The core practice offered by the TFF is a mindfulness-based practice called Intentional Living.  The practice allows us to break free from the pull of our programmed, habitual ways of reacting to life, no matter how strong they are, and to live our lives spontaneously and intentionally, in accordance with our deepest aspirations.  Thus, each moment of life becomes meaningful and deeply satisfying.  By practicing the three aspects of Intentional Living, we can realize true happiness and freedom.

 Self Awareness 

The first step, and the last, in realizing true freedom is to change our perspective ever so slightly and become self aware.  The moment we become aware of the mind and body, we transcend our small, limited self, the ego.  We are free from the pull of our thoughts and feelings, and the dissatisfaction and stress that arise when our ego is in control.  Our hearts and minds open and we begin to touch all the miracles in our life more deeply.  Self awareness also allows us to respond to experience based on wise reflection, in ways that benefit both ourselves and others.  Our actions and speech become intentional and deeply satisfying.  Each moment becomes poetry in motion. 

 Wisdom

Every one of us experiences many brief moments of freedom from the pull of our thoughts and feelings.  Wisdom allows us to experience more of these moments.  By studying our minds and bodies with self awareness we begin to realize that they are constantly changing.  We see that there is some separation between our self and our thoughts and emotions, and that whenever there is some space around our thoughts and emotions, we are free from their control.  The more deeply we realize this separation between our awareness and our thoughts and emotions, the easier it is to remain self aware and thus experience more moments of complete freedom and satisfaction in life.

 The Foundations of Wisdom 

The very foundation of cultivating the wisdom that liberates us from all suffering is the foundation of wise actions and speech.  Wise actions and speech are unselfish and take into account the good of both one’s self and others.  Such actions and speech are wise because they help us to break free from our habitual tendency to attach to our thoughts and emotions.  Selfish actions and speech strengthen our tendency to attach to our thoughts and emotions, causing us to be pulled around by our programmed, habitual reactions to life, resulting in increased dissatisfaction and stress.  The Foundations of Wisdom are comprised of some helpful guidelines for acting and speaking in ways that are wise.  A new version of the Foundations of Wisdom can be found in the Guide to Becoming the Ultimate Warrior, and are called Tenets of the Ultimate Warrior.  

 Intentional Living 

As we begin to realize that wise, unselfish actions are absolutely essential for our own happiness, a strong aspiration steadily grows within us to act and speak in ways that are kind and helpful.  The practice of self awareness allows us to live up to this aspiration by freeing us from the pull of our habitual reactions to life.  The wisdom of seeing the separation between our awareness and our thoughts and emotions, which develops as we study our mind and body, allows us to remain self aware during increasingly more moments of our life.  Both self awareness and wisdom are dependent upon practicing the Foundations of Wisdom, which make it possible for wisdom and the practice of self awareness to help us realize true happiness and freedom in life.  Thus, each aspect of the practice of Intentional Living – self awareness, investigating the mind and body, and the Foundations of Wisdom – is dependent upon the others.