Intentional Living Archives

Living like a pilgrim at home is a daily practice, and when we begin to infuse everyday life with spirituality and intention, what once was ordinary becomes extraordinary. Find posts on intentional living below, explore specific practices for intentional living on the resources page, and sign up here to receive updates on new posts directly in your inbox.

Sacred Ordinary Days Podcast, S1|E13: Ordinary Time + Vocation

Now that the fifty days of Eastertide is over and the feast of Pentecost has passed, we find ourselves in Ordinary Time—the longest season of the year.

What better time to explore vocation—what we bring to the world—especially when it so often intersects with our work in the world and how we spend most of our days? Today on the Sacred Ordinary Days Podcast we’re talking about finding our calling and the Sacred threads that are uniquely woven through each of our lives.

Listen/download below or through iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and catch up on past episodes here. And if you like what you hear, would you mind sharing it with a friend and leaving a review? Here’s how.

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is nearly here!

I know, I know—you didn’t get that pilgrimage on the calendar that you were hoping for, but you do have that family trip to the beach scheduled, or perhaps that annual camping trip with your college friends. Maybe you’re stay-cationing this year and want your week to be filled with more than binge-watching on Netflix this time around.

Whatever the journey, you can still make it meaningful with some intentionality. Here are 5 ways to turn your ordinary trip into a pilgrimage:

If there were a spiritual practice assigned to the month of November, it would undoubtedly be the practice of gratitude.

With the Feasts of All Saints’ and All Souls’ and Thanksgiving (at least here in the US) acting as bookends for the season, we begin the month of November by expressing gratitude for those who have gone before us through the practice of remembrance and end the month—and the liturgical year—surrounded by loved ones as we feast and give thanks for the blessings in our lives.

The practice of gratitude has especially grown in popularity over the past few years, even in seemingly-secular realms. A google search for “practicing gratitude” came back with over 5 million hits, including articles from popular periodicals and online news sources such as Psychology Today and The Huffington Post, many of which tout the benefits of the practice. Even Oprah keeps a gratitude journal these days, most likely inspiring millions of others to follow suit.

It seems that whether it’s Thanksgiving day or a Tuesday in April, gratitude is in the air, and that’s something to be grateful for, because these glimpses of gratitude—like any spiritual practice—call us to return and remember, serving as invitations to ponder what we, too, are grateful for and encouraging us to cultivate a gratitude practice of our own.

So far this fall has been filled to the brim for me, or at least it seems that way.

Every corner of my daily life seems to be overflowing with projects and tasks, from my work here at A Sacred Journey to my dining room that I hope to have painted by Thanksgiving. The influx of these projects and tasks are good signs, no doubt—I’m cleaning our Airbnb apartment multiple times a week because we’ve been nearly fully booked since we listed our space in July; I’ve shifted to devoting two of my work days to design work as inquiries and requests continue to flow in; I’m finally able to focus money and efforts on making my part of the house (rather than the basement below us) a home now that our basement renovation is complete.

When I pause and reflect on the reasons my days seem so much more full than they used to be, I’m grateful, no doubt. Yet in the midst of it all, it’s easy for projects that once were exciting to become mundane tasks, forever adding to my to-do list. At the end of the day I often feel uprooted, desperate for someplace to land.

This was especially true recently during a two week stint of traveling. (It always seems like a good idea when it’s months away, doesn’t it?) I had a few days at home in between two trips and had plenty of things I could devote my time to, including events and appointments scheduled each night. I was also aware that if I tried to do too much, I’d end up just as depleted by the end of the week as when it began, while still being unsatisfied with the work that was done (I struggle with being a bit too ambitious for the allotted time).

Knowing this (or better yet, knowing my inner groaning for slowness, space, and rest), I began my few days at home with a yin yoga practice on the theme of “fall,” and it changed everything.

“Don’t you love New York in the fall?”

Tom Hanks’ character Joe Fox says this to Kathleen Kelly in You’ve Got Mail, a movie I watch year after year without fail as the air turns crisp and the leaves begin to change color.

“It makes me wanna buy school supplies,” He continues. “I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address….”

I feel you, Joe Fox. And even though we can’t all enjoy autumn in New York, nor are we all in school, there seems to be a general consensus that fall is the perfect time to learn something new. It’s just in the air, isn’t it?

Unfortunately as adults it’s easy to undervalue or even forget our desire to learn something new when there are daily tasks to tend to. And yet, if we pursue it with authenticity and intention, the process of learning something new can be akin to a spiritual practice by encouraging curiosity, cultivating creativity, and making room for delight.

Even when our school days are behind us, the back-to-school rhythm each year can serve as a reminder to continue to pursue life-long learning and personal growth in our everyday journeys, inviting us to ponder how we’d like to expand and to take action.

Ready to learn something new? Here are 11 ideas to enrich your journey—body, mind, and soul:

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Sacred Ordinary Days Podcast, S1|E13: Ordinary Time + Vocation

Now that the fifty days of Eastertide is over and the feast of Pentecost has passed, we find ourselves in Ordinary Time—the longest season of the year.

5 Ways to Turn Your Ordinary Trip into a Pilgrimage (+ a FREE pocket guide for your next journey)

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is nearly here!

#GlimsesOfGratitude: Cultivating a Gratitude Practice by Noticing What Shimmers

If there were a spiritual practice assigned to the month of November, it would undoubtedly be the practice of gratitude.

How Yin Yoga is Becoming My Best Teacher This Fall

So far this fall has been filled to the brim for me, or at least it seems that way.

Back to School: 11 Ideas for Learning Something New (and why you should)

“Don’t you love New York in the fall?”

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