Throughout this summer it was very easy to get distracted with the recent Pokeman Go craze, Summer Olympics scandals and the current political circus show that is flooding our newsfeed. Although this is all pure entertainment to most, it also can be toxic and very overstimulating for our brains. Last month I discussed the importance of “Owning Your Day” so that you will have a much more productive day and also become a better parent, spouse and contributor to society. As stated in that post, having a morning ritual is one of the essential ways of setting the tone for your eventful day. I also promised you that I would give you a more detailed look at some of the tools that I used during my morning routine that have helped me thrive throughout my day. Here is an example of 10 minute meditation routine I use in my miracle morning.
STOP, BREATHE & THINK!
Some mornings when I wake up my mind is so cluttered with anxiety because I am sometimes afraid of the many obstacles that I might have to encounter before the day is over with. I work in a field where everybody needs my attention and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. Those thoughts are usually coming from some creepy weird dream that I had and can easily trickle down from the previous day’s problems. So it is very important for me to begin my morning with some sort of silence and meditation to offset this anxiety. Studies have shown that meditation helps with decreasing anxiety,reducing high blood pressure, improving emotional stability, increasing happiness and making big problems become smaller. It is estimated that nearly 18 million people are practicing mediation daily throughout the world. So I spend the first 10 minutes of my day practicing meditation and silence.
One of my favorite apps to use for mediation is Stop, Breathe & Think. This is a guided mediation that only requires 5 to 10 minutes of your time. What makes this mediation amazing is that the app caters to your current state of mind. You select from a detailed list of emotions and the app will create a specialized guided meditation specifically for you. This meditation is also useful during those high stress times when your child just had an outburst and you just need to refocus. During these times I tell my wife that, “I need to take 10” and she usually has no problems in giving me my space.
Here is a brief video of how the STOP, BREATH & THINK app works.. GIVE IT A TRY!