As you walk down the path of intentional living, you will end up refining, curating and building a life tailored to your soul. Your routine, your habits, and your environment all working together to move you to the place you want to be and to a fuller expression of your potential – your most authentic self.
At this point, you know yourself, and what you are all about. You know the things that you like and what resonates with your soul. For the first time, you might actually have the opportunity to truly immerse yourself in these things. How do you go deeper?
This is something I have been thinking about lately – how to improve the texture of life.
These days, my life feels very intentional. For the first time in a decade, I feel truly ready to live the life I have always tried to create. I am doing good work, with good people. I have the relationships and space and everything I need to make things happen. And that is great. But what comes next? How can I improve the day-to-day experiential texture of my life? how do I deepen the results I get?
This idea of deepening the texture of life first occurred to me in the context of improving my creative process.
As a freelancer over the years, I always had the experience of going for quantity over quality. I would pack my schedule full of work to maximise the amount of money I could make. And because sometimes clients fall off, or payments are delayed and all sorts of things happen, the easiest way to deal with that instability is to pack on so much, that on average things work out.
The problem with doing things this way is that you end up rushing a lot. You move quickly from thing to thing, doing what is good enough, as opposed to what is best. And to an extent, it can work. I have become able to do a fair amount of high quality work in a compressed period of time.
However, I do want to improve the texture of my creative work. To make it richer in meaning, execution and impact. And that means more time, that means more experimentation. It requires an investment in learning, in studying, practicing new techniques, pushing software to its limits.
To deepen the texture of my work, I would need to set aside time for just that. Periods of time to be fully immersed. To sacrifice efficiency and instead linger longer, to wonder, ponder and create.
When you scale this concept up, deepening the texture of life means adding new layers to the things to do. To discover what you love and to invest the time and energy in knowing it deeper, to practicing it deeper, slower, more intentionally, to really flesh it out and grow in that dimension.
It means being mindful of your experience, and investing the time and resources to doing it well.
Deepening the texture of work means being more organised, tracking your progress, staying strategically aware, collaborating with people, and seeking more impact.
Deepening the texture of relationships, means more time spent with loved ones, deeper conversations and bonded activities.
Deepening the texture of rest means truly unplugging, setting boundaries, improving sleep, exercising the body, and engaging in hobbies for the simple pleasure of doing them.
It is really just about identifying that things you love and engaging in them in a deeper way to enrich the quality of your life experience and your output.
This is usually the opposite of what we generally do, which is hurtle from one thing to the next. In the bid to do more, we get busy, burdened with tasks and responsibilities. And so we rush from thing to thing, never truly paying attention. In turn, we live shallow lives, getting things done but nothing exceptionally great, nothing that activates and deepens the soul.
Deepening the texture of your life is highly focused curation. The energy you cultivate and entertain around your interests is very important. It is crucial to walk with people who share your passion. In this way the depth multiplies, everyone bringing something unique to the shared experience.
As you deepen your life in this way, you will experience new levels of joy and satisfaction and reap the benefits of a profoundly intentional life.
Enjoy it, grow from it and share it with those whose energies are attuned to yours. Walk with those who are passionate about the things you are, and unlock a new experience.