In August, I wrote down the 5 principles that I really want to align my life with. I’ve decided that in what’s left of 2022, I’ll work my monthly Word of The Year theme around that. This month I chose to focus on faith. So, my theme for September is Flowing Faithfully.
This is what I wrote at the start of the month:
I want to live an intentional life based on my principles – Faith, Love/Kindness, Authenticity, Gratitude and Justice.
Flowing faith-fully, I want to spend these September days deepening my faith and my hope. I want to go deeper in gratefulness and kindness.
When I talk about being faithful, I mean to continue the practices I’ve started. And I want to give myself a chance to grow in them.
A reminder to myself : Priorities + Focus = A rewarding life and the time to enjoy it.
Flowing Faithfully ?
In all honesty, September has been a much harder month to be faithful in than August. I’ve been struggling to wake up early, like I want to. And there have been days when I’ve skipped some or all of the practices!
I’ve been working on deepening my faith and kindness though. Reflecting more. Looking for more opportunities to help others.
The two reminders that I’ve kept in the forefront of my mind this month are:
#1 The importance of being over doing. By looking at life and choices through the lens of my principles, I can focus more on who I want to become and the what I want to achieve should flow out of that. James Clear talks about this in his book Atomic Habits (Amazon affiliate link) :
“Many people begin the process of changing their habits by focusing on what they want to achieve. This leads us to outcome-based habits. The alternative is to build identity-based habits. With this approach, we start by focusing on who we wish to become.”
James Clear
#2 Focusing on the joy of making a change, rather than guilt when I’m not able to keep up with my practices. Morgan Harper Nichols (I’m fast becoming a fan) reminds us in her book ‘How Far You Have Come‘ (Amazon affiliate link):
“Allow yourself to feel good about how you are growing right now. You are getting better at letting grace into more and more parts of your life. It may take a while to notice, but it is happening.”
September is not over yet, so I’m reminding myself to dig deeper into faith and hope and be kind as I work towards flowing faithfully.
How’s your month going? Are you growing in your Word, if you follow this practice?
I’m joining Lisa’s One Word Linkup with this January update
Cool idea
Thank you, Barb
Like you, I have my good days. And then there are THOSE days…
But I remind myself I need to keep a bit of that grace I allow others for myself.
I’m definitely a work in progress!
Love these posts, Corinne!
Giving ourselves grace is so important!
Thanks for your lovely comment, Diane.
Corinne Rodrigues recently posted..The Altar Of Dawn
Baby steps. As parents know, our children weren’t born walking and talking. It took them months, years perhaps, to grow their skills. One day, there they were! You’ll get to where you want to be.
Thank you, Alana. Yes, remembering to take baby steps is so important. It’s easy to want to give up when you don’t get it right.
Corinne Rodrigues recently posted..The Roots Of All Goodness
Hi Corinne – I found so many of Morgan Harper Nichols’s quotes helpful when I was recovering from being ground down by that toxic job I had. She reminded me that life is a journey and we’re always moving forward (it might be slowly but we’re getting there). I think being aware of what we know is good for us and setting our intentions in that direction always results in growth and a sense of becoming more of who we were designed to be.
I’m sure her art appealed to you as well, Leanne. And you’re so right – setting the right intentions does lead to growth into the persons we are meant to be.
I really love how you’ve gone about this. Intentionally choosing to take the time for each one is a mark of a great person.
You’re too kind, Rena. ♥
Corinne Rodrigues recently posted..Flowing Productively
This is a great insight, Corinne, “I want to live an intentional life based on my principles – Faith, Love/Kindness, Authenticity, Gratitude and Justice. Priorities + Focus = A rewarding life and the time to enjoy it.” And I think you’re right, the key is to “be” in Him, instead of trying to “do” to get what He has already given us.
Thanks, Lisa. I’ve known about ‘being versus doing’ forever, but it’s only recently that I’m focusing on ‘being’ a lot more.
Corinne Rodrigues recently posted..The Roots Of All Goodness
Such a thought provoking post. I’m especially ruminating on the quote about setting goals around who you want to become instead of what you want to do. I’ll be chewing on that some more. Visiting you from the One Word Sept link up.
Glad you found it so, Lauren. It’s taken me a lot of time to start putting this in practice. Easier said than done, as you will know.
This is good stuff, Corinne! I want to be true to my values above all. Focusing on being those values helps me discover ways to live out those values. Beautiful post, friend! Thanks for linking up at our One Word post.
Thanks for the encouragement, always, Lisa.
Corinne Rodrigues recently posted..The Road Ahead Of Me
I love your intentionality, Corinne! I believe the more intentional we are, the more focused we become. I also appreciate your approach to focusing more on “being” than doing. God is definitely speaking to me about that. Focusing more on kindness, not only to others, but ourselves, in not going on a guilt trip, is also good for me to sit with. Thank you, Corinne for such a hope filled post!
Thank you for your encouragement, Donna. It means a lot. I love how we are all journeying so differently and yet together!
Corinne Rodrigues recently posted..Lighthouses To Show The Way
Two important lessons for us Corinne. Thanks for sharing at WOTY. It can be so easy for us to beat ourselves up when we fall off track – but life happens doesn’t it? Enjoy your October. x