Start Your Day Right!

Start your day off right!  Do these three things the first thing in the morning and we guarantee your day and your life will be better!  BREATHE, LAUGH, SWEAT!

Do these 3 things when you very first wake up.  This way you don’t have time to make excuses.  After a few weeks it will become habit and your life will be better!  We have organized our website to help facilitate this ritual.  You can find it under the Mightylionhearts.com Inspiration tab (http://www.mightylionhearts.com/inspiration/).

#1.  Meditate (BREATHE)

Studies show, and life experiences have taught me, that when we meditate we are in a better frame of mind and are better equipped to tackle stressful situations.  With a few minutes of meditation in the morning, whatever the day throws at us becomes challenges instead of a roadblocks.  Again, we recommend doing this the first thing in the morning.  I mean it!  Roll over, grab your computer, type in “calm.com” and get in 10 minutes of guided or unguided meditation.  A few minutes of meditation goes a long way toward our peace of mind.  Every day start your day with this regimen.  Make it part of your ritual, like drinking coffee…become addicted.  Obviously, you can use other meditation websites or no website at all, the point is to calm your mind, center your body and put a positive energy throughout your being.  We like calm.com because you can pick your time as well as the meditation environment.  It has guided or unguided selections as well.  Whatever you use and whatever time you can allot, get in some solid mediation to start your day on the right foot.

#2.  Smile (LAUGH)

Put a smile on your face.  Play with your kids, read a funny article, or whatever makes you smile and laugh.  You can always go to mightylionhearts.com/inspiration and visit hooplaha.com or any of the other websites handpicked for this purpose. I recently heard about a study that found an 8 year-old laughs an average of 45 times a day whereas a 48 year old laughs on average only 5 times a day.   As you get older, you tend not to laugh as much but it doesn't have to be that way!  Tap into your 8 year old self and look at life with the propensity to have fun and laugh when you can :)  Good things are all around us, you just have to look.  Having spent some very dark days in the hospital with our son on his supposed death bed as well as deployed with the military, I know even the darkest places have happiness.  Find that happiness, put the smile on your face and do it the moment you wake up right after meditation.  I don't care what you face during your day, a few minutes of meditation plus a smile equals a better day.

#3.  Exercise (SWEAT)

Get a workout in.  Do not allow yourself an excuse!  I don't care if you had a hard day yesterday, if it's Christmas, your birthday or some other seemingly legitimate reason not to work out.  Do something, anything, just get a workout in!  I don’t expect you to lift like Hanz and Franz or run like Usain Bolt, just get a sweat going.  20 minutes, that's all you need!  30 minutes, even better but whatever you can do, just do something.  I like to mix it up with cardio, core and weights changing from day to day.  Whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability and pat yourself on the back when you’re done.  Again, we recommend getting a sweat and a prolonged sweat at that (at least 20 minutes if at all possible – good for your heart) and remember to cool down.  For you motor heads out there, think of your body like an engine, you need to warm it up AND cool it down for it to work well and last long.  I cool down for at least 5 minutes with a very brisk walk or slow jog so I can bring my heart rate down slowly.   Heart attacks have occurred when  people exercise but do not cool down.  This makes sense to me as your heart rate can drop pretty quickly which is hard on your heart (for more information read this article from the American Heart Association).  Working out activates chemicals in your body that help you throughout the day.  I don't know the exact science but I do know that after we exercise we feel better.  For me, personally, I know that if I've gotten a good sweat in then I am able to handle stress better.  For example, when I have to do any type of public speaking (tested several times), I make sure I get a 20 minute run in.  If I don't get a cardio workout, the nerves get to me and I am more likely to sound like a bumbling idiot.  However, if I get my 20 minute run in, then I'm relaxed, the nerves are gone, I can be myself, think on my feet, and speak with the confidence of Ron Burgundy during the public speaking engagement. 

These habits are most effective together.  Apart they are okay, but together they are extraordinary!

This ritual of 3 will make your day and your life better!  So remember – BREATHE, LAUGH and SWEAT your way to a better you! 

Roar,

The Mighty Lionhearts