Living Intentionally: towards a definition?

I came across this quotation yesterday:

Your capacity to change yourself, change others, and even change the world, may boil down to how well you know your brain, and your capacity to consciously intervene in otherwise automatic processes.

Dr David Rock

Your Brain at Work

The last section about ‘consciously intervening in otherwise automatic processes’ seems to go a long way to defining what I mean by living intentionally. To live intentionally is to be aware of what you’re doing; how you’re using your time and other resources; not drifting un-thinkingly into auto-pilot. It doesn’t necessarily mean that processes can’t be automated, but we need to be clear about our purpose, productivity and effectiveness in what we do and how we do it.

Intriguingly, Rock’s research indicates that ‘improving cognitive control’ happens when we slow down and allow the brain to idle. This seems counter-intuitive within the context of intentionality, but maybe it’s exactly what we/I need to develop to allow the thought processes to develop more naturally.

Now I need to slow down and let this permeate my rock-like brain (pun intended!).