THE SIMPLE LIFE: INTENTION

I am hardly a yogi by any standard, and actually until recently I was never super inclined to participate in the thought process behind yoga especially the idea of setting ones intentions. For me yoga was something physical, I wanted to be flexible and I wanted to lose weight but when I did not see the results I wanted I gave up. I still want to be flexible, I still want to lose weight but I have realized that if I want to achieve that with yoga, I need to participate in all aspects of the practice, it is only as that whole that it will be effective. I feel as though I am going through this, almost, spiritual awakening at this time in my life, where I am realizing and understanding why I am here in this moment, what got me to this point and what I have to do to get my life back on track and one of the biggest aspects of realigning my life is setting my intention. Now setting my intention can be my goal in life, my aspirations but it can also be what I hope to achieve in a single day, for me setting my intention is not just one intention but it is being intentional in every single thing I do. I realize this is super long introduction and that I still haven't gotten to the point of this spiel but alas the wait is over and here is the tie in... When I made the decision to work towards simplifying my life, it was easy to throw out my clothes, to empty my makeup drawer, to leave behind my worldly possessions but if I wanted to maintain it, to keep my life (and closet) clear and simple I was going to have to really figure out why I was doing this, and what it is that I am hoping to achieve.

My intention with simplifying my life is to relieve myself of burdens, financial burdens that come with purchasing disposable commodities, emotional burdens that come with the guilt of purchasing things that harm people, places and animals and the physical burden on carrying around so much stuff all the time. I am person who has too much going on in my head on a daily basis (something I'm sure many other people can understand) so if I cannot temper the chaos inside of me, then I can work on clearing the things outside of me so that at least some aspect of my existence is peaceful.

With my intention set I am just that much closer to achieving my goal of a simpler life. I do still battle with my materialistic desires on a day to day basis, some days my intention wins, some days my desires but overall  I feel as though I am headed on the right path. And plus with clear intentions it removes an grey area when it comes to decisions and therefore makes it much harder for me to justify that superfluous purchase.