Set the Intention for Your Practice

This weekend I competed in #TexasGrandSlam, one of the largest individual poetry slam competitions in the South. My first time competing, I made it to semi-finals against some of the biggest names in poetry. However, this post is not about that. This post is about today. The after…what I plan to do next. I could become a traveling poet, I could make my way around the city of Houston to every open mic there is, I could work on a book of poems; basically the possibilities are endless. If you’ve read any of this blog before, you know none of these are what I want to do. My focus right now is getting my talk show off the ground. So although the competition was exciting and I will still do poetry, I set my goal already. When you set your goal, if something doesn’t align with your goal, ask yourself why you’re doing it. Be open to a winding path, because life will take you places on the way to your goal, but be selective about which directions you take. I recently asked a veteran poet why he was still doing poetry and he responded, “Commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you.” There is value in this statement, but I do believe every now and then you have to examine what you’re committing yourself to. If it doesn’t fit anymore, set new goals. Set your goals for the day, the week, your life! Write it down, make it plain, then execute. Just like at the beginning of yoga, set the intention for your practice. I’d love to hear what you decide! Tweet me using the hashtag #settingmyintentions and I’ll write you guys next week!

Plus 5 cool points if you understand why I chose this gif ;-)