The morning is extremely important.  It is the foundation from which the rest of the day is built.  How you choose to spend your morning can often be used to accurately predict what kind of day you’re going to have.

Here’s how to make it a happy one…

In the space between the edge of the night and the chaos of the day, you have a chance to make a special space for yourself.  In this space, thoughts and contentment neatly overlap, where past and future issues cease to exist, and time touches eternity.  Hovering about your mind, as you gently begin to stir, there are beautiful visions no one has ever seen and soothing harmonies no one has ever heard.

These first few moments of the day are sacred.  Savor them.  Protect them.  Awaken yourself peacefully, stretch fully and breathe deeply in them without rushing forward.  Give yourself this time as a gift, to simply be and feel alive, to conquer the anxiety of life, and live in the moment breath by breath.

Begin each day with love, grace, and gratitude.

When you arise in the morning, think of what a great privilege it is to be alive – to be, to see, to hear, to think, to love, to have something to look forward to.  Happiness is a big part of these little parts of your life; joy is simply the feeling of appreciating it.

Realize that it’s not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.  Make a habit of noticing the goodness that’s already yours and you will see more of it every time you look for it. 

Each new morning greets you with no restrictions except for the restrictions you place on it.

Don’t hold yourself hostage for the things that didn’t work out yesterday.  Don’t let your history interfere with your purpose today.  Let yesterday go.  Every morning is the start of a new day with no mistakes, just possibilities.

Release and renew.  Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.

Live now.  Not before.  Not later.  Just NOW – in the moment you’re in.  Inhabit your morning completely.  Don’t rent it out to the past or the future.

Do you know what you’re doing to yourself when you wake up and start worrying about every other time and place?

You’re cheating yourself out of the moments we call “life.”  Your real life – the here and now – is calling to you, trying to get your attention, but you’re stuck on another time and place, and so your life keeps dripping away moment by moment like fresh water down a dirty drain.  You wake up the next morning and all those priceless moments of your life are wasted and gone forever.  Some of those moments may have had magnificent experiences in store for you, but now you’ll never know…

Bottom line:  Don’t be so worried about what’s ahead of you and behind you that you never enjoy where you are.  Start your morning off right by paying full attention to it.

Sometimes all you need is a little inspiration in the morning.

Read a motivational quote.  Listen to a song that moves you.  Watch a short video clip that inspires you.  This can provide a framework for the day, a sort of positive pep-talk that keeps you motivated and heading in the right direction, as opposed to succumbing to the negativity spewing out of morning newscasters and radio talk show hosts.

Another option:  Use a motivational mantra or affirmation that provides a meditation-like burst, or read or recite some prose that helps you focus. 

Love is the foundation.  Love is the board under the chalk, the ground from which giant trees and buildings arise, and the oxygen in the air.  It’s the place you come back to, no matter where you’ve been or where you’re headed.  Love is where life’s goodness begins.

Every morning, kiss all the people you love in your house (including your pets).  And once you’ve done that, set ten minutes aside to do something you love – perhaps a hobby or a quiet morning walk.  Doing something positive will help you set the mood you need to create a great day.  When you smile, your body relaxes.  When you experience a loving human interaction, or a deep connection to a passion, it eases tension in your body.  Connecting with the right people and activities soothes stress and provides you with a positive foundation for your day, as well as keeping you focused on what’s truly important.

Morning routines are critically important.  They help you focus and build momentum for your day, and they give you the freedom to be present and relaxed – to enjoy just being right where you are each moment, rather than rushing from somewhere to somewhere.  Once you get your routine in order, for the first time in a long time, you will be able to, quite literally, smell the coffee.

For truly relaxing mornings, reduce the number of decisions you must make.  There are two simple ways to do this:  First, make your big morning decisions the night before: what to eat for breakfast, what clothes to wear, what you need to take to work, etc.  Second, build a simple routine for as much of your daily morning tasks as possible.

Really, there’s no need to drastically alter the simple things like how much time you give yourself to get ready for work, how complex of a meal you make for breakfast, or bathroom and shower rituals from one morning to the next. 

Today is a golden opportunity to do something that matters to you.

When was the last time you woke up and said, “Today could be the best day of my life”?  Participate in your dreams today.  Your potential is limitless.  Put first things first and take action on an important task that’s been lingering.

Success is not something you have; it’s something you DO.  It’s something you experience when you wake up and act accordingly.  Be a self-starter.  Let your first hour set the theme of proactivity and success that is certain to echo through your entire day.  Today will never happen again.  Don’t waste it with a false start or no real start at all.

 

 

WRITTEN by MARC CHERNOFF

Sometimes changing your circumstances isn’t possible – or simply not possible soon enough.  You can’t get to a new job in an instant.  You can’t make someone else change against his or her will.  And you certainly can’t erase the past.  So what options do you have left?

Change your perception, belief or opinion about your circumstances.  Doing so will help you change your attitude and ultimately allow you to grow beyond the struggles you can’t control.

The Greek philosopher Epictetus said it perfectly more than 2,000 years ago: “People are disturbed, not by things (that happen to them), but by the principles and opinions which they form concerning (those) things.  When we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never attribute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles and opinions.”

Modern behavioral science agrees too.  American psychologist Albert Ellis, famous for developing rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), has proven that how people react to events is determined predominantly by their view of the events, not the events themselves.

Have no clue how to change your perception of things – and improve your attitude?  Here are seven easy ways to start:

1. Still your mind. – In order to gain conscious control of what goes on in your mind, you need to develop a keen awareness for this process.  What helps is to hold still for a moment, take a deep breath and free your mind of all the chatter that’s going on inside and all around.  This makes room for a change of state, for something new to enter.  So give yourself a break.  Don’t say you can’t.  Yes, you have battles out in the world to fight, insecurities to overcome, loved ones to contend with and goals to achieve, but a break from it all is necessary.  It’s perfectly healthy to pause and let the world spin without you for a while.  If you don’t, you will burn yourself out.  You must refill your bucket on a regular basis.  That means catching your breath, finding quiet solitude, focusing your attention inward, and otherwise making time for recovery from the chaos of your routine.
2. Change your focus. – From the awareness of your thoughts and emotions you become able to consciously redirect your focus.  It’s time to take it willingly away from something that drags you down, and zero it in on something that inspires you.  Focus on the next logical, meaningful step.  There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them.  So keep your hope alive through positive awareness.  Don’t let the pain make you desperate.  Don’t let the negativity wear off on you.  Don’t let the bitterness steal your sweetness.  Spend your energy moving forward.  Change your thoughts and you change your reality.  Our thoughts are the makers of our moods, the inventors of our dreams, and the creators of our will.  That’s why we must sort through them carefully, and choose to respond only to those that will help us build the life we want, and the outlook we want to hold as we’re living it.
3. Surrender your worries and embrace acceptance. – Realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme self who is eternally at peace.  Because inner peace does not depend on external conditions; it’s what remains when you’ve surrendered your ego and worries.  Peace can be found within you at any place and at any time.  It’s always there, patiently waiting for you to turn your attention toward it.  Peace of mind arrives the moment you come to peace with what’s on your mind.  It happens when you let go of the need to be anywhere but where you are, physically and emotionally.  This acceptance of the way things are creates the foundation for inner harmony.  The need for something to be different in this moment is nothing more than a worry, and worries simply lead you in circles.  Remember, the same part of you that longs for peace is the part of you that experiences peace.  It is not complicated to achieve and is as close as your next thought.
4. Practice gratitude.  – What you must realize is that you don’t really need more; you just need to appreciate what you have.  It’s a beautiful and bittersweet way of thinking all at once.  If you don’t have what you want now, you don’t have what you want, but you still have enough.  Be thankful for what is, and also be thankful for what has not yet come to you.  For that means there are still many possibilities available.  Find peace in the thought that you can’t ever have it all or know it all either.  You are always just a fraction of the whole.  For if you weren’t, there would be nothing more to experience.  Value what you know, and also value the countless things you don’t yet understand.  For in what you don’t understand, there is the joy of growth.  Life will always be incomplete and a bit asymmetrical.  Realize this and embrace it.  Be happy and sad at the same time, be hungry and thankful at the same time, be nervous and excited at the same time, and be OK with it.
5. Reframe your struggles as growing pains. – Remind yourself that there’s scarcely any happiness, passion or success without struggle.  If the road is easy, you’re likely going the wrong way.  Everything that happens helps you grow, even if it’s hard to see right now.  Circumstances will direct you, correct you, and perfect you over time.  Sometimes these circumstances knock you down, hard.  There will be times when it seems like everything that could possibly go wrong is going wrong.  And you might feel like you will be stuck in this rut forever, but you won’t.  When you feel like quitting, remember that sometimes things have to go very wrong before they can be right.  Sometimes you have to go through the worst, to arrive at your best.  Because our most significant opportunities are often found in times of great difficulty.  Thus, you will face your greatest opposition when you are closest to your biggest miracle.
6. Look for the beginning in every ending. – Everything in life has to come to an end sometime.  It’s important to acknowledge and accept the end of an era – to walk away sensibly when something has reached its conclusion.  Closing the door, turning the page, moving on, etc.  It doesn’t matter what you call it; what matters is that you leave the past where it belongs so you can enjoy the life that’s still available to be lived.  This ending is not THE END, it’s just your life beginning again in a new way.  It’s a point in your story where one chapter fades into the next.  Take a look at the first page of this new chapter; it’s a beautiful one.
7. When all else fails, use your body. – The mind reflects your body by responding to its levels of tension, rate of breath, speed of movement and mental focus.  Likewise your body mirrors your thoughts, feelings, mood, and responds to your state of mind, the questions you ask and the words you speak.  So if the mind and body are intrinsically connected – meaning that one has a direct affect on the other – it becomes clear that if we directly and consciously take control of one, it will influence and transform the other.  So by mindfully adjusting how you use your body you can directly influence your state of mind, and dramatically transform your attitude.  Just imagine you’re sitting there in a bad mood, shoulders hanging forward, shallow breathing and frowning.  Go ahead and do this right now to experience how it influences your state of mind.  And then do the opposite: stand up straight and put a big smile on your face.  Take some deep, strong breaths and stretch your arms into the air.  Notice how you feel better?  Bottom line: Take the vehicle your creator has given you and use it!  Your body is the best tool for changing your attitude in an instant.

 

From The Right Questions: Ten Essential Questions to Guide You to an Extraordinary Life, Debbie Ford (2003, Harper SanFrancisco).