I played "7 minutes in heaven" when I was younger. I thought I was so cool being able to brag about that. Fast forward to now being 30, my "7 minutes in heaven" has been modified to an entirely new upgraded version that triggers my mind, body, and soul.
I spent nearly two decades not knowing how to take good care of myself. I never understood why people took self-care seriously. I naively thought it was solely for people who wanted to become models or athletes. ( I did highlight the naive part, after all.)
After taking more worldly trips outside of America to live in Costa Rica, Manila, and Canada, I realized that's critical to fully be fully aware of your personal development. In a world where we have never-ending priorities, deadlines, and commitments, it's easy to just go about our day robotically. Unfortunately, since we're always pressing the gas pedal and don't often stop or yield towards our own personal development; it's easy to get stressed or burned out by life.
If you're like every other person in America, you are juggling a multitude of things simultaneously: work, family, community, social life, school, etc. All of that can be daunting, but it can all easily be managed in a healthy way by putting yourself first. You have to both take care of your body and your inner self.
YOU ARE A PRIORITY.
Many people don't share in that theory - but, here's the real deal: you need to be able to properly take care of yourself FIRST before you can take care of anyone else. Self-care isn't just limited to beauty and your physical shape. It goes deeper in terms of enhancing your mind, body, and soul collectively. Without all 3 being in the best shape of its life, it is easy to feel weakened by everything that's happening around you. By taking out seven minutes in your daily routine in the morning for self-care, you'll be able to jumpstart your day while improving in seven sections of your life that needs nurturing - only a minute each area.
How do I play 7 Minutes in Heaven nowadays? Easy. I ENHANCE.
E is for Exercise. You have to get your body loose and heart racing. Just even with 60 seconds, it's long enough to enhance the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain. You can simply do 1 minute of jumping jacks, stretches, or push-ups. Basically, by raising your heart rate, you generate more energy and increase your productivity for the day.
N for Navigate. It's important to mind map your day. Spend 1 minute looking at your daily calendar and your to-do list. Have both of them right in front of you. Extract things off of your "to-do" list and place it on your calendar so that you have designated a time and "next action step" for executing things in your day.
H is for Healthy eating. I love pizza. And fries. That's no secret. But the secret to keeping energized is a healthy meal. Ditch the fried food in exchange for lean protein and greens. Don't like greens? Try it in a green juice smoothie filled with kale, spinach, apples, kiwi, pineapple and other natural sweeteners. That's really giving your body a treat that it deserves. It's fast, easy, and convenient. Best of all --- healthy.
A for Affirmations. Spending time to remind yourself how awesome and worthy you are to have everything you ever wanted is vital. Realizing just how capable you are to achieve anything is such a motivator. By taking a minute to review your past accomplishments and revisiting your vision board re-energizes you towards your goal. It helps you focus on doing what's necessary today to take your life to the next level.
N is for Nourishment. Snag a copy of that self-help book you want to check out and read 2-3 pages a day. Highlight the things that resonate best with you. This will help boost creativity by learning a new idea or method that may potentially improve results in your relationships or business.
C is to Create. Think of things that inspired you today or the day before. Jot it down in your journal or an app that can store your creativity. When you feel inspired by something or someone, take a minute to capture that inspiration and keep it someplace safe. By revisiting this inspiration down the road for future purposes, you'll feel nostalgic and remember the reason why you held onto it. This will trigger more inspiration for you to create and develop. Pinterest is a great example.
E is to Exhale. Instead of hitting the snooze button, and then rushing through your day feeling stressed and rushed - invest the first minute of your day in sitting in purposeful silence. Don't turn on your phone and rush to read through texts or emails that you "missed" while you were sleeping. Sit up peacefully, relaxed, then calmly begin to breathe deeply. Perhaps you pray or meditate. Center yourself for that one full minute and create an optimal state of mind that will lead you efficaciously through the rest of your day.Maybe you say a prayer of gratitude and appreciate the moment. Allow your body to relax, exhaling all of the negative thoughts swirling in your mind, and inhaling the good energy that's waiting to be invited.
I promise you that shifting your mindset to invest seven minutes of your every day to enhancing your life will be the best gift you can give yourself in 2016.