15 tips for starting your day with a smile:
- Keep brightly colored items in your home environment, like flowers and clothing
Studies show that bright colors provide a quick energy boost. They can be helpful when you want to lift your mood. Blue is calming, red and violet are good for stimulation, yellow and orange are cheering, etc.
It’s amazing how much a brightly-colored dress or shirt can provide a little boost of happiness as you put it on and look in the mirror. http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20411073,00.html
- Practice visualization – imagine how great the next day will be the night before. Picture good things happening with as much detail as possible, down to:
- what you will have for breakfast
- who you will go to lunch with and where
- how an afternoon meeting will be extremely productive
- all of your interactions being positive.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/flourish/200912/seeing-is-believing-the-power-visualization
- For the future, break down what your ideal day looks like, hour by hour. This will take some thought as to what some of your favorite things are.
Do you wake up to a great breakfast, or prefer to grab your coffee and go?
Make a daily and future schedule for yourself that incorporates all of your daily tasks, but also allows for some goals that you would like to add in the future.
Do you see yourself eventually getting prepared meals from a chef, or going to a special new restaurant once a week? Weekly reflexology or hot stone massages? A weekly call with your best friend to decompress and vent, or just catch up with each other and add a bit of inspiration and fun to the day?
Add these to the schedule, along with what time in the day you would like them to happen. Set up a process to make changes to this schedule regularly, as over time your ideal day will change along with habits, food preferences, stress level, etc.
As you add ‘nice-to-haves’ to the list, you’ll notice little nagging thoughts like ‘that will never happen’ or ‘don’t I wish I could afford to do that!’.
Notice these thoughts, and if possible, overrule them and tell yourself that if you want something bad enough, it will come to you in the right time.
And then, repeat the review of the calendar, and let the magic take over.
- Drink a ton of water. Even more than you already do.
We know that water helps us to maintain a good balance of fluids and keep our body temperature stable.
But did you also know that it helps with muscle fatigue and digestion? The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 17 ounces 2 hours before exercising.
Drinking a glass of water provides an instant pick-me-up. I think we’re all a little more dehydrated than we realize.
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/what-to-drink-when-you-exercise
- Get sunshine as soon as possible after opening your eyes for the day
Here are some ideas for ways to do this:
- open the sunroof in your car and/or windows when you are driving
- open the shades in your bedroom window so that you see sunlight as soon as the sun comes up
- walk outside for a minute before (or after) you get ready for the day
Sunlight resets your internal clock to be active due to daylight. Not to mention the obvious benefits of vitamin d and extra serotonin production. http://www.healthline.com/health/depression/benefits-sunlight
- Start a gratitude practice every night. It can be something simple like 3 positive memories or accomplishments from your day.
Try doing this at set times, like first thing in the morning (what you’re grateful for) and last thing at night (3 positive events that day).
As Tony Robbins says, ‘When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.’ Work on incorporating a gratitude practice into your day. It will really help your mindset.
- Make a list of things (these can be physical things or activities) that make YOU happy and try to incorporate at least a few of these things into your week. Keeping track of these activities and things is also a great aid to self-discovery and creating a list of your passions.
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