Intentionality - Mindfully focused

Warning - this blog isn't going to be cohesive - rather it will be random important ideas I want to put down in writing for future reflection...  You've been warned! Detachment - or Metacognative Awareness - or Assuming the role of Observer...  I think the easiest word to use in this case is detachment - although the other two are probably more accurate if you are running within the mindfulness framework.  Regardless of the term - though - this is one of the few areas I'm really grateful for finding during the past two years of mindfulness focus.  It generally works like this: Attached:  In an interaction that evokes a emotional response (like anger) - being angry takes up all of your bandwidth and you act as if all of you is angry in the situation. Detached:  In an interaction that evokes an emotional response (like anger) - you watch the situation unfold - as if it's a movie scene with characters - and almost all of you isn't angry at all (ju...

Awhile ago, I used to joke that I liked to set the bar low so I’d always exceed it.  There is a lot to unpack in there - but for now I’m just going to concentrate on one of the facets. Most of the time I try to retain as much flexibility as possible - letting me change course easily, adapt, assess, reassess, reassess the reassessments, etc.  Some of this is due to my personality type - I prefer collecting information to make an informed decision - instead of making decisions early and adjusting on the fly.  I prefer leaving things ambiguous unless I know exactly what I want - and I know I’ll be successful for sure.  I alluded to something like this in my first blog post ( here ). When it comes to any of your normal “productivity enhancement schemes” - they recommend doing things regularly - in a routine… but my inner nature fights that. I prefer observing and letting my feet do the voting.  I’ll give a quick real life example. Earlier this year my mind d...

I mentioned to Mike the other day - as we were on our weekly call - that when I look back over the week - I don’t have a sense of accomplishment. I survive the week, I probably enjoy most of the days along the way - but it is far too pedestrian and passive - and I don’t normally feel as though I’m closer to a goal. Some goal. Any goal. Really - just any sense of forward progress. Unless the goal is getting through the week and keeping everyone alive. Then along rolls Monday and I start it all again. So - this leads to a larger meta question: what should the goal be? What would progress (forward or backwards) look like? And that’s when I realized I was working on the problem the wrong way. This isn’t about picking “The Goal” (great book, but I digress). It’s about picking a goal . Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough. This leaves me with the distinct problem of “what’s good enough” - which can easily morph back into “perfect” - but I’m going to try not to do it. ...