There are some activities that I have brought under my self improvement plan. These are small things. You can check this out here. These are the seven rituals that I am monitoring with an excel sheet. And I am glad to tell you that these small things have made a big difference to my happiness and well being.
- Drinking Water
- Hours of sleep
- Running/Exercising my body
- Reading
- Writing
- having meals on time
- time of waking up
Let me go through these in detail one by one:
- Drinking Water: 75% of our body is water. It is essential to stay hydrated all day long. The very first thing that I do that makes my day go so well is finish my motion. Having a glass or two or warm water is nourishment to your body. As soon as the water reaches the stomach, it sets in motion a wave that informs the cleaning system to get activated. The cleaning system immediately gets into action and within minutes, you are able to get the good quality motion. The whole junk that is there gets flushed out.Second ritual that I follow in my water intake is that I don’t drink water immediately after meals. It is important to not have water 30 minutes before the meals and 30 minutes after the meals. After I have started to follow this practice, I have noticed a good digestion. I don’t feel heavy soon after the meals. Now, its in my habit, I don’t get thirsty sooner.Then I ensure that I have a set target of water consumption every day. This keeps the body temperature maintained.
- Hours of Sleep: The number of hours and the quality of sleep both matters. On an average, I undertake to sleep 6.5 hrs to 7 hrs. this is ideal. Arianna Huffington who has so much to talk about sleep has recommended that we must get sufficient number of hours in sleeping. Sleeping rejuvenates our body.To get good quality of sleep requires you to set up your routine. Take to your bed well in time.Stop being on Social Media and your cell phone.Go for an evening walk after the dinner. Even 5 minutes will work wonders for your sleep.Do not take up or discuss with anyone any thing that is going to cause you anxiety. Leave it for another day. Rest.Change your clothes and get into comfortable ones.
- Running/Exercising my Body:Ok, whenI started running, I wanted to improve my performance. When I thought about improving my performance, I realized that it is possible only when I made a paradigm shift in my lifestyle. The 7 rituals were actually created with the intention to improve the running.Running is like a religion for me now. I need to go for a run every day. I don’t mind if I don’t get to run enough. I intend to run 5 km on an average. I keep a target of 1800 km for a year. This way, I am able to deliver against a set target. The target challenges me as well as motivates me at the same time.
- Reading:As some one has rightly remarked reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. I am a regular reader. I mostly read on self improvement and finance. But, I love to take an inter-disciplinary approach to my reading. Most of my reading happens in fiction.Reading gives you the ample opportunity to find the ways and means to improve. Reading a book is like conversing with the author. A good book can do more good to you than a good friend. It matters to me. That’s why I have my reading time noted down in my excel sheet.
My reading time is min 15 mins every day. If I did that I can give my self full marks.
- Writing: This blog has not been possible if I had not forced myself to start writing and keep writing. I maintain multiple MS Word files on my laptop and keep writing on them topic wise. Writing and putting down your ideas and thoughts is like a therapy. It helps me to express myself. And I have noted that regular writing refines the thinking. You start to believe what you see in black and white. So, write. Write on anything that you want to. It could be the most stupid thing to write on but write.
- Having my meals on time: Is it possible. You may be busy or super busy with a lot of things. But, you can make time for your eating. I have kept marks for my eating meals time. I find that the morning are the best time to score mark on this parameter. Lunch and Dinner are not so assured. So, I make sure that I can fetch some score on this breakfast. Have a good break fast. Please do not skip it. This is the best meal of the day. You can afford to have anything and everything. The body will take it and try to digest as much as you can.Your morning break fast is like filling your fuel tank so that you can go a long way for the day.
