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Here we will explore and practice what it means to live a life of conscious intention. This touches on the very essence of our spiritual journey: moving from a life in which our actions of body, speech and mind are driven by past conditioning and unconscious habit to one of meaning and purpose in which the guiding force is our own deepest values and heartfelt aspiration. This is a lifelong endeavor, serving as a continuing underpinning to our life.
Reflecting on Our Spiritual Aspiration
What does it mean to me to be on a spiritual path?
What does it mean to me to live a life of intention?
How does my spiritual aspiration manifest and function in my life?
Our spiritual aspiration
Provides purpose and meaning to our life. Provides basis, foundation and guidance for our decisions and choices in life. To have a clear aspiration is to know our values, what we want to live by, how we want to live.
Our aspiration/Intention must be taken into our heart and our mind. It is not just words. It provides motivation and energy and brings us joy.
Provides direction that informs how we live our life. It guides our actions so they are congruent with our values and we can live a life of conscious intention, with authenticity and integrity. It manifests in our decisions, our relationships, our interactions with others, in our family and work. When we are living our aspiration, our actions of body, speech and mind take us in direction we know want to go, so we are furthered on our spiritual path
Our aspiration and intention are meant to be continually cultivated. We want to reflect deeply on it so it can become a consistent quality in our life. Our spiritual practice is our life practice.
Our aspiration is not static and unchanging. As we develop and change, we want to revisit our aspiration periodically and see if it has changed.
What is my spiritual aspiration?
Our spiritual aspiration is not something imposed externally, by other people, or even by spiritual teachings, or something that we adopt because we think it’s the way we “should” be. Our spiritual aspiration comes from within us, through deep reflection and contemplation.
What brings meaning, purpose to my life? How do I want to live? How do I want to show up in the world?
What is important, essential for me? What are my values? What is important to me?
What brings happiness, well-being & goodness to my life and the lives of those around me?
What values are true, authentic for me? (not based on those of others, what others think)
What does it mean to me to live with authenticity?
If you already have a spiritual aspiration, you may want to ask:
How clear am I about my aspiration?
How often do I re-visit my aspiration and reflect on it?
How consistently do I cultivate it?
How consistently do I live it in my actions of body, speech, mind?
Formal Meditation Practice
In your daily formal sitting meditation spend time on awareness of body and breath to cultivate mindfulness and concentration. This is the core of mindfulness meditation: forming the intention to do your best to keep your attention on the breath, then following the breath as if flows in and out. Whenever you see that your attention has strayed into thought, stop, take a moment to pause and deliberately let go of the thinking, and then return your attention to the breath. No matter how long we have been practicing, we continue to do this practice. It is the basic practice that develops our capacity to direct and sustain our attention, strengthens our stability of mind, allows us to see clearly what is going on in our mind, and allows us to look deeply into our actions of body, speech and mind. It is the foundation for our transformation.
If you feel ready, you can experiment with contemplating your aspiration during formal meditation, using the questions from Reflecting on Our Spiritual Aspiration above. After practicing with mindfulness of the body-breath for 5–10 minutes, pose the question silently to yourself, let it rest in the stillness of your mind, and be open to what you experience—bodily sensations, thoughts, feelings. In this deep looking or meditative questioning, “answers” may arise from deep within our consciousness. Continue to set the question for as long as it stays “alive” for you. If you try this, and nothing of significance seems to happen, that’s fine. The very process of posing the question in meditation is planting seeds within our consciousness.
Daily Life Reflection and Practice
Using the questions from Reflecting on Our Spiritual Aspiration above, spend time each day reflecting on, clarifying, and articulating (either in your own mind, or in writing), your own personal aspiration for how you want to live your life.
Reflect on the following statement: “Your happiness comes from the strength of your internal experience of intention.”
Once you have begun to formulate your aspiration:
At the beginning of each day set an intention for how you want to carry this aspiration in your mind and actions as you go about your day. You may want to briefly bring to mind the activities of the upcoming day and visualize/rehearse how you will be in each activity living from your aspiration.
Build in short pauses during your day to stop, come back to the breath, and revisit your intention in your conscious thoughts. See if you can also experience your intention as a palpable energy in both your mind and body.
At the end of the day, take time to review your day and your actions of body, speech and mind to consider instances where they were in alignment with your aspiration/intention and instances where they may not have been. Please do this in a spirit of inquiry, with objectivity and kindness, and with gratitude to yourself, taking joy in your efforts and intentions.
If you have formulated your aspiration so that it is clear and meaningful to you and reflects your deepest values and wishes for your life, please reflect on it daily.
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