Intentional Quotes

“Purpose gives meaning to action in the same way that structure gives meaning to data.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“You can't be everything to everyone. At some point you need to make a choice of what truly matters to you and why.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“Attitude then is the lubricant that makes the imperfect fit of the complex system that is the individual work more smoothly with the complex system that is the world.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“Narratives, stories, help create a deeper sense of shared identity. They generate meaning and foster cooperative actions through neurochemical correlates that kick into motion as the brain responds to the narrative and release elevated levels of oxytocin. Context fixes our sense of who we are in relation to where and when we are.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“Goals without a sense of hope often fail to be reached. Hope without a set of goals materializes nothing of value. We need both for intentionality to function.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“Introspection is painful. We are good at lying to ourselves. Being honest, even when it is just inside our head activates painful realizations and memories. It takes an enormous amount of energy to deal with all this. We usually tend to avoid it.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“We are built to act first and reason later. Our minds construct rational stories to justify emotional truths that our bodies have already accepted.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“For anyone who says we’re culturally and technologically advanced beings not held in thrall by our environment consider how we start each year afresh simply because the rotation of the Earth around the sun takes precisely 365 days and we run our lives by the hour because the planet takes 24 hours to complete a rotation around its central axis.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“As it grows, every system exhibits self-reinforcing behavior.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“What is recognized to be character in an individual is usually called culture in an organization.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“You, I, each one of us is the fundamental building block of the constructs we call, community, society, nation, world. Within that we also live a life, raise a family and conduct business. If we are not OK in our understanding, values and beliefs then our behavior will lead to issues that will overwhelm and destroy any system we put in place.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“Unconscious neural activity cannot be made conscious no matter how hard one tries. Part of ourselves is always hidden to us.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“Our desire for a cause that will allow us to commit ourselves mind and body to its banner is a cry for clarity in a world that is unclear and a need for certainty in a reality that is fundamentally uncertain.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“Being intentional in life means being in control. This is not the same as having control of everything and everyone or being controlling.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“If you ask yourself “why” you will have to confront the truth behind what you want and what you do and the choices you made that got you there.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“We are a product of evolution. Evolution is driven by survival not truth. In seeking truth we acknowledge that we need to do more than just survive in order to thrive.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“Confidence, in turn, contributes significantly to our sense of control over our life. A sense of control is what allows us to critically examine and adjust our beliefs, hold firm to our core values, develop the right kind of attitude and display grit when we need it.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully

“Happiness like creativity is not diminished if you share it. It is affected by external factors but it also depends on them. Each of us is responsible for our own happiness but we are also co-responsible for the happiness those around us.”
― David Amerland, Intentional: How To Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully