The Good Day Manifesto: The Simplest Way to Intentional Living
“Where does all the time go?”
That’s a question we often voice.
A moment ago, the flowers were wilting, the brown leaves were dropping like snowflakes, and winter winds were rushing in. And now, just like that, a moment later, the gusts have long faded, and Spring blossoms, drawing the rays of summer’s sun ever so closer to our hearts.
Where does all the time go?
Between the demands of work, the errands of daily life, and carving the space for our hobbies, families, and friends, hours blend into days and days into weeks. Between the rush toward the future and the weariness from the past, we’ll find ourselves in the present, albeit unaware of its existence.
Mix in the swift but silent flow of time with everything else we still need to do, and it all becomes a little too overwhelming, a little too consuming to the mind, body, and soul. But instead of slowing down, we blindly merge with the daily rhythm of rush; we rack up our list of “things to do” rather than attempt to trim it down to the bare necessities.
“So it is,” concluded Seneca in his opening passage in his book On the Shortness of Life, “the life we receive is not short, but we make it so, nor do we have any lack it, but are wasteful of it."
The life we receive is not short; it is long. It’s only when we rush through it and are aimless about our days that it feels short. Time is not stingy with us; time is abundant. It’s only when we’re wasteful of it that it feels so limited.
When we slow down and decide to live more intentionally, one day at a time, we begin to elongate the eloquence of time upon the shores of our days.
When we slow down and decide to live more intentionally, one day at a time, the weariness from overdoing and the anxious rush toward the future dissolve, gradually fading into the dark.
What happens to the question of “where did all the time go?”
It now ceases to exist.
What Does Slow Intentional Living Mean?
What is slow, intentional living?
It’s an art more than a blueprint.
It’s a way of poetically experiencing life more than merely living it, for what is poetry other than a dance of emotions, stanzas, and verses weaved together by the magic threads of beauty?
Intentional living is about moving slowly, with purpose.
It’s a manifestation of our inner power, reminding us that we will always retain the strength to choose how to frame our days ahead.
It’s about living a life that’s true to you, measured by a pace of rhythm you choose for yourself. It’s about identifying values that matter most to you and then choosing to live in alignment with them.
Slow, intentional living is about inner integrity and coherency. It’s about creating a space measured by the balance of what you believe in, what you’re interested in, what smothers your soul with joy, and what matters most to you.
At its core, the intentional life makes you feel a sense of peace within yourself.
It allows you to build a sanctuary inside yourself, an evergreen garden that paves the way to stillness despite the inevitable unfolding disarray around you. You now embody the still mountain within the ocean, the pearl inside the shell.
Here’s The Simplest Way to Slow Down and Begin Living More Intentionally
How do you go about living a slow and intentional life?
That’s a good question.
You can go ahead and outline what your values are.
You can learn how to put yourself first.
You can try saying no more than you say yes.
You can do your best to tip the scales and start creating more than you consume.
There are several signs you’re starting to live more intentionally, but there’s no one-size that fits all; it’s an art more than a blueprint. It’s a way of poetically experiencing life more than simply motioning forward.
So here’s a much better question to ask:
What’s the simplest way to begin living more slowly, more purposefully?
And to that, I have an answer:
Begin by writing your Good Day Manifesto.
What’s a Good Day Manifesto?
A novel is written word by word, page by page.
And I fondly believe that the greatest book you can ever write is the one that is scripted by the person you face every day in the morning mirror.
It’s the story of your life.
The very story that is reading these words.
Maybe this is a truth you’ve long neglected, but you are the one and only author of your life.
Yes, you’ve been served a few writing prompts at birth: Where you’re born, to which household, to which social circle, in which era.
Perhaps some prompts were more constricting than others. Perhaps you’re one of the unlucky ones who’ve been dealt a more difficult deck to play. But the reality is this: You’re only limited by the bounty of your imagination, the depth of your inner drive, and your eagerness and willingness to learn.
Time and again, life will teach us this humbling lesson.
And yet, time and again, life will remind us that even when we feel completely stuck or lost, we still have agency over how we choose to welcome our days, how we decide to frame them, and what actions we decide to take.
Because the reality is this: we write our story—we live and breathe it—little by little, day by day, and we build ourselves up into who we are and how we’ll be remembered little by little, day by day.
And that is the essence of a Good Day’s Manifesto:
To be present and intentional towards what matters most to you, little by little, day by day.
That’s all it is.
The Good Day Manifest is a powerful short declaration that serves as a daily reminder of what it means to you to live and enjoy a good day.
What it means to you to do nothing and simply be present. What it means to love. What it means to give. What it means to do work that moves the rivers of your soul and do just enough of it so that you don’t tip the scales and plunge into the sly, vicious streams of burnout.
Here’s mine:
“To wake up early and welcome the day. To meditate in silence. To stretch my body and converse with my mind on paper. To brew a cup of coffee and enjoy it out in the open air. To begin slowly but intentionally. To drink lots of water. To write a little. To read a little. To serve my clients to the best of my abilities and give my best in what I do. To move, exercise, flow. To take a prolonged moment and just wander, aimlessly, by the seaside. To observe and contemplate and be in awe of this magic unfolding all around me. To call my mom and see how she’s doing. And check on a dear friend—a loved one. To plunge into the comfort of an afternoon nap and open my eyes guilt-free. To eat some of my favourite fruits—mangos, strawberries, blueberries, bananas. To cook a meal. And share it. To converse and open my heart and be as raw as possible so I can laugh and cry and embrace all that it means to be human.
To invite my soul to dance to the melody of life around me.
This is what it means to live a good day.”
Why You Should Write a Good Day’s Manifesto
As someone who tends to be driven and ambitious and hard on himself, often feeling guilty for not doing enough, A Good Day Manifesto helps me accept three simple truths about life that I often forget:
There’s only so much you can control.
The reality of life is this: There are things within your locus of control and things outside of it; focus on the former, be conscious of the latter. The best use of your energy is to focus your days on what you can control—your attitude on any given day, the effort you put into anything you do, the knowledge you seek, the people you choose to hang out with and give your time to. A Good Day Manifesto reminds you of the elements within your circle of control and outside it; it reminds you that there’s so much you can’t control, so why bother trying to alter the impossible?
The pursuit of perfection empties you; striving for wholeness in the areas that matter most fulfills you.
As you write your manifesto, you will admit a relieving and uplifting sentiment: It doesn’t take much to feel fulfilled on a given day.
The themes that will emerge are born from love and connection (to yourself and others), inner peace, contribution, health, and flow. Why? Because those are the areas that matter most in life. You will realize then and there that everything else is just excess noise that can be trimmed.
We both know that there’s only so much we can do in a given day, so why are we pushing ourselves to do more than our capacity? Why are we burning ourselves just to be overly productive and perfect? Isn’t that a toxic mindset? Instead of pursuing empty perfection, how about we strive for wholeness in the areas that matter most? Areas like love and connection, inner peace, contribution, health, and flow.
All you can truly enjoy lives in this present moment, so it’s a privilege to simply be alive and savour it. What does the past hold? Besides being a vault of memories, lessons, and inner wisdom that can guide you toward the path of healing, its powers are meaningless. And what can we make of the future? Rather than it being a dark den of worry and anxiety, let it be nothing more than a boundless, colourful source of optimism—a constant reminder that tomorrow can still be beautiful even if it doesn’t seem to be so today. With such an outlook, all you have to relish is born in this present moment on this given day, and isn’t that—simply being alive—something worth being grateful for?
In short, a Good Day’s Manifesto serves as the brush that guides the rhythm, texture, and pace of your daily life.
If life is the music, you are the conductor, playing within the collaborative space of co-creation. As you consciously stroke that brush, so are you consciously painting the artwork, seeking inspiration from the myriad of rhythms, textures, and paces around you.
How To Write Your Good Day Manifesto
Sit down, grab a pen and a piece of paper and then answer this question:
What does it mean to me to live a good day?
Now, describe it.
Let your thoughts spill in the form of ink on paper.
Once it’s ready, print it and read it daily.
Let it be the guiding light to your days.
Let it be the sun to the sunflower that is you.
Follow its rays from east to west, and allow it to remind you of your strength and power in how you choose to frame your days.
And on the days when you feel too rushed, consumed, or overwhelmed, let it remind you to slow down and reflect, once again, on what matters most to you.
To Live Intentionally is To Live Good Days and to Live Good Days is to Live a Good Life
Your manifesto will change over time; it will develop just like you.
Some petals will die, bowing down and falling to the ground to make way for the new. Some parts of you that you had once mourned will be reborn again, sprouting upward from the deep.
Whatever you write, they are not words carved on stone.
They are merely guiding principles to remind you to be grateful for each day in your life. To remind you that you have the time to create what you wish with it. To remind you that life is not short, but living a life void of intention will seem that way. To remind you that the meaning of life is drawn from the depth of your contribution and connection to yourself and others.
And to remind you to slow down and enjoy your days and be purposeful about them, for to live intentionally is to live good days and to live good days is to live a good life.
A Good Day Manifesto will raise your awareness of the inevitable passage of time. Soon, it will no longer be a question of “where does all the time go,” but rather a sentiment of “I love how beautifully time undresses, unfolding layer upon layer, to the rhythm of my days.”