5 Daily Practices for a More Positive Life
The truth is, the world is a pretty wonderful and beautiful place. There are amazing people doing amazing things and beautiful places and astounding events happening in nature all the time. It may seem naive to write such a thing when we all know there is simultaneously soul-crushing suffering and cruelty happening in the human world. But what I firmly believe, as you'll find as you read my posts and we get to know each other, is that the way you and I can have the biggest impact every day on that culture of suffering, violence and not-enough-ness, is to cultivate a positive and loving state of being in our own lives. There will always be challenges, but we actually can have a palpable impact on the world around us - people, situations and the general collective consciousness that we're all part of - by cultivating peace and love in our own corner of the Universe.
Today, I want to share 5 ideas for you to consider incorporating into your days, or maybe leveling up if you're already doing them, to introduce a greater sense of peace, positivity and wellbeing into your life. When you begin to practice these things consistently, you will see them start to have a subtle, and sometimes, not-so-subtle influence on the people, situations and environment in which you live, move and have your being each day.
1. Morning & Evening Rituals
I use the word "rituals" here on purpose, because I think the word "routine" just doesn't have the sacred-ness that I would hope you attach to this practice. A routine is something we can begin to do automatically, without thinking or just to get through it to the next thing. A ritual implies something that is done consciously and with intention - something that has deep meaning for us. That's what I'm recommending here.
I come from the yogic tradition of Kundalini where we practice something called Sadhana. This is a daily spiritual practice that involves elements like meditation (which I'll talk about in a bit), yoga practice, chanting, walking in nature, or journaling - you can include anything that is meaningful to you into your sadhana. The idea is to do things that help you progress personally and spiritually. My personal morning ritual includes getting up, freshening up, getting dressed, walking and feeding my dog, meditation, physical exercise and yoga and my morning shower. Once I've done those things, I'm ready to rock. I do get up earlier to accomplish this, but having this sacred ritual in my life has proven so valuable to my health and wellbeing, that I would not think of skipping it - shortening it when necessary perhaps, but never skipping.
For example, your morning ritual might include:
- Reading a spiritual or uplifting book
- Writing in a journal
- Mediation
- Prayer
- Walking in nature
- Morning exercise or yoga
- Morning coffee on your porch
- Breathing exercises
- Positive affirmations
2. Affirmative Payer and Meditation
Our minds are incredibly powerful when it comes to creating the life and circumstances we want to see. The late Louise Hay, a pioneer in the area of self-help and prolific author, speaker and publisher on the subject said that "The thoughts we think and the words we speak..." are some of the most potent influences on the life we experience day to day. In the tradition of Religious Science, founded by Ernest Holmes and explained extensively in his seminal work The Science of Mind, it is believed that we live in a spiritual Universe and that we share a universal creative consciousness which responds to our consistent and persistent thoughts as a Universal Law of cause and effect. In short, thoughts become things - whether we're using this power consciously or unconsciously.
Have you ever taken the time to listen to your own thoughts? Are they largely positive or negative? What so often happens, is that we carry around negative thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and the world that we've been taught, or have just picked up from what's currently spinning in the collective unconscious. Things like, "the economy is bad." This creates a feeling of lack and "not enough to go around" and without realizing it, we put that belief into the creative consciousness and we begin to see lack in our lives. When we see it, we view it as proof that, "the economy is bad" and the cycle persists. However, if we take time each day to consciously implant new beliefs and new thoughts of the things we want to see and experience, guess what happens? We start to see our outer world reflect our inner landscape. It seems miraculous at times, but it's just us using our amazing minds and the universal law in a conscious way. Try it!
There is a wonderful YouTube resource loaded with 15-17-minute affirmative meditations on a variety of topics where you might want to focus your consciousness and healing energy. It's called Remember to Breathe, and I love it and highly recommend it as a place to begin. Sit, breathe, and immerse yourself in positive affirmations and watch your life transform.
3. Movement
This one is simple. Research has shown time and again that regular daily movement and exercise is as effective or even more effective than anti-depressants for our mental health, emotional stability and overall wellbeing.
For the sake of transparency here, I will admit that I have had a regular exercise practice in my life for decades and a yoga practice now for years. This is not an area I personally struggle in, but I know a lot of people do. I can't tell you what type of exercise you should do, or for how long, or anything like that, but I can share a couple of tips for making this a more consistent part of your life.
- Start with what you love. To begin, pick something you really like to do - like walking or dancing or bouncing on a mini trampoline - and do that.
- Consistency is key. To me, it's less important that you do the same thing each day, or for the same length of time. What's most important is that you do something every day. Try not to skip days, especially when you're first installing this habit. For example, if I wake up and I'm sick, or if I'm injured and can't do what I would usually do, I always do something. I call them "placeholder" workouts - they're just there to help me maintain the habit. I also try to be consistent with the time of day I exercise. I choose first thing in the morning, as I mentioned above. I know that as the day gets rolling, I'll have things pop up that could impede me getting to my exercise, so I get it out of the way first.
- Make it super easy and convenient. Consistency is bolstered by making the habit of movement convenient for yourself. Keep your sneakers in the car or under your desk at work for a walk. Get your workout clothes out and right to hand when you first wake up in the morning, so you don't have to stumble about finding them. Try to make it almost unavoidable to do.
- 100% is easier than 99%. Don't worry about "rest days." It's good to move every day. You may not exercise with great intensity every day, and that's fine, but do something. Trying to designate rest days gets into the weeds of arguing with yourself every day about whether this should be a rest day or not. For me, it's easier to just do it every day - no internal debate, no indecision, no psychic strain. Simple.
From the time we're little kids we get constant inputs from the world around us about who we are, what we're like, what we can be, do, have, what we should have, do and be and so on. I would bet that about 95% of the time the internal dialogue we're having has nothing to do with who we actually are or what we actually want, but is just a replay of those inputs - some of which have been playing on a loop for decades. It's time to kick that programming to the curb and install some new operating systems.
I once told my Mom about this practice of positive self-talk and said that I look into my own eyes in the mirror every morning and say, "I love you, Sweetie. You got this. I'm on your side and I believe in you - no matter what." Sadly, my Mom's immediate reaction was, "Oh, I could never do that!" She said she would just feel way too self-conscious to ever do such a thing. It made me wonder how many other people in the world would get freaked out by it. If you read this paragraph and related to my Mom's reaction, you probably need this practice more than you realize.
I recommend starting small. Look at yourself in the mirror and just try saying, "I love you." It may feel weird at first, but do it each day and it will get easier, I promise. Another thing I do is try to stay attuned throughout each day to moments when I might start an internal dialogue of anxiety or maybe self-recrimination or doubt. When I notice it, I start talking inwardly to myself as I would a best friend or one of my sisters. I use terms of endearment toward myself, like "Sweetie" or "Beloved" or "Honey." For example, if I start beating myself up about a mistake I made, I think, "Honey, I know you want to be excellent, but it's okay to make a mistake. Think about what you can learn from this. I know you're smart and capable and you can use this experience to grow and get even better." Doing this helps keep me from sliding into a negative frame of mind, as well as improving my self-esteem.
An added benefit to this practice is that as you get better at telling yourself positive and supportive things, you'll find those things come out of your mouth much more readily toward others as well.
5. Gratitude
This is an often-noted practice for positive living, and it definitely bears mentioning here because it works. We live in a culture that loves to complain and register its discontent with things. Social media gives everyone a megaphone to talk about everything they see wrong with the world, themselves, the government, other people, their jobs - you name it. You've likely heard the statistic that people are more inclined to recount a negative experience or leave a negative review, than a positive one. That's very telling, isn't it?
The antidote to being surrounded by all that negativity is to stop and practice gratitude daily. You can include gratitude in your day by keeping a gratitude journal, or just by taking a moment each day, maybe when you've inadvertently been subjected to someone else's negative vibes, to think of 5 or 10 things that you are truly grateful for. Think of the big and the little things - gratitude for waking up that morning, for your dog, for the flowers, for ears that work, for a warm shower, for mittens, that someone thought up post-it notes - whatever! I have been amazed at times how just a few minutes of gratitude can cut through any negativity I am feeling and elevate my mood and energy.
Peace...
I hope you find these practices helpful and that you'll give them a test drive and let me know in the comments how you're doing. Likewise, if you have a favorite practice you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about it. Please like and share this post and I'll see you in the next one. 💚
Go out and get peace,
Claudia
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