30 Days of Gratitude

Day 1 – Starting Your Day With Gratitude

How you start your day is essentially how you live your life. Every single day presents an opportunity to start again; it is a blank slate on which you can create your life. Think of today as the only day you have: you are in the driver’s seat every step of the way, from the first moment you open your eyes until the moment you go to sleep. All of the actions you took in the past brought you to this day and have influenced the person you are today.

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Be honest with yourself, are you starting your days on a positive note or a negative note? What are the first thoughts that come into your mind when you wake up and take your first few conscious breaths? For many people, their primary thought is panic – the alarm goes off and they are already thinking about the fact that they are going to be late. Instead of facing the day, they decide to press snooze and bury themselves back under the covers. When the alarm goes off again, they are now in a real panic because they are definitely late! They rush out of bed, hop into the shower, and all they can think about is how busy their day is going to be. Or worse, they pick up their smart phone and start checking email, squinting at the screen, still in a state of semi-sleep. Does this seem like a way to set yourself up for success?

On this first day of your 30 Days of Gratitude, here are a few ideas on how to start your day:

• Make sure your phone is turned off and in another room before you go to sleep to resist the temptation to look at it first thing in the morning. There are very few emergency situations in life that require you to keep your phone by your side every minute of the day. If you must keep it by your bed, use the do not disturb function when sleeping.
• Use an alarm or tablet that has different sound options, so that you can have a nicer sound waking you up. This way your phone is not immediately accessible when you awaken.
• Before getting out of bed, take a moment to say Thank You for another day. This day is a gift, so take a moment to thank God, Spirit, The Universe, or whatever you choose, for another day of life.
• Once your feet hit the floor, say Thank You with every step you take as you walk through the hallway, to the bathroom, or into the kitchen.
After you’ve woken up a bit, one of the best first actions to do in the morning is to:
a) Workout
b) Check your email
c) Read an inspirational book
d) Take a shower
The best option here, and the one that is recommended by many of the most successful people in the world, is to read an inspirational book for thirty minutes first thing in the morning. You can do this while enjoying a cup of coffee or tea, or while drinking warm water with lemon. If you’re not sure what I mean by inspirational book, take a look at the list I have shared in Appendix A. Many people choose to read Scripture. This helps to cement your state of mind for the day. To paraphrase Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine, there are very few parts of the day that you can control – but what you do first thing in the morning and right before you go to sleep – are parts that you can. He calls these the bookends of the day. Day 1 and Day 2 of gratitude are all about the bookends.

Your Turn to Take Action, Day 1:
Choose one of the ideas for a morning ritual and start it tomorrow morning. As you become more accustomed to using these suggestions in your daily routine, you can add more changes. Trying to change too many things at once may lead to frustration or limited success.

Once you’ve established a morning ritual, I challenge you to set your alarm thirty minutes earlier, so that you can start to read an inspirational book before starting your day. Within about a week, your body will have adjusted to less sleep and you’ll start to wake up looking forward to that period of silence every morning, with your cup of tea and your book.