How You Start Your Day Matters

How You Start Your Day Matters

Everything that you do matters. Every choice you make, every smile you share, every kind word you think or say ripples out into the world. You are powerful. More powerful than you may think. Whispers of inspiration turn into thought and thought turns into physical form. Everything that you see before you right now were once thoughts. Your mind is not a camera passively taking pictures and storing them for reference. Your mind is a projector, projecting your current thoughts onto the screen of your life. When you start to think of it this way then your thoughts are actually your field of reference, and they matter. A lot… 

How you start your day is how you live your day.

How you live your day is how you live your life.

That’s why high performance coaches and motivators recommend doing something for yourself within the first hour of waking. They specifically caution against checking email or reacting to phone calls or text messages. This is because setting the foundation of your day is directly related to how you will “be” for the rest of the day.

I call it the responding vs reacting principle.

In terms of medicine, a response to a medication would be considered a positive thing and a reaction to a medication would be considered a negative thing.

In my mind when I hear the word react, I think of a forced “knee-jerk” reaction. In contrast a “response” suggests a calmer more natural approach.

When you start the day in “react mode” you tend to repeatedly react to the needs and requests of others and forget your own. In essence you get stuck there for the rest of the day. Thus “react mode” blocks your creativity and can really knock you off purpose. It also leads to feelings of stress and discontent. These are powerful emotions that can block the goodness of life from pouring through.

I once heard a spiritual counselor say,

“People don’t need more therapy; they need more clarity.”

Starting your day with meditation, exercise or something creative sets the tone for your day. You can set the intention by asking to meet the right people, have good experiences and learn something of meaning.

I got advice on starting the day from Louise Hay. It was so powerful for me that I thought I would share it with you.

Louise recommends thanking your bed with gratitude for having a good night’s sleep as soon as you open your eyes. Then she suggests that you go directly to the nearest mirror looking into your own eyes and saying your name, followed with I love you.

My example would be Andrea, I love you. I really love you.

At the beginning this may seem strange but after a while this morning habit becomes really fun.

Before you scoff at this exercise I’ll remind you that Americans take more antidepressants than anyone else in the world. Not just more than any other country. Anyone else in the world!

Stress can be linked to any illness we know of…and…Stress is created by thought. What if you did this for 30 days and shifted your thoughts?

You and the world would benefit.

With Love – Dr. Purcell