He talks about how we're capable of creating health, wealth in finances, growth through spirituality, happiness, love in relationships and success in our life. He talks about not settling for mediocracy and maximizing our full potential.
"Every single one of us already has everything we need to be the happiest we could ever be; it's simply up to us to remember that in every moment."
"Never forget that who you are becoming is the single most important determining factor in your quality of life, now and for your future."
"Your level of success will rarely exceed your level of personal development because success is something you attract by the person you become."
The author talks about how he overcame a deadly car crash, depression and financial debt. Not just with positive thinking, but with a focused mindset towards achieving his goals. Not just changing his life circumstances, but who he is as a person. And this book covers 6 disciplines that he practiced every morning to help his self-development.
So the 6 activities he does every morning is Meditation, Affirmations, Journaling, Visualization, Reading and Exercise.
An easier acronym to remember he uses is SAVERS
S ilence
A ffirmations
V isualization
E xercise
R eading
S cribing
I suggest everyone try incorporating these proven disciplines into their morning to start their day off right. It really can do wonders! Once you get the skeleton template down, you can personalize it however you want!
I'll briefly go over them, although they're pretty self-explanatory. But I'll go in-depth in some more than others.
Here's two pages that stuck out to me.
1 - Silence can include prayer, breathing techniques, or guided meditation. I personally like to start by singing a worship song, "Jesus Lover of My Soul" (Title of my blog!) this helps me start the day with God and focus my attention on worshipping Him. It's a purposeful way to connect, to be open, ready, present and available to receive and be with God. I usually sing it in my head, but sometimes it's nice to do it out loud or in the shower haha
I find that a morning hot shower wakes up the body, so it's a good time to practice meditating in calm and peaceful silence. You could try it in bed, but you might just doze back to sleep! Sometimes I'll repeat a word, like "relax, relax, relax" a few times and take a few deep breaths. Give yourself permission to empty your thoughts and any stress. Wait upon God. Abide in Him. Be grateful for a brand new day. And if you're in covid lockdown, celebrate the freedom to not hafta rush off to work and fight traffic lol
Oh and I highly recommend guided meditations that help teach you how to stretch individual parts of your body and how to practice simple breathing techniques. Simple yet deeply profound. Can find some good ones on Youtube.
2 - Affirmations. This is probably the biggest area that I've found the most helpful. Speaking positive affirmations to myself has been a game-changer for me. Words are powerful. Train your mind. Control your thoughts. Create the life you want.
It's easy to transition from silence into affirmations. These are all stuff I'm sure you've heard about before.. but how many of us are really intentional about putting them into daily practice?
This is all about creating a healthy self-talk and internal dialogue to ourselves. Speak the words of encouragement that you need to hear. Grow in deeper self-love and self-confidence. Fill yourself with love, joy, peace and gratitude.
I control my destiny! I will reach my goals! I'm gonna do my best today! I am confident! I am strong! I am whole. Today is gonna be great! I'm gonna enjoy today!
You control your thoughts and emotions, and not the other way around.
An optimist is someone who believes the future is uncertain. Today can be the best day of your life should you choose so. And tmrw you can decide it will be even better.
You can create your own happiness. You already have everything within you to be happy. So choose to be happy. Choose to be strong. Whatever qualities you want to grow in, you can find them all by asking God. God likes to give, provide and bless. He actually loves it when we ask for more of Him.
I was giving a client a pep talk. I go into this life-coach pastor mode. And I realized, wow.. everything I'm telling this guy, I also really needed to hear myself. I already possess all the tools and knowledge I need in order to feel the way I want to. Life is about taking one step at a time in the right direction.
Yes disappointment is inevitable, but discouragement is a choice. Learn from your mistakes and failures. Let them propel you to become even greater.
You can overcome any hurdles in your way. Believe and you can. Don't give depression or anxiety a foothold. Kill those negative thoughts quickly! God who sustains our universe and spoke life into existence is Big enough to handle our problems.
One day I was thinking about how I didn't like my life. I was driving down a road with AC listening to the raido, while eating a cheeseburger.. and I saw two homeless people on the street wearing the most ragged clothes. You think they'd trade places? Yeah.. your life isn't has tough as you thought right?
Do not let your emotions get the best of you. You control your thought life, and that decides our emotions, will and behavior. So practice thinking more positively if you don't already. No matter what difficulties you'll face in life (and you will), we must always remember that God is right there with us. And that makes all the difference.
You are fully capable to have the life you want if you're willing to work at it. It really does start with changing our perspective and speaking affirmations into ourselves. We become what we believe. Who do you want to be? What's it gonna take?
Choose the life you want to live. Worry, doubt and fear have no place in our life. We get in our own way. Rather, replace it with faith. Faith is belief manifested.
I really look up to certain athletes, bodybuilders, actors, n leaders, who by example invested their life into their craft. If you want great finances, a loving family, future home, whatever you name it.. you have the power to create it if you really go after it with everything. To me improving my inner life is more rewarding then just physical stuff. Yes we all need money, but perhaps even more valuable is caring for our souls and developing a stronger walk with our God. Perhaps the most important things are the things unseen, and the love and connection we have with people. whoa got a bit off-topic there. Or maybe.. it's actually the big picture.
As wonky as "The Secret, or Law of attraction" can sound, there are applications and nuggets of truth to it. I argue that more than self-development we need to rely on God's work within us.
It's called sanctification. It's aligning and growing closer to be like Christ. It's not focusing on just meeting our own needs, wants and desires, but it's putting God's will above our own. To pray for who He wants us to be. And that's the true secret and way we find meaning, purpose and fulfillment.
The answer is hidden in God's love for us, God is always with us, in us, and for us.
I haven't really shared these personal affirmations I made up. I've been using them daily for months. But it goes like this.
I repeat to myself.. "Wholeness, Fullness, Abundance..." a couple times. And for some reason, that really does the trick for me. Give it try.
Even more transforming.. I wrote a letter to myself. What kinda person does that right?! It's probably one of the most powerful things I've done to speak to myself. We forget to direct care towards ourselves. Speak the words that you need to hear. I encourage everyone to give it a try and write a letter to their future self and see what it can do.
I used to teach my little preschoolers this every morning by saying, "I am smart, I am strong, I am a leader, I can do hard things, I love my friends, Today is gonna be a good day!" And as I reflect on that, those things are true for us as well! You can be all that you want to be. I also use to teach my little kids.."Bee your Best Self!"
Today tell yourself that you are committed to accomplishing your goals. I might say, I am committed to working out every day. I will finish reading a book a month. I am committed to making 10k in the next 2 months.
There is a psychology term that has deeply impacted me. It's called internal locus of control. It's a little similar to self-efficacy. Not only the belief that we can change, but that we possess the ability to change, grow, and improve ourselves for the better.
It's a belief and self-confidence that we are capable to overcome adversity. It's a belief that you can be successful, happy, healthy, and feel the way you want if you so choose so. It's believing that you can achieve your goals and become who you want to be. Expect yourself to do great things and keep doing it until it becomes a reality.
I had a really silly dream that relates to this idea.. I was in my high school math class. And I noticed that my teacher (that we called Pell), had given only me a harder exam. He placed me in a higher math class. I looked down at the exam and it said, Math 103. And I was like.. "Wait Pell! why am I in Math 103? Everyone else is in Math 102!
He said, "Oh you can handle it." I tried to answer a problem or two.. I ended up giving up and turning the exam over not even having attempted half the exam. I told him, "I don't think I can do this. It's too hard!" He looked at me and handed the exam back to me and said, "Give it a try, I believe and know you can do it."
And it was with that encouragement, that I flipped the exam over and began putting my focus to finish the exam, which I was able to do well. So I guess the moral of the dream was to not be afraid of challenges. Difficulties will be presented to us and half the battle is just believing that we are capable and have the ability to achieve anything if we put our mind to it.
3 - Visualization. The author talks about feeling what it would be like to have achieved your goals. It makes you ponder your goals and Why they're your goals. What would it feel like to have the success that you want? This aligns our thoughts and emotions into pursuing it in action and moving closer to making it a reality.
He talks about how some people use a vision board. Or how Tiger Woods would envision the ball going into the hole before he hits it, to create the reality of it. Visualize yourself doing the activities you need to do for today with ease. Visualize how great you'll feel after you've exercised and did a bunch work or chores. Feels good right?
A quick note to add is.. also keep in mind what are things preventing you from achieving your goals? Part of creating good habits is letting go of the bad habits.
For me, this is kind of where I begin to think of my other acronym for my personal goals. It's silly but it's "GREETSSS." Just the way I remember it.
G od first
R ead more
E at right
E xercise
T hink positive
S tay active
S ave money
S pend time with friends
If I can knock all these goals in one day, that's considered a Good Day for me.
By the way these are my personal goals, you can copy them if you want, but it's probably more meaningful if you come up with your own!
And hopefully by the time you've reflected on all your goals you feel more energized, motivated, inspired, and empowered to start moving!
I should mention you don't have to do these in any specific order. You can customize it to however long you want to do each activity. You can stay in each category for as long or as short as you feel you want to.
4- Exercise. By now you should already know the health benefits of eating right and getting at least 20-30 minutes of exercise in a day. My mom started jogging. This is news for me, and I've been shocked. She's pursuing her goal of 5000 steps a day! Make your workouts fun! make it a routine! Usually starting is the hardest part, but once you're in it, it's super refreshing and rewarding! Our bodies are meant and designed to move and stay active! Exercise can also somehow give you even more energy too!
Keep it simple.. and stay consistent.
5 - Reading. Now I grew up not liking to read books. I was forced to read and it was always a chore or some homework assignment. I didn't like to read because I could rarely find the books I was interested in. I find self-development, psychology or Christian theology books to be my preferences.
If you got nothing to read, start by reading this book! The next two books I'm reading is about self-discipline, and one is about cognitive reframing / changing how we think. I read a theology book, and boy it was kinda dry.
oh I have a joke. I was like.. "oh I got a book on self-discipline!" and was asked, "is it good?" I responded, "Well I haven't had the discipline to read it yet."
I also recommend a devotional to get something to chew on for the day.
There's choke kine smart peopos out der, so minus well try learn sometin from 'em right?
6 - Scribing. He says, yeah it's "writing" or "journaling" but S fit the acronym better lol. I like to keep little notebooks around so when I get an idea or passing thought I can write it down. I somehow filled up 3 journals within 6 months last year. And then sometimes I also do this thing called blogging lol. It helps bring clarity to your thoughts. It captures ideas, helps you review your lessons, and track your progress. Don't live up in your head.. write it down.
Holistic health encompasses more than these 6 areas. That's why it's important to include your own goals. Nutrition, Character traits, Healthy Relationships, Sleep schedules, and everything in between all comes down to your commitment to staying consistent.
Again, why are you goals your goals? It's really interesting to think about. Whatever your answer is, ask yourself again, why is that important to you?
Without goals I don't think we'll experience much change. Goals take strategic thought, intention and action. It requires time, dedication and consistency.
As most of you know, the more..
S pecific
M easurable
A ttainable
R ealistic
T ime-based
..your goals are, the better. Aren't acronyms great?!
One of my long term goals was pursuing my 3000 hours to get licensed in counseling. I've finished the hours, but still need to go through a challenging application process. I've been working towards this goal for so long, but the last few steps are not easy. And then after I get licensed then there are a lot more opportunities that open up.
Eventually, once I get licensed I could theoretically start a private practice in counseling, which would pretty much be my dream job. But trying to get a large enough clientele, an office space, and everything else it requires is a lot to get it off and in the air. My supervisor wants me to apply for this other job that works with counseling children, so that's also an option. And then there's also managing real estate.
So recently I've also started my little side hustle. It's been very time consuming trying to create your own brand and business. I've made a business account, a website, and have been trying to use social media to advertise. I've also put in several hours of research in studying how to grow more successful. The startup is probably the hardest part. Have the battle is just having the courage to learn and give it a try, knowing that you can be successful as you want to be.
It requires promoting, networking, purchasing investments, selling, shipping products and communicating with consumers. Apart from my reglar job wages, I made roughly 3.5k in 2 weeks! I made a high goal to save 10k within 2 months, so I guess I need to hustle even more! If you really wanna see results in anything in life, you gotta go at it with full force. Like in anything else, all the small things eventually add up.
It's fun to have found this drive to pursue a passion and also find a community around it. What motivated me to start a small side business is that the more time, energy and effort I put into it, the more results and gain I get in return. I like that I am on my own schedule, and not locked into some 9-5 desk job. You can be as successful as you want if you really invest your time into learning how to be profitable.
Quotes worth pondering..
Love the life you have while you create the life of your dreams. Don't think you have to wait for the latter to start doing the former.
Where you are is a result of who you were, but where you go depends entirely on who you choose to be.
Give up the need to be perfect for the opportunity to be authentic. Be who you are. Love who you are. Others will too.
The most extraordinary life you can imagine is available to you no matter what's happened in your past; just waiting for you to develop yourself into the person you need to be to be able to easily attract, create, and live that life.
An extraordinary life is all about daily, continuous improvements in the areas that matter most.
It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. Once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.
Be grateful for all that you have, accept all that you don't, and actively create all that you want.
Life isn't about wishing you were somewhere or someone that you're not. Life is about enjoying where you are, loving who you are, and consistently improving both.
Don't worry about trying to impress people. Just focus on how you can add value to their lives.
The moment you accept responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you tap into the power to change anything in your life.
Who you're becoming is far more important than what you're doing. And yet, it is what you're doing that is determining who you're becoming.
Every single one of us already has everything we need to be the happiest we could ever be; it's simply up to us to remember that in every moment.
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