Stop letting your day live you.
One Minute For Your Health #1
Are you living your day or is your day living you?
What I mean by that question is:
Do you know what an ideal day/morning/evening would look like for you?
Do you consciously choose how you spend your time?
Are you fully present in the things you do, hear and say?
Most of us like the idea of life having a meaning.
🌺 What you might not know is that your sense of meaning in life might be affected by your routines. A 2019 study found that having good routines resulted in having a greater sense of meaning in life.
🌻 In another 2019 study, not having daily routines was linked with worse physical health and more symptoms of both depression and anxiety.
🌸 When our days are structured, we have more mental space to be present in what we are doing. Greater presence results in better well-being and quality of life.
🌼 One study even found that teaching people mindfulness skills (the art of being present) resulted in lower perceived stress and exhaustion, whilst it improved quality of life and positive emotions.
So what are you going to do about it?
If your days are living you then my first #1M4YH challenge for you is this:
Sit down for 5 minutes at some point today or this week and think about what your ideal morning routine would look like.
What are you doing?
Where are you?
Who are you with?
Then make a plan to make that happen. Be realistic, so that this can become a daily routine.
I’m sure most of us would love to wake up in a beach hut and be served fresh coconut water in a real coconut.
But let’s focus on making our reality as close to ideal as possible, instead of focusing on an ideal we can’t make real.
Share your ideal mornings with the rest of us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter (or whatever your preferred channel is).
Tag us at #1M4YH so we can all see, be inspired and cheer you on.
Until next week,
Marie
P.s. If you’d like to learn more about how being more present can help you stop worrying then read my article on worry here.
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Links and References:
Heintzelman, S.J. and King, L.A., 2019. Routines and meaning in life. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45(5), pp.688-699.
O’Conor, R., Benavente, J.Y., Kwasny, M.J., Eldeirawi, K., Hasnain-Wynia, R., Federman, A.D., Hebert-Beirne, J. and Wolf, M.S., 2019. Daily Routine: Associations With Health Status and Urgent Health Care Utilization Among Older Adults. The Gerontologist, 59(5), pp.947-955.
Nyklíček, I. and Kuijpers, K.F., 2008. Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention on psychological well-being and quality of life: is increased mindfulness indeed the mechanism?. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 35(3), pp.331-340.
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Learn more about me on my website www.efiaskitchen.com