Thursday, September 01, 2011

Living Intentionally

The Greek philosopher Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. I agree with him. Whether you are young or old I believe it is essential to routinely reflect on the quality of your life. I am not talking about taking an inventory of how much stuff you have or how much money is in your 401K. I am talking about your spiritual, emotional, and psychological well-being. I am talking about whether you are happy and content with your life, I am talking about evaluating the quality of your relationships with family and friends, I am talking about if there are people you love and who love you, I am talking about whether or not you have a moral consciousness that forms a set of guidelines for the way you live your life, and I am talking about whether or not you have a spiritual awareness of the deeper realities of life. Contemplative living supports the examined life. A contemplative person is someone who is awake. Some of you are thinking, “Well, I wake up every morning and go to work”. Yes, your body may wake up and your mind may drag it in to the office everyday but in reality many of us live our entire lives asleep. We are zombies simply going through the motions. The examined life, the contemplative life, is a life of awareness and wakefulness where life is lived intentionally and not accidentally.

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