It’s critical to move through this life consciously, especially in these challenging times where we are on information overload from the moment we open our eyes to the time we close them.
As yet, most humans are not moving through the day consciously but, rather, they are moving unconsciously. Habit and routine fill their lives, without much alertness as to ‘why’ they are doing what they are doing.
The first mistake
Take a moment to check in.
How do you wake up in the morning?
Groggy, tired.. unwilling to get up ‘to get to work’ or ‘to get the kids ready for school’? Do you hit that snooze button on your alarm, maybe several times over?
Or do you wake up with energy and boundless enthusiasm for the day ahead?
I’m talking about your normal, average day. Not when you are going through the mill… when everything is on top of you and/or life is falling apart.
Jay Shetty, best-selling author of ‘Think Like A Monk’, recalls how he had to get up at 4am in the ashram.
At first, it was an arduous task, and he struggled.
Who can relate?
Have you had to get up early, at some “ungodly” hour, to get to some place or event, and felt totally out of whack?
However, over time, Jay realised that simply by going to bed earlier and earlier, he was able to wake up with more grace, and more still alertness. He also realised that by going to bed earlier, his body could do its vital ‘housekeeping’ routine from 10pm onwards, so he would also wake up earlier naturally, feeling refreshed.
This critical 10pm to 11pm window to wind down and fall asleep is backed up by science (see here and here), but many adults miss this critical window.
Between 10pm-2am is where humans get the most beneficial hormonal secretions and recovery. Our stress glands (adrenals) rest and recharge the most between 11pm and 1am and melatonin production is highest 10pm to 2am!
You also regulate your circadian rhythms by going to bed at the same time each night.
Unfortunately, artificial lighting and the ability to watch entertainment on our screens, big or small, means the desire for sleep is kept at bay.
Maybe we’ve had a hard day and want to just ‘relax’. The irony, of course, is that thoughts stimulate the nervous system, especially violent movies, and you might ‘feel tired’ but your nervous system is actually amped up from all the ‘excitement’.
The natural desire to go to sleep when the sun sets, which is what our great ancestors did, has been virtually obliterated due to our modern way of life.
Jay also realised that by waking up early, he woke up to birdsong and could really hear the beauty of it for the first time. Many other gentle and encouraging sounds, sights and smells also engaged his senses as he moved mindfully through his morning.
Our senses touch the present moment but only the surface. What usually happens is that we are often then hooked by a thought pattern (memory) that is linked to what we are sensing, feeling, hearing, tasting or touching, and that influx of thought eclipses our ability to stay present.
In moments of great beauty, however, the mind completely stops, if only for a second. In that space, we touch the depth of who we are. We say ‘it takes our breath away’! The breath stops, so the mind stops.
The fact is most of us wake up tired, and also disconnected from our natural state of being. We’ve lost touch with our inner aliveness, which can be felt as a delicious inner state of peace, contentment and even bliss — for no external reason.
So this is the first mistake, not being ‘in tune’ with our natural sleep/wake cycles, which means we are disconnected from who we truly are.
The second mistake
The second wrong foot of the day, as Jay points out, is jumping onto our smart phones. We are then immediately deluged by the sheer weight of information that is instantaneously ‘downloaded’ to our minds.
God forbid anyone would want to look at ‘the news’ first thing but they do! Society is suffering from a mental illness, broadcasting and ingesting ‘the news’ which often contains many horror stories of things that have gone wrong, and that can or will go wrong. Pettiness and gossip are also rife on ‘the news’ and places like social media.
Predictions of doom and gloom are rife on our screens.
If you counter with, ‘but I have to know what’s going on in the world’, I’d ask you what are you doing to influence or change the unwanted situation you are so keen to know about?’ and when you read this information, how is this contributing to your well-being and the well-being of others?’
‘I can’t stick my head in the sand’ is the key idea behind wanting to constantly know every single useless bit of information out there. No wonder the world is overwhelmed!
As well as the dubious ‘newsworthy’ content that is broadcast 24/7 across multiple unconscious channels, Jay also points out that we’re not meant to go from 0-100mph in an instant. It’s jarring for our nervous systems.
To be more conscious, I recommend starting your day with gentle meditation, whether you can do that yourself (as you’ve already learned a practice somewhere that resonates with you), or by following along with an app. Today, there are plenty of choices!
I recommend you check out apps Headspace or Calm. For those more musically minded, try Meditative Mind, with hours of bi-aural audio.
I often practice being still for the first 5-10 minutes, and use a particular hand position on my body (one hand on belly, one hand on heart) that brings centering as I watch the turning points between my in-breath and out-breath.
Watching the breath is an ancient wisdom, as potent today as it was many centuries ago. The breath is invisible and connects us with the formless dimension of our being.
After breathing for 5-10 minutes, I usually listen to a Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle or Abraham-Hicks meditation, as these are my go-to favourites.
Once you get develop the habit of starting your mornings slowly, you will probably never go back to your old habit of rushing through your day — and thus losing the “power of now” (paid link).
You might complain that your kids, or partner, are going to disturb you. So, in order to cultivate this habit, you must get up at least 15 minutes earlier… and in order to get up 15 minutes earlier, you must cultivate some sort of gentle wind down practice the evening before.
I actually have trained my 6 year old son Jayden to either listen along to the meditation, or he goes to the open plan kitchen-living room to eat some fruit whilst I breathe and listen. For my son, eating in a calm, conscious way is his way of meditating.
Build new habits that will serve you
I personally have found it takes many months (if not years) to solidly create a new, healthy life pattern, not just 21 days, as some people routinely say. 21 days is a good start but you must absolutely build on that initial commitment or a big life challenge can easily derail you.
If you want to completely rebuild yourself, and plug into a conscious community, I have a few spots left on my new ‘deep dive’ 1 year coaching program (developed from 20+ years of teaching/coaching and serving my worldwide community). Developing good habits (eating, sleeping, exercising) comes from your own daily commitment, but having conscious people around you that are on a similar path can help you stay the course, and bring new insights, as well as the passion and enthusiasm you need to succeed.
No man is an island, as famously quipped by seventeenth-century English author John Donne!
Good luck!
Stay curious.
In Lak’ech,
Jaime T
Medical Intuitive, Quantum Healer, Yoga Teacher, Health & Life Coach
Founder of Energy Therapy and Total Frequency Shift
Get coached on the deeper teachings of the Law of Attraction, and Living from Presence.
Have your Akashic Records cleaned so you can live your life fearlessly. 20 years serving 1000s of clients and students worldwide as a medical intuitive, sound healer and Reiki master, with featured appearances on Shift Network
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