7 Step Guide to an Effective Morning Routine

by CG.com GuestBlogger, Todd Goldfarb

Since I have been living in New York City for 12 years, I am intimately familiar with the “daily grind” and the adjoining morning rituals many working people have.

It is important to realize that what you do in the morning sets the tone for the rest of your day, and habituating an effective morning custom can increase productivity in many areas of you life. By following the seven suggestions in this article, you will start to feel more alert, healthier and stronger!

Suggestion 1

Water. Drink a full glass of water as soon as you wake up. This is critical for the health of your body as you have just spent the last 7-10 hours with no food or drink. You are dehydrated and your entire system desires water to arouse the joints and muscles, and stimulate activity of your organs (especially in the digestive tract). As you drink this glass of water, feel the liquid going into your stomach and get a sense of the body waking up and responding to its lubricating effects. Water is calming for the mind as well and by making a habit of drinking water upon waking you are establishing a healthy pillar of activity first thing in the morning!

Suggestion 2

Stretch. Now that your body is nice and lubricated, and you feel more awake with water inside you, it is imperative to stretch your body. Your have just spent the last several hours in a period of physical inactivity, and you will soon be embarking on a full day of movement so it is crucial to check in with your body and give it a good stretch from the head all the way down to the toes. This is a wonderful way to begin preparing yourself for a successful day, and I recommend spending at least 10 minutes doing a varied routine of full stretches. If you are into Yoga, performing the sun salutations is a great practice and can certainly get you going.

Suggestion 3

Meditate. Meditation is an extraordinary practice that has innumerable health benefits and dates back thousands of years. Through meditation you commit yourself to the practice of listening within, and by sticking to it you will develop increased awareness, stronger intentions and enhanced patience. After a productive morning stretch, take 15-20 minutes and let everything go and just be. Sit (or lie) quietly in a comfortable area where you know you will not be disturbed. I highly recommend reading a book, listening to an instructional CD or even attending a class on meditation as you get more into it. If you do not meditate, or think that you don’t have the ability, you should and you do! It is an incredibly powerful practice to add to your morning routine.
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Zen Mind: How to Declutter

by Leo Babauta - ZenHabits.net

One of the things that gives me most peace is have a clean, simple home. When I wake up in the morning and walk out into a living room that has been decluttered, that has a minimalist look, and there isn’t junk lying around, there is a calm and joy that enters my heart.

When, on the other hand, I walk out into a living room cluttered with toys and books and extra things all over the place, it is chaos and my mind is frenetic.

I’ve been a simplifier and a declutterer for years now (probably 8-9 years) and I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but I’ve found that you have to keep coming back to revisit your clutter every once in awhile.

Here are my top decluttering tips:

• Do it in small chunks. Set aside just 15 minutes to declutter just one shelf, and when that shelf or that 15 minutes is up, celebrate your victory. Then tackle another shelf for 15 minutes the next day. Conquering an entire closet or room can be overwhelming, and you might put it off forever. If that’s the case, just do it in baby steps.
• Set aside a couple hours to do it. This may seem contradictory to the above tip … and it is. It’s simply a different strategy, and I say do whatever works for you. Sometimes, for me, it’s good to set aside part of a morning, or an entire Saturday morning, to declutter a closet or room. I do it all at once, and when I’m done, it feels awesome.
• Take everything out of a shelf or drawer at once. Whichever of the two above strategies you choose, you should focus on one drawer or shelf at a time, and empty it completely. Then clean that shelf or drawer. Then, take the pile and sort it (see next tip), and put back just what you want to keep. Then tackle the next shelf or drawer.
• Sort through your pile, one item at a time, and make quick decisions. Have a trash bag and a give-away box handy. When you pull everything out of a shelf or drawer, sort through the pile one at a time. Pick up an item, and make a decision: trash, give away, or keep. Don’t put it back in the pile. Do this with the entire pile, and soon, you’ll be done. If you keep sorting through the pile, and re-sorting, it’ll take forever. Put back only what you want to keep, and arrange it nicely.
• Be merciless. You may be a pack rat, but the truth is, you won’t ever use most of the junk you’ve accumulated. If you haven’t used it in the last year, get rid of it. It’s as simple as that. If you’ve only used it once or twice in the last year, but know you won’t use it in the next year, get rid of it. Toss it if it’s unsalvageable, and give it away if someone else might be able to use it.
• Papers? Be merciless, unless it’s important. Magazines, catalogues, junk mail, bills more than a year old, notes to yourself, notes from others, old work stuff … toss it! The only exception is with tax-related stuff, which should be kept for seven years, and other important documents like warranties, birth and death and marriage certificates, insurance, wills, and other important documents like that. But you’ll know those when you see ‘em. Otherwise, toss!!!!
• If you are on the fence with a lot of things, create a “maybe” box. If you can’t bear to toss something because you might need it later, put it in the box, then close the box, label it, and put it in storage (garage, attic, closet), out of sight. Most likely, you’ll never open that box again. If that’s the case, pull it out after six months or a year, and toss it or give it away.
• Create a system to stop clutter from accumulating. There’s a reason you have tall stacks of papers all over the place, and big piles of toys and books and clothes. It’s because you don’t have a regular system to keep things in their place, and get rid of stuff you don’t need. This is a topic for another day, but it’s something to think about as you declutter. You’ll never get to perfect, but if you think more intelligently about how your house got cluttered, perhaps you can find ways to stop it from happening again.
• Celebrate when you’re done! This is actually a general rule in life: always celebrate your accomplishments, no matter how small. Even if you just decluttered one drawer, that’s great. Treat yourself to something delicious. Open that drawer (or closet, or whatever), and admire its simplicity. Breathe deeply and know that you have done a good thing. Bask in your peacefulness.

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CG.com Podcast #016: Dr. Zhi Gang Sha - Soul Wisdom | Soul Mind Body Medicine | Power Healing

Dr. Zhi Gang Sha is an M.D. in China and a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine in Canada and China. He is an extraordinary divine healer, teacher and spiritual master. Dr. Sha is a grandmaster of many Eastern disciplines including Tai Chi, Qigong, Kung Fu, Feng Shui and I Ching. He has authored the New York Times bestseller, Soul Mind Body Medicine, plus the bestselling book Power Healing. He is also the founder of the Institute of Soul Mind Body Medicine.

Cg.com Podcast #016 - Dr Zhi Gang Sha

In this podcast, he talks about how chi works. Apparently, chi is the result of the vibrations of your protons, neutrons, and electrons rapid movement within each cell. This vibration of each cell resonate to create chi. Sometimes, we have too much energy in certain places in our body, and too much energy can cause illness in the body. He teaches us Soul Wisdom to help diffuse the additional energy to heal ourselves.

PBS has featured Dr. Sha in two documentaries: Power Healing with Master Sha and Qigong: Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century. In recognition of his achievements, Dr. Sha was named Qi Gong Master of the Year at the 5th World Congress on Qi Gong. He is dedicated to transforming the consciousness of humanity and all souls in the universe.

He talks about how we can use the Soul to heal ourselves. His book, Power Healing, is the only book that I have ever purchased additional copies of, to give to other people. This man is a Saint. I recommend becoming familiar with his work.

The Greatest Investment Ever Made Is

By Joe Farcht

What would Warren Buffett say was the greatest investment that he ever made? What would Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey say was the greatest investment they ever made? How about Mary Kay Ash?

What would the most admired person you know say was the greatest investment that they ever made? How would your answer to that question compare to theirs?

Their answers would not be the food they ate, the home they live in, the investments that they made, the friends that they made, or the luck that befell them. They know that the best and greatest investment that they made was the investment they made in themselves. What investments did they make in themselves?

Every outrageously successful person has made these investments. They became motivated by wanting something better in their lives than what they had experienced in the past. They were determined to take unwavering and tireless action to create the life they wanted and envisioned to live.

They did whatever it took to achieve the results that they desired. They settled for nothing less.

They proactively sought and learned what they needed to learn to become the person that they needed to become. They sought wisdom through study, meditation, and spiritual development. They never became content with their life but always sought to develop more of their unlimited potential and unleash more of their greatness.

Every person reading this message can do exactly the same as Warren, Bill, Oprah, Mary, and your most admired person. It’s a matter of how you make your investments.
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