Monday: Reflection - Intention

The month of August has felt particularly long to me—and, at the same time, it has gone by very quickly.

There was so much packed into one month, and I really enjoyed that.

For as much as I talk about creating space to think, to notice, and to slow down so we don’t feel so burned out, there is also something about doing that is necessary.

If we were to sit around and simply be all the time, eventually we might come up against restlessness or boredom. And I think there is something valuable about experiencing those feelings, too.

How much can we notice our discomfort with boredom and restlessness? How often can we sit in empty space without immediately trying to fill it?

It’s the same thing that happens in conversations.

There’s a moment of quiet. A pause. A silence. And suddenly we feel the need to jump in and talk—to explain, express, respond, or say something simply because the silence feels awkward or uncomfortable.

The practice isn’t to avoid those uncomfortable moments. It’s to notice them.

Can I stay here for another moment?

Can I let the silence be?

Can I feel the restlessness without immediately acting on it?

And then, from that space, can I choose how I actually want to fill it?

What do I want to say that is additive rather than just filler?

Do I need to be talking right now?

Do I need to be having this conversation?

The same is true with our time.

When we have a lot of time, it can be tempting to fill it simply because it is there. We can fill our days with things that aren’t actually additive to our lives—but instead, subtract from them.

So perhaps we need both.

We need the quiet and the emptiness.

And we need the doing.

We need the space to notice what is happening within us so that we can decide what is actually worth doing, saying, or giving our time to.

That’s what I’m thinking about today.

As we move into September, our theme for the month will be intention.

Not doing more.

Not saying more.

But becoming more intentional about what we choose to do, say, and give our time to.