I created Living ROI as a passion, to share my experiences and support others who want to live more authentic, joyful and fulfilling lives.
Dear Friends,
Two weeks ago I wrote the newsletter Keeping Our Wits About Us in a Complicated World. At the end I asked, “If you have habits and tools that help you stay your best in the face of life’s challenges, I’d love to hear them, and will share them in a future newsletter.”
This is that newsletter!
Kathy:
“My best habit is to turn my attention to what I am feeling – emotionally and in my body – and stay there if I can! I also like to embrace life’s messiness. Who needs perfection!”
Jonathan:
“Here are a few of my favorite habits to stay centered:
- Suspend my Facebook and Twitter accounts.
- Say my wedding vows every single day. (To Cherish, Honor, Protect, and Love her. Forsaking all others, to choose her.)
- Pray every day for my 3 best friends and their families.
- Write down one gratitude per day and place it in my gratitude jar. It has become the best part of my day!
- Walk outside for 5 minutes per day with my newborn son.”
Terri:
“What has sustained me has been my steadfast commitment to a few simple spiritual practices. I’ve added and subtracted to them over the years, but the basics have remained. I start my day lighting a candle, thanking God (my preferred term) for allowing me to live this day, reading a variety of daily uplifting messages that remind me of what is truly important in life, and meditating 10 minutes (and now 15) using a meditation app I love (Insight Timer).
Since I’m self-employed (and a recovering workaholic) I have flexibility in my schedule, and I hike daily with my dog in the local east bay hills. Two years ago, I had another spiritual breakthrough and put down my earbuds while hiking. Now I use that hour plus to be mindful of the world around and within me and to give myself internal space for creative, inspirational thought.
I start the hike with a chant (my dog doesn’t seem to mind) and then begin talking out loud to God (again, my term, but you can use any word/idea you want). I express my gratitude for having the flexibility in my schedule and full health that allow me to hike. I follow this by acknowledging the full functioning of all my senses and in doing so, I become present to what I’m seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.
Then I express gratitude for the support and love of friends and family near and far and I name some of them. I follow this with a request for what I need this day or what I hope to accomplish (often, I ask for clarity about some issue and I begin to formulate the top two or three things I want to accomplish that day and ask for help/blessing on that).
I finish with a “meta” or affirmation of the people in my life, named one by one, with whom I’m either having difficulty with (I start with them) and ending with myself. The meta goes something like: “May _____ have peace, may ____ have ease, may ____ have joy, may _____have health, may _____ have love. Since I have an easy dog to walk, I say this often with my eyes closed and hands over my heart. (I don’t care what people think!) I finish this with a saying in Hebrew which means, “May this be your will.” (More for a sense of closure and maybe a little superstition than anything else!)
So, you can see why I need to walk an hour or so! This practice started much smaller, following Anne Lamotte’s book title: Thanks Wow Help…. which is also a great, simple way to start. I’ve found, as perhaps you have too, that it’s important to start small and let it become habitual. Once it’s a habit, skipping it feels as weird as not brushing your teeth. You don’t question it, you just do it because the day just wouldn’t feel right without it.”
Lisa:
“I recommend a GREAT book by Russell W Gough, Character Is Destiny — The Value of Personal Ethics in Everyday Life. “Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny. — Anonymous” is a quote from the book. It’s a quick read.”
Joyce:
“This is what I read to remind myself whenever I need to—which is often!
AN IRISH BLESSING!
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who won’t survive the week.
If you have never experienced the danger of war, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 20 million people around the world.
If you are able to attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than almost three billion people in the world.
If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you are able to read, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read anything at all.
You are even more blessed than you realize!”
And finally, one person sent me a note and let me know he was concerned that I was relying on an app to remind me to stay positive, and he made some good points.
Roy:
“My fear is that so many of us are outsourcing even the simplest and most instinctive functions to a device — to the point that we’re losing touch with the real world and the qualities that make us maddeningly human. I would urge you to 86 the app, put the phone down and just trust yourself.”
I told Roy I would consider what he had to say, and I did. I have been concerned about bringing my phone to bed and doing some of my daily rituals on it, as well as other things such as reading the news, playing games and checking email. As of five days ago, I’ve decided to leave my phone downstairs at night, far from my bedroom, and it has been great! I still use an app to track my habits, and even to record my daily gratitude, but I wrap it up before I go to bed. In bed, I’ve resumed my previous habit of reading physical books that take me into another world, which is blissful.
One thing these practices all have in common is intention. Without intention, it’s easy to get carried through our days, driven by the demands of life and of others. I have been there—busy and active but sensing that something was missing. I find it helpful to get fresh inspiration and perspectives from others and loved getting these.
Are you inspired to share your own habits and routines? Please do!
With gratitude and appreciation!
Barbara Fagan-Smith
CEO, ROI Communication
Chief Catalyst, Living ROI
