An Experiment in Positive Daily Intention

Back in January I began a writing/spiritual experiment inspired by Jacob Glass' "Daily Pages." Jacob (a 20+ year teacher/lecturer on A Course in Miracles) has a morning routine in which he creates lists which include items like: "things I got right yesterday," and "things I'm genuinely grateful for." The purpose of this practice is to begin the day in a positive state of mind, setting your vibration and intention for the day ahead. I tried his approach, and it works just like he said it would, but it felt a bit too left-brained for me. I'm a writer, I thrive on narritive, so I modified his concept into my "Daily Doses." As a writing exercise, I am working on being succinct (because I tend to "go on."), so I limit myself to 250-275 words...something easily read in under two minutes.

As a spiritual exercise, I'm just giving myself a "good talking to" each morning, reminding myself of where I've come from, what I've read, and what I've learned about myself, followed by a positive intention for the day...a practical goal that incorporates resisting my "ego-mind," and keeping my overall mindset in a good place. Today's (the day of this blog post) Daily Dose is number 125, so I've kept at it fairly well, and still enjoy it thoroughly on both of its facets. But here's where it all began:

Daily Dose #1
1/9/12

It is My Intention to Keep Changing

I like to think that I’m growing as a human being. At 61, looking back, I’m not thrilled at the pace of my progress, but as Jacob Glass always reminds us, the best stuff, the lasting stuff, is usually accomplished with “penguin steps.” At least I’ve got that method down. So as I contemplate my ever evolving approach to Life, the Universe, and Everything, a major part of my latest plan is to go smaller. At my age, that just keeps getting easier…with everything but my spoken word.

Daily Doses is an attempt to do what I’ve always done (talk about what I think I’m learning), but to do it with two major changes in approach: time and tone. They say timing is everything, but when I get talking about things that mean a great deal to me, I tend to drone on. I forget the time, and just assume everybody will be thrilled to stop what they’re doing and listen to me ramble. As you might guess, this seldom proved to be a correct assumption. So two minutes is my self-imposed time limit for these morning musings. And as far as tone goes, I was always attacking something. Turns out this is a very negative approach and seldom accomplished any of what I had in mind to set right.

So my Doses will be a daily self-help experiment in which I will endeavor to be brief and to the point, all while establishing a positive state of mind with which to approach the day.

Today, I’ve decided, is going to be the best day ever.