Daily Actions:
Physical - Mental - Spiritual
Eat - Read - Listen
Sleep - Meditate - Play
Exercise - Journal - Service
What do we need to do every day? Maintaining a high level of health can be challenging without establishing fundamental habits to support one’s body mind and spirit. Most of us can find ways to cultivate ourselves here and there, but what does it take to create an ongoing practice to sustain our alignment and authenticity?
Above I have outlined 9 fundamental things which we can do on a daily basis to support our health. The actions are broken down by their primary effect on our physical, mental and spiritual well being. Nine actions might sound like a lot of work, but these things are easier to do than you think on a daily basis with a little practice. Establishing the conscious habit is likely to be the greater challenge for most of us.
Physical Actions:
Eat : I know, of course we need to to eat, but we it goes beyond simply eating. Food is the primary nourishment of our bodies. If guided by sound nutritional principles, food becomes a tremendous aid in our growth and happiness on a daily basis. It is also one of the great joys we can experience in our daily lives.
Sleep: Yep, another one. We all need sleep of course, but do we get enough quality sleep to support a state of abundant energy? Sleep is essential to our body and mind’s daily processing and repair mechanisms. Sleeping in a dark, clean, quiet and comfortable environment will support deep and restful sleep. Getting the proper amount of sleep is important, but without a deep restful quality, it will not support us in a healthy state. Work on your sleep hygiene to find the best bedtime ritual and environment to aid sleep.
Exercise: In the modern world people survive with little or no exercise. This leads to a steady degradation of our health over time. We did not evolve as sedentary beings. Our bodies are designed to move on a daily basis and without exercise we begin to develop disease. Exercise is not optional if we are to remain in a healthy state. We need to combine a daily regimen of high and low impact exercise to nourish our muscles, connective tissue and bones. Exercise is fundamental to mental health as well.
Mental Actions:
- Read: This aligns with eating as a way to nourish the mind on a daily basis. Human beings thrive on knowledge and learning. Reading helps to enrich our personal experience and bring new thoughts and ideas into our consciousness. Fiction, nonfiction, magazines, journals, all help to provide us with daily nourishment for our minds. Of course, much like food, what we
choose to read will determine its effect on our health.
2.Meditate: We need sleep to help our bodies to rest and repair. While we are awake, meditation provides the same support. A daily meditation practice brings us into the present moment and increases our awareness. Meditation has proven to be one of the most potent stress management tools available to us. The great thing is, we can do it anytime, anywhere. Take some time to sit still, breathe and listen. It’s that simple.
- Journal: This is our mental exercise. Keeping a journal helps us to process the experiences of our lives. Writing helps to engage the mind in a connected state enabling us to bring mindfulness to our daily lives. A journal can help us sort out difficult emotional experiences or aid us in making good decisions. Reflection is an essential aspect of mental and spiritual health. Just start writing! There are no rules.
Spiritual Actions:
Listen: A simple concept, but do we do this throughout our day? Or do we merely listen to our own internal voice? Listening is one of the fundamental ways in which we can connect with others. Simply waiting to speak while engaging one another in conversation is a one way street. How about our environment? The Earth creates a beautiful symphony on a daily basis if we care to stop and listen to it. Even the hum of a large city has its own beauty. Listening allows us to absorb our environment and truly connect with it.
Play: Yes, go out and play! As adults we can lose this inherent desire to simply explore and interact with our environment in a playful manner. We are inundated with thoughts of our future, work and other “serious” concepts. Returning to a childlike state helps us to remember the joy of living. Take some time to engage children or animals. Go outside and explore the outdoors. Look at the plants and animals. Engage in sports or other active pursuits which make us laugh and smile.
Service: Be of service on a daily basis. A kind gesture, a compliment or a favor for a friend. This is the exercise of the soul. Share yourself with the world around you. Being of service helps us to connect with the “We” instead of retreating to a state of “I”. Cooperation is one of humanity’s most desirable traits. Taking time to be of service exercises our spirit and helps us to cultivate our spiritual nature.
You don't need to go crazy and try and do every single one each day. Start where you think you need the most help.
Are you physically struggling? Then focus on the physical actions. Having a hard time emotionally? Dig into the mental. Does life feel a bit hollow or uninspired? Make some time for some spiritual development.
Make it fun, gamify it! See how many you can complete each day and then try and improve week over week.
9 actions over 7 days is 63. See how high you can score and then beat it next week.
No matter how you go about it, there is no failure. If you start by adding any of these things in, you have improved your health in some way.
I'd love to hear about other people's habits and routines. We can always learn more from each other.