CTRL-ALT-DELETE your DAY
Five ways to start your day over!
Something terrible has happened, and you haven't even had your morning coffee. You immediately condemn the rest of the day to be "bad." Your magical powers of seeing the future start to come true, and things continually happen that ruin your day. Funnily I have spent many days at the peril of my friends, family, co-workers, and even a random stranger on occasion. A lot of that nastiness results from our attitudes and ability to see the worst in a situation. One of the most powerful tools I have in my box of skills is the ability to start my day over again. Yes, you heard me right, start the day again! Once we realize that the calendar, clock, sun, or a few hours of sleep have very little to do with how I feel now. My day starts whenever I say it does. The reality is that we learn to put our emotions on a cognitive horizon way too frequently. "I'll feel better when_____" "I will be happy once we get this______ done," "I'm having a bad day and can't wait for it to be over."
Over the past few years, I have been looking at ways to develop my ability to start my day over again. Here are five ways that I have found to be the most effective, and I wanted to share them with you. Like any skill, these require practice and repetition combined with the belief that they will work. With this knowledge, you can learn how to reboot your brain, stop having "bad days," and only identify with having "bad moments" in a day. Once I knew this was a possibility, my life changed significantly.
Random acts of kindness: The overwhelming joy of helping another human being is one of the most powerful things you can do at any time. When you're having a bad day, this is one of the best ways to swing the momentum of the universe in your favour. Giving doesn't mean you must sell your possessions and donate them to charity. Buy a coffee for the person behind you in the drive-through, drop a mystery treat on a co-worker's desk that you know is having a rough time, or toss some spare change into a person's parking meter. There are endless ways to perform these feats of awesomeness. Be creative and have fun.
Meditate: Research has shown time and time again that meditation is a healthy addition to anyone's life. By taking a few minutes to focus on breathing and being silent with yourself, you can have the ability to take an overactive mind into a state of gentle calm. One of the biggest things I hear from people is that they have a mind that won't turn off, which can quickly lead to agitation, frustration, and anxiety. With practice, anyone can learn to turn this unfocused inner ranting into a precision tool of focus and clarity. Amid a busy day at work, we can't just stop and meditate without feeling the repercussions of co-workers or employers. So here's a tip: go to the bathroom and close the door. I use the bathroom to change my state of mind the same way Superman uses a phone booth to change his identity. Take a few deep, meaningful breaths (through the mouth :-P) and reset your brain to start the day over again.
Call or Message Someone: Have you ever received a random message saying they wanted to tell you that you are important to them? Or a phone call saying I just called to say "I love you." What a wonderful and heartwarming feeling we receive from a simple act. Well, science once again has proven that giving someone a sincere compliment triggers the reward centers in our brains. It gives us pleasure and lets us know that we have the power to brighten a person's day while reminding us that we have many people in our lives that are worthy of our love and that love us. That's some good stuff right there! A good dose of love can change anyone's day.
Be mindful and practice gratitude: Have you ever found you're completely absorbed in a project or a task that the rest of the world seems to vanish? I always thought that being mindful was something that Grandma would say to get us to be polite or watch what we say. "Be mindful of the other people at the store." I have realized that it is about becoming fully aware of my senses and environment at any given moment. When I take the time to fully immerse myself in something as simple as the cup of coffee I am drinking, my state of being changes. Take a couple of minutes to feel the temperature of the cup in my hand, breath in the warm air coming from the top of the mug, smell the fire-roasted aroma, and taste the bitterness of the bean and the sweetness of the sugar. This mindfulness practice can help train your brain to turn off all the background noise that is life. It can also help to identify gratitude and be in the moment with life's simple pleasures. Doing this can easily make a bad day take an about-face.
Laugh: We have all felt the euphoria from losing all control to a good belly laugh. It can instantly turn off all of the world's problems and let us realize that we don't need to take ourselves so damn seriously. One of the many perks to our Smartphone lives is that we can easily search for some comedy, humorous memes, funny books, or videos at any time. Even if you are still living in the era of the flip phone, you can tell a joke or share a funny story with a friend or co-worker. Joking like this almost always triggers the desire for them to return the sentiment with a similar hilarity. Not only does this get people laughing and smiling, but it is also a great way to build stronger bonds with the people around you. Fact: People who laugh together are 50% more likely to see each other snort. Ahaha Snort! I don't know if that is a fact, but I know it is contagious.
There are many more sources of information on all these topics. I encourage everyone to dig deeper and learn more about them.
