Clap Your Hands and Have a Great Day

When I talk to people about starting a daily practice just about the first objectio
I encounter is: "I don't have time to do that."

For someone just beginning their search for self-improvement and growth that is a valid argument. For anyone who wants to find success, however they might define it, self-improvement is critical to that success. But how do you get to a point where you are committed to a morning practice that could take from and hour to two hours and an evening practice to wrap up the day, when you have yet to experience the benefits of that time sacrifice?

Well the solution to that is something I have been working on for awhile now. What routines can I recommend that take up only a small slice of morning, but will begin to lead someone eventually to a greater commitment?

To get there I had to go back to how it all began with me...and to unabashedly borrow from the people who most influenced me, to come up with a short morning practice that just about anyone would have the time to do.

One of the things I adamantly believe is an old Buddhist proverb:“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”.

Every step of the way when I needed it, the teacher has been there. So I want to share with you tiny pieces of the wisdom of three of those teachers. None of these tools are original to me, but I'm not sure that anyone else has put them together quite in this way. Therefore I take responsibility for the way I have use what really are only tiny portions of the teachings of these brilliant mentors.

The first step is the simplest to do and takes virtually no time at all.
Step One.

When you first wake up in the morning, before you climb out of bed, clap your hands together and say out loud: "I'm having a great day." That's it, that's all.

This is a brief but seriously powerful action that sets your mind to a positive course from the very first conscious moment of your day.

This comes from one of the very first mentors to sent me on my personal path to self discovery, Coach Devlyn Steele. That simple technique was the first thing he taught me and then he built and built and built on that. He is the creator of the fabulous Tools to Life program which I highly recommend.

Step Two:

I call this the first question because I think this should be the first question you ask yourself every morning. This question comes from a very treasured mentor to me for it was his conviction of what is possible that convinced me that I could stay off diabetic medication if I was willing to change the habit of being myself. That man is Joe Dispenza.

The question he poses is part of an intensive meditation practice design to actually bring about physical change in your brain. I am taking that question somewhat out of context in the way I ask you to use it here. If you find you want to pursue his work, just drop me a quick note and I will be happy to suggest resources and sources to you.

Here is his question:
"What is the greatest ideal of myself I can be today?"

I recommend you use the question in this way.

Before you do anything else in the day...take a moment , sit quietly and ask yourself that question.

Avoid the temptation to start listing off answers. Simple sit and listen for the answer that comes from that power within you. Understand that when you ask a question, your mind is commanded to look for answers. What will come to you in that quiet moment is the answer to the question for that day.

Then as you go out into your day...you stay conscious of the answer and attempt to practice it.

Stay away from self judgment here...don't beat yourself up if you lose focus. The next morning you ask again, listen for the answer, and attempt to apply it to your life.

As you do this you begin to do an act differently which leads you into your future of actually living that greatest ideal of yourself.

Step Three

This is the final step I recommend and one that will take you about ten minutes to do. This comes from a relatively new mentor for me, but one that seems to have a real knack of offering me exactly what I need when I need it. His name is Rich German, and I have mentioned his simple practice before.

It's call the Ten Ten exercise where each morning you write out ten things you are grateful for and ten things you would like to attract into your day. You can find a template for this at my website, just go to Resources at the top and click on the ten ten exercise link.

There you have it a daily practice that would take you maybe 15 minutes each morning. Just doing these simple exercises each morning will begin to create a huge change in your life...a change that will pull your forward into the world of your dreams, where doing a full daily practice will no longer be about a lack of time, but a question about living your life to the absolute fullest.

To recap: Here is your simple short but powerful morning routine,
Step One

When you first wake up in the morning, before you climb out of bed, clap your hands together and say out loud: "I'm having a great day."
Step Two

Ask yourself this question: "What is the greatest ideal of myself I can be today?"
Step Three

Do the Ten Ten Exercise.