What is the first thing you do when you wake up? Did you know that the very first actions we take upon waking up can determine how the remaining part of our day goes! Crazy Right!
This used to be how my morning went every day (let me know if it sounds familiar minus the time part lol):
4:00-4:30- wake up and instantly go through email and social media
4:30ish- officially get out of bed and start mediating(often while doing this an idea pops in my head, and I jump for my phone again)and going through my vision board
5:00- workout and shower
6:30- read and write in my journal
7:00- start my creative work or go to work (when I had my office job)
Mind you; this is all because of The Miracle Morning book.That book changed my life in so many ways! At any rate, even though I was doing the work and trust me, it was an eye-opening experience to see everything I achieved by only doing six things differently; I still felt like something was missing. It took me months of reading different books, listening to inspirational podcasts, and reading bible devotionals to find out precisely what was lacking in my life, and then one day, it just hit me. Although my body and mind were in the right place, my soul wasn't, no wonder I kept feeling like there was a void in my life, or like I wasn't doing things right. Have you ever felt like that? It's a horrible place to be because you know you are doing the work, but you can't see past the problems in your life.
So, then I got to thinking… how does one put their mind, body, and soul are in sync? I mean, I work pretty hard on my self-care and self-love routine, so shouldn't that have been enough? Clearly not! So I went on Google, but my go-to research site couldn't help because I couldn't even put the words together for Google to give me useful information. During this same time, my best friend was starting a new practice where she would list three things that she was grateful for every morning, first thing after she opened her eyes. She heard about this practice on a podcast she listened to and recommended my other best friend, and I join her. Honestly, I only did it because I had FOMO (we'll talk more about that on a different blog post) and didn't think it would do anything for my life. BOY WAS I WRONG!!
We started our gratitude practice in March of this year, and at first, it was hard to come up with different things every day. After a while, we got the hang of it, and I would list everything from my children's health to being on time for work the day before, to waking up feeling great, etc. The list was endless! I found all kinds of things to be grateful for, and slowly my mindset started to shift to one where my soul felt fed (I hope I'm explaining this right). I started seeing the positive side of life, even when I thought I was at my worst. I finally felt fulfilled, happy, and whole by the smallest things that were happening for me. Slowly my life started to shift in ways that I couldn't have imagined, and once that shift occurred, there was no turning back. Things I never thought possible started to happen.
A perfect example is weeks after we came home from vacation; I was running late and had a ton of things to do. Bini called as I was rushing out of the house and asked me to help him with something. I said sure and fit it into my ALREADY busy schedule, then on my way to DC that afternoon, in the middle of 395 highway, my tire went flat. Oh brother! As if I didn't have a million things to worry about! Had it been any other time where I wasn't practicing my gratitude statements, I would have freaked out; however, on this day, I stayed calm and collected. I managed to get off the highway and pull into a gas station where I found out; I had a HUGE nail stuck in my tire.
The gas station didn't have a tire on hand for my car, so I called a tow trunk and had them take my car to the dealership. Case Solved! It was really that simple. Then I took an Uber to DC to help Bini with his errand and asked the driver to take me to the kids' school so I could pick them up and head home. Did it cost me extra money that I wasn't planning on spending YES, however I was grateful that 1) I was safe and didn't get hurt because of the tire 2) I was next to an exit and was able to pull into a gas station in time 3) UBER came to the rescue.
Instead of thinking of all the bad things that had just happened, I chose to think of the good instead. "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." Really think about this statement! It's so true! Whether we like it or not, things will happen in our lives that we didn't plan, some good and some bad, and how we react to it, matters greatly.
Another great example is one morning, I woke up with a terrible headache, and because of my gratitude practice, instead of complaining about my head hurting, I wrote I was grateful for Advil. Eventually, my headache went away and my day went on to be productive and exciting. Had I complained about my head hurting and reacted negatively, I would have wasted precious time feeling sorry for myself instead of pulling through and moving past the pain. That's what listing out grateful statements does for you. It shows you that you are stronger than your worst troubles and helps you see the light at the end of any tunnel.
I hope this blog helps you or someone you know. If you're looking for a new practice, one that will feed your mind, body, and soul and will leave you happy and in control of your emotions. I urge/challenge you to try this practice! Try it for just 30 days and then let me know what you think. I'm sure you will be amazed at your results.
Yours,