Last year we had the resolution to make some changes in our lifestyle practices, particularly in living a more toxin-free life and making healthier foods. Now, for the most part we already were doing this since we’ve generally always had a healthy diet and never really bought into having many chemicals around the house. However, we really wanted to eliminate as much, if not all, the chemicals and toxins from our day to day. What we really wanted was our lifestyle to be truly intentional in our belief of living a healthy lifestyle. This began with what we eat and clean with. What started as non-toxic cleaning supplies quickly escalated to reducing plastic altogether, cooking and sourcing food that was free of additives and ultra processed ingredients, and buying products that are better quality, clean, and from businesses with good principles. This certainly was not an overnight task, and we are still slowly implementing these practices in certain areas of our life. My goal isn’t to dive into why we want to live a healthier life but rather use it as an example as to what it means to embrace living intentionally.
To live intentionally our actions, daily practices, and choices should be a harmonious reflection of our convictions and beliefs. What we do should mirror what we say. You can say you believe in eating healthier or exercising more, but still live a life that isn’t truly embracing healthy habits. If you truly believe your health and lifestyle should be healthier, then you need to live in a way that confirms that mentality. Take the example of religion, you can say you are Catholic or Jewish, but not practice or even believe what the church teaches. How can you live intentionally if what you believe and how you live contradict one another? How can you live intentionally if your lifestyle is only half of what you believe to be true? In other words, we most often than not think we live one way, say a “healthy,” lifestyle but when we take a deep look at our actual practices we realise we are only semi-living according to our beliefs and convictions. Living intentionally isn’t saying you have to bake your own bread for everything because if not you are a hypocrite. If you bake your own bread regularly but buy the occasional loaf of bread at the store because you have a huge party to throw or you have last minute guests coming and don’t have time to whip up some sourdough, this doesn’t mean you aren’t living intentionally. On the contrary, your convictions are that the occasional loaf from the store is something you support and that in fact is necessary because you have time constraints. What wouldn’t be living intentionally is claiming to bake everything when the majority of the bread you get is store bought. Not living intentionally is also avoiding to implement the practices we truly believe to be right, or best, merely out of laziness, convenience, and comfort.
Let’s continue on the healthy lifestyle example. There are many people who say they want to eat healthy and they actually make the effort too, but they only skim the surface of their regular eating habits and essentially only make small changes to their actual diet. Now, any change is a good change no matter how small. I mean you have to start somewhere. Yet, so many people stop and either lose the motivation to try more or conform to the idea of, “this is enough.” If you truly believe in eating healthier than shouldn’t you examine all aspects of your diet and not just part of it? Eliminating the regular coke or the afternoon snacks isn’t the one and done solution to living healthier. What about the ingredients I use to cook? Are they fresh, ultra-processed, additives, or preservatives? Am I snacking less often but when I do it’s still a bag of chips or cookies? Am I reducing fats but actually eating more seed oils or hydrogenated oils? Ultimately, we need to examine every aspect of our life to see if it aligns with what we believe and want for ourselves. The areas in which there is no reflection of our convictions we must ask the “why” and discern if a change needs to be made in what we think or in the way we are living.
Taking a look at the whole picture and asking yourself “am I truly living how I want and what I believe to be true?” If you believe that a daily can of coke is still healthy and good for you then you are living intentionally because you truly believe that. However, what we believe can be wrong and we still have a duty to search for the truth and live a life that is rooted in truth. If research shows that drinking a can of coke is actually damaging to your health then we cannot pretend that evidence to be false when it is in fact not. The truth still remains, drinking a can of coke daily is not healthy for you. We can make the conscious decision to still live a life that goes against the advice to not drink the can of coke daily because to one the risks are not as much of a priority. Yet, to say we agree with the findings that coke is bad for you but still drink it. That in fact would make one a hypocrite.
Now, I use these examples in a dramatized way. When it comes to healthy eating it is different to have an occasional indulgence in sweets, and even some junk food. To indulge in some of these things on occasion or because of necessity, say you have nothing to eat at a friend's party except the nachos, doesn't mean you don’t live according to your belief in healthy eating habits. Intentional living looks at our daily actions, convictions, and lifestyle as well as our circumstances. Of course to perform something that is morally wrong on occasion cannot be justified. To say you believe murder is bad but you kill someone because you can’t resist the urge would be morally wrong. This is certainly not the same as indulging in a few Doritos at a party on occasion despite you living and believing in a healthier lifestyle. To live intentionally is to live in a way that truly upholds what you say and believe to be true. I will certainly admit that I will occasionally indulge in a not so healthy meal at a fast food place or even some frozen pizza at a get-together, but I am more conscious of my choices in my day to day and those choices reflect what I truly believe to be a healthy lifestyle. I also seek to practice those healthy habits in ways that are rooted in truth, not my preference. Going back to the coke example, just because I think a can of coke a day won’t hurt doesn’t mean it’s actually true. If the fact is the coke is bad I can’t choose to believe a lie just out of preference or comfort. If I choose to go against the fact the coke is bad then that is a conscious decision I make knowing what the truth is and still choosing to live in a way that goes against the truth. Choosing to live a life that purposely goes against the truth merely out of personal gratification and selfish ideals is still an intentional way of living, but it isn’t a virtuous one. A truly virtuous and intentional way of life is one that seeks to uphold our beliefs while still being rooted in truth and what is good. Essentially it seeks to live in a way that God calls us to, and that glorifies Him.
To each person, and each family, their lifestyle will certainly be different from others. Where one may believe that the occasional dessert throughout the week is best another may believe dessert after every meal is alright. The differences in convictions, lifestyles, and ideas will vary from one home to another. What is truly important when seeking to live intentionally is not to live according to the standard or “rule” that others who think alike have set, but rather according to what you, and your family, believe to be true based on your own understanding, study, and circumstances. Most of all, how you choose to live should seek to always follow what God wants and how He calls us to live. Our beliefs and daily practices should be ones that uphold what is good for us spiritually, physically, and materially. At times we think what we want is what is best for us and this way of thinking can easily cloud our judgement and hinder us from being open to continuously form our conscience and understanding. When we allow ourselves to continuously form our minds while always seeking what is good, true, and pleasing to God, and live in a way that mirrors that way of thinking and formation then we will truly be living intentionally.
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