Intentionality in a Less-Religious World

Hello, friends.

What governs your daily actions? How do you decide that you will attend church every Sunday, for example? Or decide if you're going to use birth control? Or abstain completely from eating meat? What guides your actions?

I have been thinking lately about "intentionality," by which I mean people doing things purposefully, making decisions about their daily actions based upon a guiding sense of principles that are pre-determined by them (as opposed to just going with whatever they are feeling in the moment). Now, these principles can be religious (for example, "I am an Orthodox Jew so I will not use technology on Saturdays") or they can be secular (for example, "I will spend time meditating once a week on ways to help the less fortunate"). But sometimes I wonder how intentionality forms for those who might not very strictly follow a religious doctrine (I'm including myself in here).

In today's technological world, we become used to having access to almost anything, right away. Obscure pieces of knowledge can be found with just a few clicks on the internet, almost any TV show or movie can be located online, Skype/text allows us to communicate with distant friends without a second thought. But what does this instantaneous-results culture do to our relationships and morals? What happened to intentionality? In relationships, is just writing the token "happy birthday!" on someone's Facebook wall once a year enough, when the only reason we know it's someone's birthday is because the website reminded us? Or shooting out a text once every few months just to say "hey"? There are certainly some relationships that can function on this, but I worry about whether as a culture we are moving away from commitment. From saying, "It is a value for me to purposefully call my friend/grandma/favorite professor on the first of every month."

Religions clearly involve a level of intentionality. For example, we intentionally went to synagogue when I was growing up on Yom Kippur every year. It did not matter that we only went to temple for service that one day, but we did it. My father and I also fasted all day, then had bagels for dinner (a typical Yom Kippur meal to break the fast). We did it with purpose. Other religions have similar mantras that guide them: for example, some Catholics might choose to not use birth control because of the theology of their religion. It is a very real-life decision, based on a guiding sense of principles that a person adopts before they are faced with the situation. But what about outside of religion? I don't only mean atheists or agnostics, I mean also questions about life that might fall outside of the specifics of religion.

I think there's value in trying to adopt a set of principles in advance. This may be a simple result of the way my mind works (my number one "strength" on the popular self-assessment StrengthsQuest, a type of personality test is "futuristic," after all), but I see a lot of good in giving thought to things in advance, and trying to live my life intentionally. Whether that's as simple as making sure I reach out to my close friends one a regular basis, or making a resolution (as I did in January) to try to do at least one Jewish-related activity a month.

The most recent examples I have of intentionality in my own life involve two healthy habits I've adopted for myself: giving up diet soda (a former vice of mine) ten days ago, and trying to eat more vegetarian meals. These are small things to do, but nonetheless difficult for me while making some kind of small impact. Diet soda is not healthy, and eating less meat is good for the environment. So even though these new decisions may not hold very long, the idea of not only dealing with life as it comes but also trying to take control of my actions, is important.

Is intentionality important to you? I know this post is a bit heady and theoretical, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on intentionality in the comments below.

For now I will leave you with "Shanah tova," a Hebrew wish for a good new year. Tonight is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, when most Jewish families celebrate with nice family dinners and apples dipped in honey (for a sweet new year). So maybe join me in making a Jewish New Year's resolution to live your life more intentionally--whether that means giving up something you know is not good for you, or deciding to put aside the texting for one day and calling a friend who lives far away.

Now go out and love one another. And Happy New Year to all!

<3,
Allyson

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