Week Forty-eight: Greeting the Day with Intention

I saw a dog bouncing in the park this morning, as I walked across on my way to work. I couldn’t have wiped the smile off my face if I tried, because the dog was filled with such sheer delight, sheer joy at being off his leash in the early morning, free to run here and there, jump up and down, go where he wanted without reservation, that his energy and enjoyment were infectious.

As I walked on by him, I reflected on the importance of the fundamental attitude we carry into the day. When we begin the day with curiosity, with gratitude that we have another day of experience in front of us, we’ll have a different quality of life than if we were to move through the day without awareness, or with a general sense of feeling burdened. This doesn’t mean that we must overlook those times when we’re overwhelmed, depressed, or suffering in some way. When we have days like these, our intention might be to get through the experience to the best of our ability. The key is to greet the day with whatever capacity you have to move through the day with as little struggle as possible, or with as much enthusiasm as is natural to you.

And so, for this week’s experiment, explore what it’s like to begin the day with a sense of intention, of claiming the day in a certain way. You may want to claim it as a day in which you will notice things for which you can be grateful. At other times, you may claim the day as one in which you want to breathe through challenges in a more skillful way. Then, there may be times when the best you can do is embrace the intention that you’ll do the best you can each step along the way.

As with all experiments, the purpose here is simply to explore what you discover about yourself so that you have more choice. Awareness is the greatest gift, especially when we can engage it without judgment and with full compassion for our own vulnerabilities and challenges

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