Good morning, let’s go.
Leading your own life isn’t, everyone’s journey. I know, most of the writing out there, especially in self-development, talks about it. They talk about how you should lead your life. I do the same damn thing. The reason is for most people reading this it is sound advice. You want to do something different than the average person. You want to crate, be, and do more. Being a leader is the best way to take charge and get there. But there is another path.
The journey of life can also be as a follower. Even for creative people and small business owners, it is true. There is no shame in it. Following is just as viable as leading when it comes to a good life. It isn’t a negative. It is a plan set in front of you and you follow it. It is a mother-fucking -pirate map. A path that is well trodden, will give you all the adventure you need and a view, struggle is still included. A paved road is still hard when you are running a marathon. So, what if you don’t choose to lead your life? You must do two things, set and intention and live in the flow.
To live a life that is based on intention, is to try and live in flow with the universe. What that means is you trust that purpose and meaning are a part of your life. You must take life personal. Your intentions are not goals, they are a way of being. A family man, set his intentions around his family. A stay at home Mother sets her intention around the home and her family. The same could be for the family person. The point is the intention could be to have a peaceful and cozy spot to live and engage with family, they have to put in the work, but it isn’t like the intention ends when it is achieved. To live with intention isn’t to live for an event in the future, but to live in the present. To engage with this day.
To live with intention is a way of being. A person is always working on it. Life will direct the rest. As the world does what it does, challenges to the intentions will rise. The Almighty will ask how bad do you want this intention? And you must live the answer by continual seeking the intention. And once you have it ride that bitch. Rewards and difficulties will try and set you off the path laid before you. It is for you to flow with your intentions.
You don’t set a path, you don’t plot a future, you do things in line with what you want. If you want to retire, you save. If you want to own a cute little book shop, you set a course and happily follow a course on running and owning a small business. The risk isn’t that you lose everything, the risk is you miss the point of being an owner operator of a cute little book store. You get distracted by people who say you must expand.
Following a dream requires focus and commitment. You have to fight off greed or setting your sights too low. By setting your intentions you are engaging with the flow of life and living. It requires patience and practicing your intentions here and now. Acting as if, is the perfect practice. It is living your intention even if it isn’t manifest yet. Understanding the seasons of life, and that timing is a vital part of the journey. Will help you to believe what you intend will happen.
Shit, most people live by the seat of their pants, and all they need to do to enjoy the ride is set an intention.
Why? You might ask. An intention is our way of engaging the Universe. It is our way of rubbing the magic lamp so the genie pops out. The intention we set becomes our surfboard. It is our way of enjoying the ride of life. It is not a self created plan, it is not a self determined goal, it is not a vision of the future, it is a dream of what would make you happy now and in the future. It can be the pursuit of safety and security. It can be the found in the gratitude when life is happening; when people are laughing, when food is eaten, when love is made, gratitude is intention manifest.
Leading your life is a hard charge. It is making things happen. Following in life is setting and intentions. It is finding grooves to live in it daily while on the road.
Both leading and following are a choice. I don’t even think you have to choose between them. But it is nice to know which suits your desire on how you live. It takes the pressure of those of us whose nature is more for following.
Later Gator 🐊
Nino
Nino Olson 