Good morning, Spiritual Surfers. Want to greet each new day with a smile, rather than a grumble? Here are the 3 surprising things I did that helped me wake up happier and calmer:
Don’t touch the phone. I used to reach for my phone immediately to check the weather, my email, the news, social media… And I’d wonder why my teeth were clenched before I even got out of bed. Now, when I wake up, I don’t touch the phone; I start doing my Deergha Swasaam 3-Part Breathing practice (instructions are here) and I wait until after breakfast to check my phone.
Turn off social media notifications. If you can’t imagine doing this, you probably need to do this. I was totally thriving on all the “likes” and comments and other notifications that would pop up on my screen (see tip 1). And if I didn’t get that many, or any… My mood took a nose dive. If you’re interested in the science of how notifications affect and even alter our brains, Google “brain hacking.” If you want a quick fix that will make you feel less stressed and happier, turn off your social media notifications.
Start the day poetically. Instead of starting my day with the news (which is usually awful), I switched to poetry. Right now I’m starting each day with a random selection from a hefty book of poetry by Ron Padgett (who wrote some of the poems in Jim Jarmusch’s wonderful movie Paterson, starring Adam Driver). Pick your poet; Rumi, anyone?
The point: You get to choose how you meet each new day. Choose on behalf of your happiness; you deserve a beautiful day, Spiritual Surfers.