I’m usually not one to say a person has to do anything every day, except brush your teeth, but as I get older, I see the value in doing the following three things and if you do them daily, they will change your life. You’ll feel more joy, more love, and more connection.
First, wake up and run to either the nearest or largest window in your house, and look up at the sky. Say a prayer of thanks to God, or Source or the Universe, or the Higher Power, for creating you, for loving you, for sustaining you and for being there with you to start a new day.
Second, at some point, rain, snow, or shine, go outside, and look around at all the beauty around you, take it all in, and again, say thank you. Breathe in the smells, listen to the sounds, and feel the wind. Our earth and the creation around us is a miracle and we need to experience it in our humanly form as often as we can; we’re not going to be here forever. This one, honestly, is the most challenging for me. I hate being cold, so from November to March, I stand on my porch while my dog does her business and I let the freezing cold touch my face and I say “Thank you. Thank you that I live in Michigan where we think 43 degrees is a warm up.” Truthfully, yes, I’d rather live on a beach where it’s warm, but I don’t yet, so I’m grateful for where I am, and this is super important because being satisfied and content with where you are is imperative to moving to the next step in your journey. The good news is, more good stuff is coming, but being unhappy and discontent over where you are in your life blocks you from the good stuff that’s available to you.
Third, spend at least 15 minutes everyday in quiet time, eyes closed, focused totally on something like your breathing or a certain mantra like “I am worthy of love”. There are many Youtube videos that can guide you or use mindful meditation apps.
Some people call this quiet time meditation, some people call it connecting with God, some refer to it as connecting with one’s inner being. It’s all of these things because it is a time when you are at the most receptive to hearing and feeling the Spirit of God. And when we connect with the Spirit, we connect with Love.
Love changes us; it rids us of bitterness, resentments, anger and puts us in touch with what’s important, loving ourselves and others. Christians have historically resisted this idea of loving ourselves, but we can not give away what we don’t have and if we don’t love ourselves, we can’t love others.
Without love, I can go downhill fast, resurrecting old wounds, reliving old shame and emotionally beating myself up. It’s so sad and unnecessary. Listen, we are children of God and worthy of all love and everything that we desire. God seeks expression through us, but we’re not good vessels of that expression if we are sullen and negative and disconnected from Him.
If you do these three things every day, or at least most days, you will start to feel a difference inside you. Your thoughts will be more positive, and things that normally bother you, won’t be so annoying. Stress levels will decrease, you’ll let go of offenses that you thought you’d never be able to, and you’ll feel better. I’m pretty confident that your happiness and joy levels will increase. I think this is what Jesus might have meant by being a light in the world.
Allison Stevens 