6 Ways to Start Your Day Off on a High Note

I’m an early riser and I have been most of my life. It’s a habit my parents instilled in me ever since I was a kid, and nowadays I actually look forward to the morning. But for the first part of my life, my mornings used to be a bit chaotic.

I recall the daily scrambling to eat breakfast, get my things together, and get out the door. As a result, my life was a reflection of this chaos. I think the way you start your day can have a big impact on how the rest of it turns out so I today I want to share six basic ways that you can start your day off on a high note.

1. Write
   As a blogger, I've found that I’m most prolific and creative early in the morning. But even if you’re not a blogger, writing is a very therapeutic thing to do. We tend to have quite a bit on our minds when we wake up because we’ve been dreaming all night. Putting it all down on paper allows you to clear the mind for a much more productive day ahead. I always come back to what Tony Robbins said about journaling - “A life worth living is a life worth recording.”
2. Read
   On the days that I can’t seem to put two words together, I go to my next alternative which is to read. I recommend you don’t read the news or anything serious right when you wake up. Most of what’s on the news is negative. You could spend time reading through thearchives here at Dumb Little Man or find books that are uplifting. Whatever you read, make sure it’s somewhat light-hearted or thought provoking. Even if you read for 15 minutes each morning you’ll be amazed at how much that adds up over time. Eventually it will be something you look forward to.
3. Listen to Music
   I tend to combine reading and writing with listening to music, but you could just listen to music. I have a morning playlist setup onSpotify that is very soothing. I tend to stay away from anything that is really loud or full of negative lyrics. I think you can more or less listen to anything as long as you find that it calms your nerves.
4. Motivational Tapes
   This is something I’ve actually learned from listening to Zig Ziglar. He said that one of the best ways to speed up the flow of serotonin first thing in the morning is to listen to a motivational tape. Having done this more than a handful of times, I can definitely say there’s value in doing this. You start your day off with a bit of inspiration and hope and that mindset permeates the rest of your day.
5. Exercise
   
   If there’s one thing that trumps all of the above for me, it’s a morning surf session. With nothing but waves, a sunrise, and dolphins leaping in the air, this really enables me to start the day off on a high note. All it takes is one good wave. But if you don’t live near an ocean, any form of exercise will do. Go for a walk around your neighborhood even if it’s a short one. Do a search online and you’ll find anumber of exercise options that you could do in the comfort of your own home. While I think being outdoors is idea, if you live somewhere where it’s freezing cold it might not be that easy to get outside.
6. Sit Quietly
   
   This might seem like a strange way to start a productive day. A few years ago when I was diagnosed with IBS the doctor told me to spend 15 minutes in the mornings just relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. This is actually easier said than done because we’re so used to being in motion. But I think you’ll find that slowing down just a little will actually result in a much better day. 
   The way you start your day can have a big impact on how the rest of it turns out. So pick any one of these ideas and try it for 30 days. I think you’ll be amazed at the dramatic difference it will make in your life. 
   
   
   Sumeeth <3

A Motivational story about Positive Thinking

Jerry is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!” He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant

The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.

I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested. “Yes, it is,” Jerry said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.”

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?” I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”

“Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Jerry continued, “…the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man.’

I knew I needed to take action.” ” What did you do?” I asked. “Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’”

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything. 

Positive thinking the the first step towards a happy life.

Attitude is everything

God’s Three Roles In The World Drama

God’s Three Roles In The World Drama

 

God As A Creator

Logic tells us that spiritual and material energy in the form of souls and matter didn’t just suddenly appear out of nothing. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy can’t be either created or destroyed. Matter itself is a form of condensed energy. Souls are also conscious points of energy. Both are uncreated and therefore eternal. The Second Law shows us that energy, when in use, moves from a potential state, in which energy is available, to a spent state in which it is no longer available. Putting both laws together we have what appears to be a system in which the basic components have neither beginning nor end. They move towards a state of energy exhaustion (entropy). If time were linear (a straight line) and there were no external intervention, then over an unimaginably long period of time the universe would just fizzle out.

Fortunately for both the souls and the elements of matter, there is one supreme energy source which is external to the process of entropy (unaffected by the process) and thereby retains its original potency or power. When things reach a certain stage of weakness and chaos, the Supreme Soul plays out His role of re-energizing the souls. The recuperation (recovery) to their original state, in turn, has a direct effect on matter. It also comes back to its own original state of perfection. If, as has been shown above, God’s presence, power and knowledge are purely spiritual, then creation has to be a spiritual act and not a physical one. Creation can be understood as the regeneration or reshaping of what is already there and not one of creating something physical or non-physical out of nothing. God recharges the souls’ spent spiritual energy.

God As A Sustainer

We need to understand God’s role clearly as a sustainer. We have to understand the difference between physical and spiritual sustenance. We may think that God is the sustainer in the sense that He gives us our goods, wealth, health, food, water, air and so on. If that were so, why should He give more of these things to some and not to others? Why do poverty, starvation and disease exist if God is a sustainer and provider of all in the physical sense?

Whatever I do or do not possess I have earned for myself. It is not God who pays us our salaries. Whatever fruits I earn are the results of my own efforts. As a spiritual sustainer, He fills us with His power and virtues like peace, bliss, purity and happiness. He also shares with us spiritual knowledge and bestows his love and blessings on us, all of which help us in our spiritual effort, so that we can transform (change) ourselves and does not provide us with food and wealth.

God As A Destroyer
 

There are many mythological stories all over the world about a revengeful God, destroying whole armies who dared to stand in the way of His chosen ones. The ‘Mahabharata’ in India depicts the same, where Lord Krishna helped the ‘Pandavas’ defeat the ‘Kauravas’, because ‘Pandavas’ had love, devotion and respect for  Lord Krishna and ‘Kauravas’ did not. We have even gone to war, praising the righteousness of our causes and counting on God’s support. Somehow the heart rejects the idea of a violent God who is a destroyer of life. He is the destroyer of evil (and not of life) and the creator of virtue.

The story of the ‘Mahabharata’ is obviously symbolic. It can be applied to the present moment in the World Drama, when the Supreme Father, the Incorporeal (non-physical) Father is with us and is helping us in our war. Our war is not a physical one, our enemies our not our brothers, but our own weaknesses. The weapons (‘shastras’), which are shown in the ‘Mahabharata’ in the physical form, are actually the weapons of knowledge and spiritual power acquired through meditation; with which we are able to bring down our enemies, our vices and shortcomings e.g. the discus (‘chakra’) has a spiritual significance. It is shown in a physical form but is actually a discus of self-realization (‘swadarshan chakra’). ‘Swa’ + ‘darshan’ means self-realization. Self-realization is achieved when one receives spiritual knowledge. The Supreme Father possesses this discus, which he gives to us, along with other weapons (‘shastras’). We, the chosen ones, the true followers of God, make our path easier for us through His powerful guidance. We leave suffering behind and make the journey to the other side – to a promised elevated world.  

Our former captors (those who had imprisoned us), our weaknesses, try to follow us in the elevated future but are destroyed completely with God’s help.

Controlling Your Emotions

Controlling Your Emotions

There are five essential steps to emotional control and mastery. Although the complete process will finally happen in a few seconds in real life, it is essential for our learning to break it down and see what is required at every step.

Step One – Awareness

This simply means being aware of the emergence of the subtlest (finest) of emotions, which, if left unchecked, will grow into important disturbances. For example irritation leads to frustration leads to anger leads to rage.

Step Two – Acknowledge 

Which means taking responsibility for the emotion by understanding and acknowledging that I am the creator of the emotion, not someone or something else.

Step three – Acceptance

Fully accept the presence of the emotion without resisting (opposing) it in any way. If it is resisted it simply becomes stronger, or is suppressed for another day.

Step Four – Ascend

This is the moment of full detachment from both the emotion and the inner source of emotion. In the process of detached observation the emotion is losing its power. And it is only through detached observation that the emotion will begin to dissolve.

Step Five – Attune

This means returning our attention to the very centre of ourselves where our inner peace and power are to be found. This is the purpose of meditation.

Understanding The Identity Of The Supreme (God)

Understanding The Identity Of The Supreme (God)
It’s not too difficult to understand that out of all the billions of souls, there is One who could be designated as the Supreme (God), because of His perfect love, total truth and absolute beauty. It is reasonable to accept that such an unlimited being is never born from a mother’s womb nor undergoes the experience of death. He never passes through the stages of growing up nor gets involved in specific relationships with individuals. Just as every human soul has a mind, intellect and a specific set of ‘sanskars’ that determine each one’s individuality, the Supreme would also be made up of these three energies – each functioning at their most perfect levels. Because He remains beyond the play of things in the physical world, the power and sharpness of these basic capabilities never decrease. His original qualities are neither lost nor reduced. Before coming here from the soul world, we also had qualities similar to those of the Supreme but not to the same unlimited extent.
If we identify ourselves totally with the physical body, the idea that God created human beings in His image may have led us to believe that the human form is God’s image. Perhaps that is how we created the figure of an old white-bearded man (as God) sitting up in the heavens, controlling, rewarding and punishing humans as well as nature as He found fit. Whenever God is depicted in modern-day cartoons, it is as such. The contradiction is that such a ‘God’ appears to have been created in our image, with both our best virtues and our worst defects.

UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE

UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE
I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3), and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with.
Her last project of the term was called “Smile.” The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reaction. I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say, hello anyway? so, I thought, this would be a piece of cake literally.
Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonalds, one crisp March morning. It was just our way of sharing special play time with our son. We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did.
I did not move an inch…an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved. As I turned around, I smelled a horrible “dirty body” smell and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was “smiling”. His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God’s Light as he searched for acceptance. He said, “Good day” as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally deficient and the blue eyed gentleman was his salvation.
I held my tears as I stood there with them. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted. He said, “Coffee is all Miss” because that was all they could afford (to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. They just wanted to be warm). Then I really felt it — the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes. That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me — judging my every action.
I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue eyed gentleman’s cold hand. He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, “Thank you.” I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, “I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope.”
I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, “That is why God gave you to me honey — to give me hope.” We held hands for a moment. We are not churchgoers, but we are believers. That day showed me the pure light of God’s sweet love.
I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand. I turned in “my project” and the instructor read it, then she looked up at me and said, “Can I share this?” I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class. She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings (part of God) share this need to heal. In my own way I had touched the people at McDonalds, my husband, son, instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student.

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn — unconditional acceptance. After all, we are here to learn! Much love sent to each and every person who may read this…♥ and Light to all…GOD BLESS YOU…(“,)

Seven Secrets of Highly Productive People

Some people are incredibly effective and efficient. They get lots of work done – and it’s all high-quality. They seem to have boundless energy and enthusiasm. Maybe you’ve got a friend who’s like that – or perhaps it’s your colleague, or your spouse. You might think that they were born that way: they had the “productivity gene.”

The truth is this: you can massively increase your own productivity by understanding and using the secrets that highly productive people know.
Perhaps you’ll find that some of these are familiar tips: if so, are you actually following them?

1. Understanding “Peak” Times of Day
   Productive people have a good sense of their daily rhythm, and they allow for this when planning their day. They recognize that not all hours are created equal.
   
   Do you know when your “peak” hours are? You probably have a good gut sense. Maybe you work really well in the mornings but struggle to focus in the afternoons. Perhaps you have a boost of energy at 3pm every day.
   
   Use it: Once you know your best hours, use those for your hardest tasks – anything requiring lots of concentration or creativity. If you’re highly focused between 10am and 12noon, don’t use that time for reading emails.
2. Focusing on One Task at a Time
   Productive people understand that multitasking is a myth. They don’t try to juggle five things at the same time. They focus on one task.
   
   How about you? Perhaps you’ve fallen into the trap of trying to work while you’ve got Facebook and Twitter open. You check your inbox every few minutes. Or, at home, you try to study while you’re watching television. By trying to multitask, you’re losing focus every single time you switch between things.
   
   Use it: Pick one task to work on – finishing that report, clearing your inbox, filing your papers – and see it through to completion. Then pick the next task.
3. Eating Healthy Food (Especially at Lunch)
   Productive people know that they need to carefully manage their physical energy throughout the day. That means fueling their bodies with good, nutritious food.
   
   What does your usual lunch look like? If you scoff down fast food, plus a large coke, at your desk, you’ll get a quick energy boost from all the simple carbs – followed by a crash soon after. If you go out to a restaurant and eat a three-course meal, you’ll struggle to stay awake later in the day.
   
   Use it: Aim for a moderate-sized lunch, and focus on foods that give you sustained energy (like whole grains and protein). Try fruit, nuts or seeds as mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks.
4. Allowing Others to Help
   Productive people don’t try to do everything alone. They delegate at work. They get their family to pitch in at home – or they hire a maid or gardener. They’re good at managing people, not just their own workload.
   
   Do you ever ask for help? Perhaps you’re afraid that you’ll look weak – but the truth is, none of us achieve anything alone. We’ve always got support (whether emotional or practical) along the way.
   
   Use it: What time-consuming tasks could you delegate at work? Could you pay someone to clean the house (or take care of the garden, etc) instead of struggling to do it yourself?
5. Saying “No” to Unwanted Commitments
   Productive people might seem to do everything, but they also say “no” to commitments that would conflict with what they’re already doing. They’re not afraid to set priorities and stick with them.
   
   Do you find it hard to say “no”? Maybe you’re afraid of offending someone, or you feel bad turning down their request. But if you take on every commitment that comes your way, you’ll soon find that you’re not able to complete anything on time and to a high standard.
   
   Use it: Be choosy about what new things you take on. If you don’t have much choice (e.g. it’s your boss asking) then explain that you’ve got a full workload, and that you’ll need to give up something else.
6. Exercising Regularly
   Productive people make time to exercise. That might be one of the things that surprises you – How can Sam have enough energy to do a full day’s work and then hit the gym? I feel exhausted just watching him.
   
   How often have you said “I don’t have time to exercise”? Perhaps you feel too tired at the end of the day – so you slump on the sofa in front of the TV instead. You think that if you exercise, you’ll be exhausted the next day. But, as productive people know, exercising doesn’t tire you out – it gives you more energy.
   
   Use it: Start small. Get out in your lunch hour for a brisk 15-minute walk – and see what a difference it makes to your energy levels during the afternoon.
7. Investing Time to Save Time
   Productive people know that the smart choice is to spend a little bit of time right now in order to save lots of time in the future.
   
   Have you ever struggled on with an inefficient method, because you “didn’t have time” to change it? Perhaps you can complete a particular task in 30 minutes, and it would take two hours to put in place a more efficient method. If that 30 minute task crops up every week, though, and a two-hour fix would cut it to 5 minutes each time, it’s a fix well worth implementing!
   
   Use it: Any time you’re engaged in a repetitive, lengthy computer task, figure out whether there’s a more efficient method (like using macros).