Inner-U

But before you dive straight in, eager to make great changes, you need to accept that habit forming takes time. You need patience. persistence and above all the motivation to keep up the practice on a regular basis – however small it may be. You need to trust that this new habit is going to have a lasting positive impact on your life, so long as you actually bother to do it.  So, what can you do everyday that is going to improve the overall quality of your life? Let me share a few of my own simple daily habits.

#1 Wake Up Early:-

How early you say? Well early enough that you have a bit of extra time for yourself in the morning before the busyness of the day begins. Whether that is half an hour to chill out reading something inspirational before you get out of bed. Or it could be an extra sixty-minutes to enjoy your early morning yoga practice. Maybe you could fit in a quick workout before the day begins depending on your morning schedule. Maybe all you need is an extra 10-minutes to prepare a nutritious breakfast that is going to set you up for the day ahead. Whatever your circumstances, allowing yourself some extra time in the morning gives you the opportunity to start the day stress-free, energized and motivated. 

#2 Deal With It:-

I don’t know about you, but if I live in clutter, my mind feels disorganized and chaotic. A good habit to get into is to deal with paperwork as it arrives. Avoid the build up of junk, or the I’ll do that later pile by not actually creating one. Sounds simple in theory huh? But this is a habit that takes quite a bit of motivation and persistence to get into. A good place to start is to buy a shredder. Any letters or documents that are unimportant or no longer relevant – get rid of them. Perhaps set up a ring-binder with all the important stuff that you might possibly need in the future. Make sure that it is organised, easy to use and up to date.

#3 Do Things You Enjoy:-

Sounds ridiculously obvious right? But how many of us really make the time every day to do the stuff we enjoy. Daily life can seem like an endless chore when we get stuck in mundane routines which lack joy and creativity. We start to become listless and feel bored with our lives. So what can you do everyday that is going to improve your life? Well that is entirely up to you. It can be absolutely anything that you are passionate about and makes you feel alive. I love music – so I make sure that I listen to my favorite bands every single day. I love reading – so I take some time out to catch up on blogs, articles or a chapter or so of my book. You get the idea. By making time to do something that you love every single day, you will discover that life can be a much more enjoyable experience.

#4 Be Active:-

By getting physically active we become mentally active too. And that is all down to those chemicals we release during exercise. You may have heard of endorphins before and wondered what the fuss was all about. You may be even more familiar with their effects if you have ever taken drugs. And that is because endorphins is short for “endogenous morphine”, basically its natural morphine (an opioid drug that reduces pain). In other words, getting active is a legal high – it makes you feel good. Therefore, daily exercise can keep you focused, alert, mentally switched on, and feeling positive. And the best bit is you can do a whole range of activities to keep fit – so find something that works for you, and do it every single day. 

#5 Have A Goal:-

We all like to feel like we have purpose and plan in life. And if you don’t feel like you do, why not make yourself one. Create your own plan and work at it every day. Dream big. At the moment, my current goal is to get my degree – therefore every day I set aside time to work on my studies. When I was losing weight, my everyday goal was to exercise and eat healthy. Maybe you are learning something new? If so, work towards it every day, and as each day passes you will gradually improve, until eventually you reach your goal. Want to improve your fitness? Then go for a walk every day. Want to be a better artist? Draw every day. Want to improve your writing skills? Read and write every day. Want to get good at playing guitar? Then practice every day. Whatever you want to be – do something that is going to get you to that place, every single day.

#6 Get Inspired:-

Inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere. You just need to open your eyes to it. For a quick inspirational top-up, I like to read a few tinybuddha articles each day. These are stories detailing other peoples incredible life journeys, usually through tough-times and challenges, offering a little bit of wisdom from their own personal experiences. Find a few inspirational websites and blogs and read them on a daily basis when you have a spare moment or two. It is also handy to note the places that drain your inspiration and dampen your mood. For me, newspaper articles with all those big sensational attention-grabbing headlines don’t do much to boost my mood. Likewise, Facebook doesn’t really do much for me either. So, spend more time in the right places feeling inspired, and less in those that cultivate negativity.

#7 The Little Things:-

In the grand scheme of life, the little things sometimes go unnoticed. That is, until they are gone. So everyday, appreciate your little things, no matter how small they are. It may be spending more time with the people that make you happy. Grabbing a moment to really listen to someone during a conversation about their day. Enjoying a cup of tea and a catch up with the special people in your life. Playing games with your cats. I don’t know what your little things are. But, we all have them at some point during the day when we are not being busy with other things. So when they happen – enjoy them. Appreciate the moment, because as usual life doesn’t stay the same for very long. 

#8 Choose To Be happy:-

Each day we can choose to focus on the positives in our lives and spend less time dwelling on the negative. However, if something isn’t working out for you right now, change it. Life is way too short to spend your days feeling unhappy, stuck, and frustrated with your situation. Maybe you are in a crappy job that does nothing for your self-esteem? Get out and look for something better. A dead-end relationship? What is the point of dragging out the inevitable, free yourself sooner rather than later. The point is, we all have our own big choices to make in life, which in turn makes an impact on our everyday living. So by dealing with the uncomfortable bigger issues, we can adjust our life in a way that makes daily living a much more positive, pleasant and enriching experience.

By: Becky Potter

Visit her at: http://thebettylife.wordpress.com