Moonshyness - In Between Worlds

“Youth in Revolt” (2009)

abnormally large trees please lend me some of your centuries worth of wisdom

The Power of Intention over Purpose and Goals

Recently, I became frustrated again with my seeming inability to declutter my life from the usual distractions. Reaching for my phone to scroll endlessly, putting Youtube on as background noise, constantly listening to random playlists, the usual suspects. When I reached my peak in frustration a thought came to me: I want to live my life with intent. I want to make conscious decisions and act accordingly. I want to focus on one thing at a time, as often as possible. I know I'm not reinventing the wheel here. Mindfulness and conscious living isn't a foreign concept to me either. But for some reason when I started framing it with the question "What is my intention?" Meaning, what is my intention, in the first place, towards myself, I realized that it seemed easier to shift my behavior. So now when I instinctively pick up my phone out of boredom I ask myself: "What is my intention in doing this?" For some reason it helps me shift my attention towards better options, like reading or just drinking my coffee in silence while looking out of the window, without feeling like I'm forcing myself to. Of course I don't just only do that though. I'm not one of those people that believes all social media is inherently evil. But the way that I consume things on there changes when I ask myself what my intentions are. When I do go on Youtube for example, the end result is I spend less time on there, but consume more high quality content that I'm actually interested in, rather than senseless short-form content. Before, I used to always try to set myself concrete goals like "No scrolling in the morning" but often failed to actually reach those goals because my mind immediately registered it as another annoying task I have to do. The cool thing about finding out what your intentions are in doing certain things, is that it can be applied to a lot of different aspects in life, or even just life in general. Rather than asking myself what my overarching goal or purpose in life is, I just ask myself "How do I intend to live?" Goals and purpose are terms that can feel heavy and burdensome to us, as they are intricately tied to our usefulness to the system we live in. That isn't to say that we should only think about ourselves and never be useful to others, but the societal pressure that comes with "finding your purpose" or reaching certain goals that everyone deems to be standard things you have to achieve (getting a good job, buying a house, starting a family, etc.) often doesn't actually help us achieve those things in a truthful and intentional way, even if we really want to achieve them. And of course it doesn't help at all, when we have dreams that are completely different from the "standard" way of living. (Some people don't care about being successful in their job, some people don't want families, etc.). By focusing on our intentions, we ask ourselves what we want out of life, not what we think we should want. The more we become familiar with our intentions, the more easy it becomes to navigate life in a way that is suitable for our particular selves, and the easier it becomes to live in line with those intentions, because it becomes easier to reinforce positive behaviors that enhance our life experience.

i'm miserable because i keep pulling in people who take risks and live in uncertainty to achieve their goals. well i'm not like that and i never was. i like safety. i like stability. i'm not obsessed with reaching some big goal in life. i just want to live in peace. and i'm tired of constantly being made to feel like that is somehow not the right way to live. that i should be wanting more. i come from generations of women who had to live in uncertainty. who had to run away, who had to stretch the horizons of their lives not because they wanted to, but in order to survive. silence and peace. i want nothing more. and if i never find someone who shares this wish with me, then i'd rather just be alone for the rest of my life.

they should invent something transformative and rewarding that happens inside my comfort zone

you have to admit it: most if not all animals are very brave. they do a lot of things and dont always know whats going to happen. they have beautiful eternal souls because of this

A constellation of swimmers passes overhead off Hawaii's Kona coast during the 1999 Ironman Triathlon. Contestants swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, then run 26.2 miles. Winning time: 8 hours, 17 minutes, 17 seconds- down more than 3 hours since 1978. National Geographic (2000)

I just don't think that there's this big majority of happy "neurotypicals" who aren't at all bothered by working a crappy full-time job just to barely afford a room in a shitty apartment in a world that gets scarier by the day and doesn't leave much time OR money for either connection, rest, self care or hobbies. Like I think that's a myth we are being sold to shame us into acting like we're fine too actually for as long as we possibly can