Setting The Day's Intention

If you don’t know where you are going, you will arrive "somewhere", but where? This meditation is an encouragement to set the day's intention. We have just one run at this life, being here is not a rehearsal. This is the opening and the closing night of the show of our lives. “You only get one shot at life so make it count. Make it last. Make it worth every heartbreak, every smile, every tear, every memory.”

Transcript

Dear friends,

Let us begin by coming to rest in mind and body.

I hope you have a room or a corner where you can regularly get to spend a few minutes in meditation.

If you don't already have such a place,

See if you can soon arrange some simple space where you can just be.

Away from the telephone and the notifications,

Away from alarms,

Pagers and all the distractions that clamour for our attention these days.

Just a quiet spot of your own.

You will find over time that just coming into that space,

Sitting on that chair or cushion,

Even the sight of it,

The smell of the room,

Will induce feelings of quiet and calm.

But let us begin by spending one minute renewing our friendship with silence,

Quieting our minds and finding once more the peace that comes from within.

Maybe place your hands on your chest,

A comforting gentle touch and just notice your breathing out and your breathing in.

Give thanks.

You are alive.

You are amazingly alive and aware.

This is a priceless gift.

I hope you enjoyed that little moment of peace and now onto our subject which is setting the day's intention.

If you don't know where you are going,

You will of course wind up somewhere.

The question is where?

Or as Lewis Carroll amusingly put it in Alice in Wonderland,

If you don't know where you are going,

Any road will get you there.

It's like setting off in a car without having consulted a map or without having set the GPS.

And of course we do it all the time.

We do it when we wake up and fly into the day,

Up and out and hoping for the best.

And some of us,

Myself included,

Get into the car and start to drive roughly in the direction of our destination but without having really thought out the best route.

If you have fallen for this expedient,

You will know that what often follows is a very fraught journey,

Even worse if you have a more organised passenger beside you.

Yet when we go by boat or by plane,

We assume and expect that the pilot will have set a course.

Let's have a period of quiet reflection,

One minute of soul time,

To consider who we are and our direction of travel in the journey that is our unique life.

It's like a service for the world,

Not an Welcome back.

We have just one run at this life.

Being here is not a rehearsal.

This is the opening and the closing night of the show of our lives.

I have been unable to find the source of the following quote which I think sums up the situation perfectly.

Make it worth every heartbreak,

Every smile,

Every tear,

Every memory.

For that reason a good morning exercise would be to pull ourselves back and give some thought to the day ahead and bearing in mind our ultimate aim.

As Mary Oliver would put it,

Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Why do it today?

Well,

Just because,

If not now,

When?

In our youth life appears to stretch out before us to something like infinity.

We may be lucky and someone may direct us to consideration of our life's ultimate purpose,

But we may not be so fortunate.

Later on as our hair thins and as we notice a little greying at the temples we realise with surprise the swift passing of the days of our lives.

The speed of that passing is hard to believe and we can regret what we might see as the lack of purpose which we may have displayed in our earlier years.

But let's not regret the past.

That is not why we are here today.

In any event you cannot put an old head on young shoulders.

But now in the fullness of time we look to the future and realise that we do not wish to look back on a life which has been spent without any particular purpose or aim.

Before we proceed further let's take another one minute for reflection.

This time we might consider the idea of beginning again,

Seeing where we are now and examining the direction in which we might like our lives to proceed from this point onwards.

So,

Today and tomorrow,

Before we rush out into the activity of the day,

Let us set aside a little time for prayer or contemplation.

10 or 15 minutes can make all the difference.

You don't have to believe this until you try it.

I believe if you try it you will see the value of setting the day's intention.

Life is offered to us one day at a time.

So ask in the morning this question,

What would I like to bring to this day?

So what might we like to bring to it?

We could begin with three things.

In the first place,

Mindfulness,

So we will be aware of who we are,

Where we are,

Aware of the people who will be sharing this day with us.

We are all in this together so let's help one another along.

Secondly,

It would be a good idea to equip ourselves with a life jacket of resilience.

We know that time and time again we have fallen overboard due to the pace and the circumstances of the journey.

Time and time again that falling takes us by surprise.

We are in trouble again simply because we don't have with us our life jacket branded resilience.

Now we have all heard the instruction that if it should happen that we fall into water,

The proper thing to do is to remain calm and float.

Easier said than done.

But when we fall into the rough seas of the day we lose all idea of calm.

Like a non-swimmer who has fallen into a pool we flail around helplessly,

Mindlessly and uselessly.

We are in danger of losing the ability to control either our minds or our bodies.

We pose a danger to ourselves and to those who are unfortunate enough to be near us at the time.

So the life jacket of mindful calm is a useful one to have with us at all times.

Nothing is helped by losing our patience.

All the good of earlier hours can be undone by losing it late in the day when we are tired and irritable and uttering a word that we can never call back.

So let us be ready to deal mindfully with the obstacles and the challenges that we know will come along,

If not today then surely tomorrow.

It's just part of life so we need to be prepared.

Our third aim for today and tomorrow,

Remember to really engage with the people we meet.

Look at one another with real presence,

Real interest,

Real kindness and genuine enthusiasm.

We all know people who approach us in that way.

People like that brighten up our days and our lives.

We know how good it feels to be around them.

In our own individual way,

Let each of us take example from the brightest and the best of the people we know,

Leaving the moaning and the this cannot be done mentality to one side and doing our best to radiate positivity.

Dr Samuel Johnson reminds us that few things are impossible to diligence and skill.

He says great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

So may you be inspired to approach every day with an intention to make a positive difference in the world.

May you have the diligence and the perseverance to work every day on your good intention,

Picking yourself up without delay if you slip.

And may this positive approach,

Renewed every morning,

Bring lasting benefit to you and to all those whom you meet.

Namaste.

Reviews

Thank you Tony for this practice which I listened to ahead of a day which requires focus and quiet intent. Namaste.

This is a wonderful moment of contemplation. Be the light and attention for myself and all those I meet. Thank you.

I'm liking the resilience jacket..and having the mindfulness calm with me..perhaps in its pocket...a lovely visual image to hold onto...Thank you for your words and calm.

J’ai bien aimé cette méditation, je vais mettre en pratique ces conseils, merci 🙏

Many thanks for this explicitly positive start of my day. Namaste 🤓🍀🙏🏻

Really liked it. It helped ground me and left me feeling much better than before I started. Simple and effective.

Part meditation, part motivation… great way to start any day

I felt so open-hearted after this. A beautiful meditation with real practicality & application for everyday life. Thank you 🙏🏼😌

Tony is a gift that we can all share & thankful for.

Very relaxing and enjoyable, a beautifully gentle way to start a day.

I needed this today, during this time in my life when I need guidance and direction.Thank you!

This message is more important than ever given the circumstances the world is in right now. Thanks Tony 🙏🏻🌺

That was very enjoyable and inspiring. Thank you for helping me start my morning on the right foot!

I so appreciate your meditations, always filled with what I need to meet the day.

So lovely, loving and calming. This meditation lifted my spirits, opened my heart and put a smile on my face. Thank you so much for this wonderful start if the day, Tony. 🙏💕

Really insightful and love the analogies of what to bring to the day. So helpful!

Thank you for this inspiring and uplifting way to start the day. Namaste.

Very nice meditation, great way to start my day, thanks!

Helpful guidance for living each day. Namaste. 🌺🌸

Thanks Tony… yes Intentions set. Good work. Good morning 🙏🏼❤️