How to live a life you love with intentionality
Living a life of intentionality takes work but comes with great rewards. It requires you to eliminate roles that do not serve you in your current season, including roles you may hold onto dearly. Living intentionally also requires you to set boundaries and stick with them, even when it feels uncomfortable. But to first live a life of intentionality, you need to understand your true core values.
Gina Grove, a faith-focused certified life and wellness coach, published writer, and speaker strives to help her clients feel joy, energy, and peace again through living a life of intentionality, starting with identifying their core values.
Join us as we talk about how to establish your core values as the firm foundation to then eliminate the unnecessary and set boundaries to protect the life you imagine.
About Gina
Gina Grove is a speaker, writer, certified life coach, lay counselor, and retired teacher who pondered for years, “What should I do when I grow up?” A tad later in life than she’d planned, the answer is finally clear: Combine the truths of scripture with the tools of coaching to help women live grace-infused, peace-filled, purposeful lives. As a wife, mom, grandma, and rookie social-media poster Gina believes when we step out in faith, our trustworthy God is already blessing the outcome.
What is intentionality?
The word intentional can be interpreted differently by each individual. At the center of intentionality is being purposeful and deliberate with your thoughts and actions – the opposite of reactionary. If you have not thought through who you are, what you are doing, and making intentional decisions, you end up reacting to what the world brings you, and it will decide the course for you.
How do you start to be intentional?
The first step in creating a life you love with intentionality is establishing your core values. If you don’t know your priorities, you will not be successful in creating a life you love. The best way to start is by bringing your request to God, sitting in His presence, and asking Him to reveal your heart and desires (no one knows you better!).
Next, take time to reflect and ask yourself a series of questions:
- What is it that I used to like to do?
- What gives me joy?
- Where does my energy come from?
- What did I do as a kid that fired me up?
- Who do I like to surround myself with?
- Five years from now, what would I like to be doing? (sky’s the limit)
- Who is with me?
- What does my life look like?
- How do I feel?
When you ask these questions, the answers will begin to bubble up to the surface, and you can start writing them down. If you are creative, turn it into a vision board. If you are more analytical, create a spreadsheet. Just write, type, or draw it all down, so you have a clear sense of where you want to focus and start to be intentional.
Anything else I need to think about when being intentional?
Once you have established your core values, the second most important step is to set boundaries. The reality is that the world will come at you with all sorts of demands, and if you are not careful, it will take you off your path. You need to be just as intentional with what you do, with what you do not do as well. Get used to saying ‘no’ and feel comfortable knowing it is the best for you and the others around you. As Gina states, “Boundaries are not meant for us to feed our selfish nature. Boundaries are meant to preserve our energy and preserve our value as Christ-followers so that we can serve others well.” So, set boundaries and slowly start to feel more comfortable as the life you had imagined develops into a reality.
More from this episode
This is just the tip of the iceberg! For all the nitty-gritty details on how you create a life you love with intentionality, click play on episode 22 of the Faith Inspired Podcast!
Connect with Gina Grove
Gina’s passion is to help women live their best lives through faith and living a life of intentionality. If you want to connect with Gina, you can connect with her on Instagram @grovecoaching, Facebook, and her website. She also offers a free Facebook group for women looking to grow in their faith and honor the woman God has created you to be.
Looking to build a community of Christian women? Head over to Faith & Gather for connection and more stories to become faith-inspired.