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| Live with Intentions. Did I intend to be in the middle of this river? (Yes!) |
In my writings, I
tend to stress many organizational related subjects, such as goal
setting, mindfulness and planning. There is a common umbrella topic
that all these things have: Intentonality. I think
intentional behavior is perhaps the one thing you should reflect on
the most if your struggling with difficult feelings This has its
roots in the nature of habit forming. Habit forming develops in a
separate area of the brain than our other cognitive functions, so
when I’m sure my autonomous behaviors are driving me to feeling
like Nietzschian trope, I immediately reflect on my current state and
unpack my mindfulness.
Everything that
makes up your ability think and act, the so called “executive
thinking” , sits at the front of your skull while the habit forming
behaviors behaviors are stored in your so-called lizard brain(its
actually the Stratium which sits above it). These brain functions
work hand-in-hand, meaning that your executive reasoning takes into
account your primal thoughts (pain, pleasure, habits and routines)
before making decisions. If you don't exercise critical thought, you
might be prone to being in auto pilot. Ever drive out of your house
to all of the sudden arrive at your destination without any memory of
the trip there? Routines are like that. The reason routines are so
pragmatic in sports is because it stops that few milliseconds of
executive functioning that might slow down performance. That so
called muscle memory is really your lizard brain taking the wheel.
So we can
acknowledge that this autonomous behavior can have good and bad
outcomes. It's great if you are an athlete training for an event.
It's bad if you are trying to break a harmful habit or negative emotions. I've found the
best tactic to be that of intentionality. With intentionality, you
wrestle your brain's executive control back into the drivers seat.
You can't allow habit and cravings to steer the ship. Intentionality
has to happen the second you wake up.
When your eyes blink
open from the pillow, you should start with something intentional. I
start with a positive affirmation that has nothing to do with the
addiction.
"I'm going to
paint the house and it's gonna rock"
or if you have
something going on at work
"I'm going to
finish the project this week"
The affirmation is
the start of the intentional thinking. It doesn't end at the
beginning.
For me, my morning
starts with coffee, talking to my daughter before she goes to school,
and then planning my day. I sit with two day planners, one day
planner has a to-do list where I brainstorm all the things that need
to get done. Yoga, meditation, 10-12 work items, paying bills and so
on. With the second day planner, I write down the times I will
accomplish these tasks.
It seems pretty
straight forward, right? I’m always monitoring my actions. I'm not
allowing idle time. I'm not allowing the lizard brain to take the
wheel. I set boundaries on myself and won’t put triggers in my path
to be tripped. This isn’t avoidance, rather it’s making sure my
goals are in line with the actions I’m performing. If my goal is
getting the grocery shopping done, I shouldn’t be watching Hell’s
Kitchen on the living room couch.
If I don't have a
good reason for doing something, I won’t do it. And I always vet
my reasoning before taking action. Sometimes my habits can sucker me
in to poor decision making, especially with all the marketing tossed
into our lives. . My advice is to start your days with
intentionlality and find ways of keeping intentional behaviors
throughout our day. Mantras are a good start, and task management and
boundary setting are also good intentional behaviors to help stay on
track.
