Yesterday I left work early as I felt tired and tearful. I went to bed at 9 pm, determined to wake up feeling better and raring to go. Inspired by my ex-flatmate Lottie, I’ve been challenging myself to do Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning (more about that in a later post) over the last couple of days. I set my alarm for 6.30 am, determined to have a successful day three.
I have been through the mill the last couple of weeks. My Grandma was found unconscious four weeks ago and was in and out of consciousness in Ipswich Hospital until she passed away on Monday. I’m usually strict about having at least one day off every week. Although I did have Sunday off last week, I was Action Chief for a fairly major Buddhist event. The event was great fun, but it didn’t give me much time to relax.
6.30 am arrived and I woke up feeling awful. I felt depressed and ill. I was tired, I had a headache and a stomach ache, in fact I ached all over. I spent the next couple of hours drifting in and out of sleep and feeling anxious.
Eventually I was rudely awakened just after 8 am by the sound of my boyfriend, Andy, playing a loud and annoying video – presumably on Facebook. I resisted to urge to kick him. I already did that last night when he woke me up watching the football. Instead I got up, made myself a black coffee, sat on the sofa with my cat Charlie and contemplated the day ahead.
I usually start the day with a chanting meditation. Today though I did not feel like chanting and I did not feel like doing my Miracle Morning exercises. The thought of presenting my radio show at midday felt overwhelming but as Andy pointed out it would make me feel better.
What could I do to have an easier day today? I chanted for just five minutes instead the usual hour and I gave myself a day off from my Miracle Morning exercises. The thought of presenting today’s Happiness Tip about Abundance on my radio show overwhelmed me, so I thought I would talk about Trying Easier instead. I came to my favourite local coffee shop Applaud to write this blog post and prepare for my show. I treated myself to a delicious Cheese and Sundried Tomato scone – highly recommended by the way – and sat by the window looking at the beautiful garden bathed in winter sunshine.
I want to share today’s learnings with you:
1. Try Easier
My yoga teacher Sue Staziker introduced me to “trying easier”. I was attending one of her chakra workshops and I talked about trying harder. “Have you thought about trying easier?” said Sue. Interesting. I think she said the concept came from The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. There are various things I do to make my life easier. For example, when I cook, I cook in bulk and put the left-overs in the freezer, so I have something ready to heat up when I’m having a busy day. I like reading, especially self-development books. As I don’t always have time to read, I listen to audiobooks or YouTube in the car or while I’m doing household chores.
2. Turn problems into opportunities
I felt wretched this morning. I used this experience as an opportunity to write a blog post, hopefully helping both myself and others in the process.
3. If at first you don’t succeed try, try again
The old me would have felt depressed about “failing” at my Miracle Morning challenge on day three. My internal dialogue would have been something along the lines of:
“I don’t know why I bother. What on earth made me think I could succeed at Miracle Morning? I fail at everything. I’ve got no will power.”
The new me says:
“Today was a blip. Tomorrow is a new day. I can re-determine tomorrow.”
What can you do to try easier?
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This post was originally published on Happiness Club.