at being the same person on the outside as you are on the inside?
January 21-27: Are you serving a purpose or living a lifestyle?
January 28-February 3: Are you too intentional? Is it time to put down all the "doing" and pay a bit more attention to "being"? Has your long list of intentions left you feeling exhausted and even lost?
...
I do use to-do lists to organize my days, but I wouldn't say they dictate it. They just help me remember stuff I want to do, since my unaided memory is sadly sieve-like in that area. And I generally start the day asking "What do I want to get done?" which is a subtle but, I think, meaningful distinction, because it reminds me that tasks are on my to-do list because I want them to be there -- because I want the kind of life that completing them will help me achieve. (Clean house, not hounded by debt collectors, doing creative work, etc.)
I generally want to end a day feeling that I have done useful things. I don't need to finish everything on my to-do lists, and the tasks don't need to be large, but I want to be able to mark at least one or two things off and say, "Ha! Got that done!" and know that I have brought something new into the world and/or removed a weight from my mind.
Like, one of yesterday's tasks was to fold some clothes that I am donating to my church's recycling sale this summer, so they're all together in a box in my front room rather than spread higgledy-piggledy over my armchair. It was useful, it produced a tidier (and therefore less mentally stressful) apartment, and I felt good about getting it done.
Occasionally I want a day to be about family/friends or about rest (or even more occasionally, about going places/seeing new things), in which case I will specifically note on my to-do lists things like "socialize with parents," "TAKE A NAP," or "visit [site] with [person]." I also note things like "read book X" so I make sure I have enjoyable leisure tasks that I can look forward to, and which then feel like accomplishments rather than distractions (because I can cross them off my list once completed).
Also I throw my to-do lists away after each day. It's psychologically helpful to me to NOT have any tangible reminder of the items I failed to complete on any given day. (This, I think, is the chief reason bullet journaling would not work for me.) Anything important gets moved to the next day, and unimportant things just vanish into the ether and I can stop worrying about them.
So those are some of my thoughts on to-do lists and intentionality. *wry*
