7 Essential Terms to Understand When Building an Intentional Life
Living with Intention. Intentional Living. Living a Meaningful Life. Living Like You Mean It. Conscious Living.
The list goes on…
Whichever way you put it, more and more folks are feeling the pull to make changes in their lives in order to live in alignment with who they are and their own unique value system.
As a (proud) millennial, I see my generation courageously requiring a “why” to be outlined in everything we do. No longer are we mindlessly following society's status quo. And if we end up wrapped up in the “shoulds” and the “musts” that the earlier generations have pressed on us, we often find ourselves uninspired, unhappy and overcome with the urge to leave it all behind and start fresh.
I feel this All. The. Time. And I can tell you that this feeling of being stuck or forced into a life devoid of meaning that doesn’t feel authentic is CRIPPLING.
But I’m also here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this way.
There are simple + realistic things we can do to make small shifts in our life in order to feel more aligned, more conscious, and more joyful on a daily basis.
This doesn’t have to be as extreme as quitting your job, selling everything you own, and leaving to live in a commune in Bali (even if that does sound pretty awesome sometimes!). I’m talking small, sustainable, but immensely powerful changes we can pursue that will make a real difference in our lives.
I’m talking about instilling intentional thought into everything we do, have, and are. But in order to do that, I think it is absolutely essential to understand a few key terms floating around the intentional living space so we can all be on the same page and understand the tangible steps we can take to make the changes we ache to make.
Therefore, here are 7 essential terms to understand when building an intentional life:
1) Alignment
This one seems obvious but the term “alignment” has been thrown around so much that I think it deserves a moment to touch base on what this term means in the world of intentional living.
If you look up alignment in the dictionary, it actually only talks about lining up lines in math or countries in treaties. However, my definition of alignment is: “proper adjustment of components in order to find a state of agreement or cooperation among them and promote optimal functioning and flow.”
This sounds fancy but it makes more sense if you look at the opposite. If something is out of alignment, it doesn’t add up, it doesn’t communicate properly or feel truthful. It just feels off. Alignment is all about feeling and is different for everyone and every perspective. Alignment with your true self and your values is the goal of living intentionally.
2) Values
Speaking of values, let’s define those next. Values are the characteristics, beliefs, attitudes, and ethics that you find most important and most essential for living a meaningful and aligned life.
Like alignment, values are different for everyone. What’s important about values is giving yourself time to identify and embody them. Values act as your very own personalized compass in life and serve as an effective way of regularly evaluating if you are headed in the direction you want to be.
3) Meaning
Meaning is the (vegan) meat and potatoes of building an intentional life. Living an intentional life is all about centering your actions and goals around a “why.” Many times, this “why” can also equal meaning. Having meaning in life gives you a reason to get up in the morning. In Japanese culture, this is called “Ikigai.”
One important thing to note is that you don’t need to have an identified purpose in order to find meaning. We often put wayyyy too much pressure on ourselves to find a singular life purpose. This isn’t always realistic or even true. You can find meaning in many different ways and can build meaning into life in many different areas.
4) Strengths
Okay, full transparency…I LOVE talking about strengths. This is centered around positive psychology research and personality studies. Strengths are characteristics and skills that come naturally to you or that you have an innate interest in. These are things like interpersonal communication, gratitude, love of learning, curiosity, and many more.
There are so many great assessments to help you identify your strengths but I highly suggest the VIA Character Strengths Survey. It’s free, easy to use, and gives great insight. By identifying your personal strengths, you can more easily identify your values, goals, and how you can find meaning.
5) Intuition
This term is a little more “woo woo” than the others but might be more important than all other terms combined. Intuition is that feeling in your stomach, your heart, or your mind that quietly guides you. You might notice it as a gut feeling, an instinct, quiet guidance, or a natural interest or inspiration.
The best part of getting to understand your own personal intuition is that it can act as a powerful roadmap for building an intentional life. Our society encourages us to forget intuition altogether and go with the “shoulds.” However, if you can get more comfortable listening to your intuition, you can more easily tap into the “why” and meaning behind what you are doing each day. It helps you paint a clearer picture and a more enjoyable path.
6) Consciousness
In order to better understand this term, it helps to examine the opposite. People often talk about being “unconscious” when they are sleeping. They are unaware of life and unaware of what they may have done, said, or thought. On the flip side, consciousness means being aware. It means understanding what you are doing and your “why” behind doing it.
When building an intentional life, we aim for consciousness and understanding. We aim to be aware of our choices and why we are making them. By being conscious, we can actively build toward our goals.
7) Sustainability
Sustainability is another hot ticket term that is used more and more often. Most of the time we hear it these days it is being used to describe helping the environment, reusing items, finding ways to cut down on waste, and being mindful of what we consume.
In the world of personal growth, sustainability means being able to continue to do something consistently in the long-term. This is important to consider when building an intentional life because you don’t want to invite a change or practice into your life that you cannot sustainably keep up with. By keeping sustainability in mind, we can actively choose changes that we know can make an impact for longer periods of time.
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