The practice of Intentional Living 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 a little bit 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 their impermanent nature.  We see that the mind and body are not our true self.  This wisdom allows us to let go of our tendency to limit ourselves to the mind and body, and instead to be self aware, to be our true self.  The more deeply we realize the truth of the impermanence of the mind and body, the more moments of complete freedom and satisfaction we experience 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 see our body and mind as our true self.  Selfish actions and speech strengthen our tendency to limit ourselves to our mind and body, 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.  Two variations of the Foundations of Wisdom can be found in the book A Practical Guide to True Happiness and Freedom.

 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 impermanence, 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.