Have you noticed how many of us have fallen out of touch with our lives?

We’re busy, stressed out, anxious, worried and distracted.

We’ve lost track of who we are or want to be.

We approach the day with trepidation.

MODERN DAY ILLNESS

Anxiety and excessive busyness have become a widespread modern-day illness. We fill our calendars with activities and to-do’s. As soon as idleness (aka quietness) sets in we feel we have to ‘get busy’. In the process we miss out on the serenity and beauty that exists in ourselves and our environment. Our busyness has blinded us with ‘hurry’ and ‘worry’.  In our modern day lives we tend to think about the past and future far more than the present moment.  Leaving us physically in one place and mentally in another.

We confuse being busy with being productive.

We lose track of what is most meaningful.

We look in the mirror and don’t recognize the person we’ve become.

The sobering truth is modern day life is crushing our souls.

LONGING FOR JOY

None of this inspires joy in our lives. Isn’t that what we all long for?

Aaaahhhhh…. Joy.

You know the feeling. It bubbles from within and tickle our insides, it makes us feel light and the corners of our mouths twitch and lift.

With joy we are open, loving, courageous.

5 MINUTE DAILY RITUALS FOR A GREAT DAY

That’s why finding simple daily rituals that help us take a breath, center and prioritize what is truly important and meaningful are vital in today’s world.

Here are two simple 5-minute rituals that can easily be incorporated into daily life.

These not only enhance but can transform your life in ways you can’t even imagine right now.

They remind us what matters most and provide a path to become our best selves.

BUILD A GRATITUDE PRACTICE THAT WORKS

I facilitate a workshop called, Break Busy. Find Joy.

It’s based in developing a simple (and effective) Gratitude Practice. What happens to a lot of people is that they begin a gratitude practice full of hope and optimism but within a week or two find themselves  repeating the same things over and over. The things they’re expressing gratitude for are usually ‘big’ things…like…I’m grateful for my life, my partner, my kids, my friends, my home, my job, my dog…etc. The loop ultimately becomes unfulfilling, unsatisfying and they pull the plug. Which is unfortunate because with a few tweaks the gratitude practice could have been life changing.

THE BLUEPRINT

Here’s the blueprint for developing a gratitude practice that works. Follow it and you will have success.

You’ll need a notebook or a journal and a pen.

Week 1 – simply get used to expressing gratitude. Everyday list 3 things you’re grateful for. You can do this is the morning to set the tone for the day or at night to end the day and help prepare for restful sleep.

Week 2 – going deeper. Everyday list 3 things you’re grateful for and why. This is the key. It will move you out of your head and deep into your heart.

Here’s 2 examples; I’m grateful for my daughter because she opens my eyes to new ways of thinking and doing things. I’m grateful for husband’s thoughtfulness and offering to walk the dog so I could continue writing and not lose my train of thought.

You see how it differs from, I’m grateful for my daughter and I’m grateful for my husband?

This makes all the difference!

Week 3 – taking it from a macro to a micro view. The more we can see the small everyday things (that often go unnoticed) the more powerful the practice becomes.

The micro things might be hard to spot at first so here’s some prompts to help.  What smell, memory, food, taste, moment, ability, touch, story, tradition, sight, sound, place, texture, challenge, small thing are you grateful for?

Remember to follow each with asking yourself…why.

Week 4 – for 5 minutes every day (increasing the time if you like) allow a flow of consciousness expressing gratitude always asking why and looking for the small things that make life meaningful.

Note: One of things I do to ground and center myself is to do a walking gratitude practice. As I walk my dog I continually express things I’m grateful for. Many of them come from what I’m seeing and feeling as I walk (ie I’m grateful for the sound of the birds chirping, the stillness of the morning, the crispness of the air…..)  I have no trouble keeping this going for the entire 20-minute walk. (This always highlights to me just how much I miss on a regular basis).

Give a walking gratitude practice a try.

OH, MY WORD JOURNAL

This is something very dear to me. It changed my life.

So much so I published a book (released yesterday)  so I could share this strategy with you.

For most of my life I’d suffered from anxiety. Life draining anxiety where a negative loop of thought would hold me hostage until I could break it. I was never really successful at this until I started a unique journaling practice. Every morning I would ask myself, “Who do you want to be?” The responses were different depending on the day …. courageous, patient, forgiving, trusting, generous, peaceful, calm…etc. Then I would draw the word in my journal and color it.

I felt good.

Not only did those long-lost feeling of joy started to resurface but who I wanted to be was top of mind all day disabling the negative thought loop. In a couple months anxiety was no longer my side kick and I was choosing the thoughts I wanted to think. I wasn’t filling my life with endless to-do lists, yet I was far more productive than I’d ever been.

My life had new meaning.

I was becoming the person I’d always wanted to be.

That was 6 years ago.

Over the years I’ve shared this strategy with others who have also found success.

THE BIG NEWS

The big news is that this month the strategy is being released in a book.

OH, MY WORD – THE INSANELY SIMPLE DAILY JOURNAL TO INTENTIONALLY BECOME WHO YOU WANT TO BE.

You can in 5 minutes a day and using just ONE WORD intentionally become the person you want to be and end the cycle of anxiety and busyness in your life once and for all.

The best part is you’ll feel great from day one.

I promise you.

Check out OH, MY Word and while you’re there sign up for tips and updates and a bonus to get you started on your OH, MY WORD journey. Keep me posted.

Of course I’d love to hear from you in comments below. What resonated the most in today’s post?

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