“Your day is pretty much formed by how you spend your first hour. Check your thoughts, attitude and heart.” - Anonymous
As I sit thinking about what makes someone’s day joyful and prosperous, I realize that it comes down to three concepts –
The words we tell ourselves or our self-talk each day – our thoughts
The pictures we give our mind to think about – our heart
The actions we take to get what we really want – our attitude
These three principles, our thoughts, heart, and attitude, define every aspect of our life. From the moment we wake up in the morning, we start our day by mentally going through the list that we have for the day. I ask you to think about two things as you wake up and think about your daily task list –
1. How are you feeling about each item on your list – trepidation, inspiration, or indifference?
2. Are the things on your list meaningful to what you want to accomplish or is the list filled with tasks that what you’re supposed to or expected to do?
The words we tell ourselves and the emotions attached to those words have a huge impact on what our day looks like. Our stress level, how we interact with others, and what we accomplish all has to do with how we begin our day. By beginning the day with a short prayer or meditation of gratitude, we center ourselves in a grateful light and come from a place of capability and abundance. If we begin our day with apprehension and fear, decisions and situations are viewed through that negative lens.
While viewing your daily to-do list, give yourself a few moments to think about the list and reorganize the list so your goals are the priority. This gives you a sense of managing your day rather than your day managing you. This small change allows us to feel accomplished and gives us the power to select items that support our desires. By doing this, you can balance the everyday needed tasks with tasks that move you forward. There will be days that you’ll not feel like doing a task or that all heck breaks loose, and your goal need is temporarily on hold. Yet, even then, look to do one thing every day toward your goal. You’ll feel accomplished and more in control of the chaos around you.
Or maybe, sleep eluded you for the night, and mentally, you’re a bit groggy and the day seems like a chore. Our mind does exactly what we want it to do. It’s incredibly important to give our minds continuous, positive, thoughtful information. Time is finite, and when we treat every day knowing that this day will be gone in 24 hours, then there is an urgency to understand that how we come to the day determines if we’ve lost or gained.
When we approach our day with negative words and self-talk, our day is lost and conversely, if approached with a joyful, grateful, and opportunistic view, we gain as good things come our way because we’re expecting them. Even if something bad happens, we’re in a frame of mind to be more accepting and responsive than reactive.
If it seems like you’re starting your day on the wrong foot, a few minutes of mindful meditation is well worth it. Mindful meditation is a meditation that makes you aware of your body and what you’re presently thinking. By taking a few minutes to sit quietly and ask yourself why are you sad, unmotivated, not able to focus, apprehensive, fearful, or other feelings that bring you to a negative, unproductive, and thankless space. When you quiet your mind, you’re able to focus on what’s really bothering you, release it, and make a mental adjustment. This simple adjustment lets you feel in control, more confident and be present to adapt to the situation.
By giving ourselves pictures or images of what we want to have to happen, our mind searches for ways to make it happen. Rather than picturing what’s going to go wrong, picture what can go right and feel how great it’s going to be when you’ve done it. Maybe you need to finish a project by the end of the day. During your commute, mentally picture yourself working your way through the project diligently, easily finding and choosing the right words and content, and handing it, confident that you’ve done wonderful work. You get the idea, picture yourself successful, and your mind reaches out to make it so. This exercise prepares a fertile ground as you plant seeds of words and pictures in your mind and expect to watch them grow.
Every situation we encounter warrants a response or reaction. A reaction is something we do that is unthinking, it’s a knee-jerk type of behavior. A response is something that we selectively choose based on our awareness of the situation and the options we have. Thoughtful responses elicit actions that are to our benefit, knee-jerk reactions are instant and often regretted. Personal growth happens when we take a moment to listen, absorb and then choose how we want to respond rather than just reacting or blurting something out that is not what we meant.
Our audio courses support, encourage and inspire new thoughts and beliefs in everyday life from a place of gratitude, openness, and opportunity. If you’d like more information on the audio courses, go to the MindShop tab to learn about the MindBeliefs and the MindTruths courses.
