By Asoka Selvarajah, Ph.D
We often hear of small actions that can make a dramatic impact on our lives. Here are ten such things which, if done with determination, will produce a revolution for you physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially!
1. Drink Pure Water
Our bodies are 70% water. Drinking impure water is responsible for many illnesses commonly attributed to other causes. Therefore, you should seriously consider installing a quality water filtration or distillation system.
In addition, most people go through life dehydrated. Simply drinking when you are thirsty is not enough. Moreover, tea and coffee actually dehydrate the body even further thereby making the problem worse still. Dehydration also leads to many serious illnesses. You need to drink at least 8-12 glasses of clear water every day, and preferably more.
2. Regular Exercise
Exercise can slow down, and even partially reverse, the aging process. You will suffer from fewer illnesses and have far more energy to enjoy all day long. Best of all, exercise is something you can take up and benefit from at any age. Yoga is excellent because it tones your inner organs as well as gently stretching and strengthening your muscles. Even simply walking for 15-20 minutes every day could be extremely beneficial. Consult your doctor regarding your current state of health and advice on suitable forms of exercise for you.
3. Meditation
Regular meditators often have a biological age 10-20 years younger than their chronological age! You will also be far more centered all day, more aware of your emotions, and far better able to cope with any challenge life can throw at you.
Simply sitting in a quiet place alone, closing your eyes, and following the passage of your breath as it moves in and out is a superb meditation. However, you can easily find others that can benefit and enrich your life deeply. Meditation will make you a kinder, gentler, and more patient person. It will help you to appreciate life more.
4. Forgiveness
Grudges take up brain capacity and prevent us from performing at our very best. What we focus our minds upon grows; this is true of hatred too. Therefore, it is impossible to truly achieve great things for ourselves when we have a lot of our energetic capacity tied up in negativity.
Remember that forgiveness is primarily for YOU. It frees up your energy tremendously. So forgive all grudges, no matter how old they may be, and seek reconciliation. If you find this hard, begin with the easiest ones first. Then gradually work up to the harder ones.
5. Clutter Clearance
If you want to let new opportunities into your life, you have to make room for them. Clear out the past - things you cling to that no longer serve any purpose, but which hold you back. This can be cupboards, the cellar, old clothes, old relationships, and outmoded ways of thinking. By holding on tenaciously to the past, we fail to make room for the future.
So look in your closets and get rid of things you have not used for over a year or two. Review relationships in your life and see which ones are taking you where you want to go and which ones are holding you down. Clear your desk. Clear your computer. Then let fresh air flow into your life!
6. Clear All Financial Debt & Invest
If owing nobody a cent is just a dream for you, start working today to make that dream a reality. Save 10% of your income each month to be applied towards reducing and clearing your debts.
Financial debt is one of the biggest causes of worry ever. Yet almost anyone can save 10% of their income if they put their minds to it. Do it consistently to learn the habit, and soon you'll be saving 20%. Once you've applied this to your debts, and have NO debts at all, you can't imagine how free you will feel!
7. Relationships
Almost everything we want in life will be obtained through other people. Moreover, relationship skills are amongst the most important and most desired in life. They easily more than make up for deficiencies in other areas of expertise. People who get on well with others rise faster than those who are merely good at their jobs. They are the last people to be fired; if they are, they find it extremely easy to pick up a great job elsewhere.
Hence, it is vital to learn to relate excellently to others. If you are not good in this area, all your other efforts could go for nothing. Therefore, study hard in his subject and apply the lessons you learn. Become excellent at relating to people.
8. Goals
Have clear, specific, written goals with deadlines for their achievement in every area of your life - physical, mental, emotional, career, etc. People who do are FAR more successful. People who don't are like ships adrift on the seas. A person without clear specific goals is like a ship cast adrift on the ocean without a captain or crew. The chances of it arriving anywhere specific are minimal. Yet most people live their lives like that. Make it your goal to have specific written goals in every area of your life and review them every day.
9. Daily Planning
For maximum productivity, plan each day in advance with a scheduler. Use a "To Do" list to plan what you need to get done. Prioritize these tasks in order of importance. You can rank urgent tasks as "A". Important, but not urgent, tasks as "B". Nice to do but neither urgent nor important activities as "C". Unimportant tasks as "D". Work on the category "A" tasks first until you have them all done and then work on the category "B" tasks. Delegate or throw out category "D" activities.
Develop the habit of accounting for every half hour of your time. This is what many highly successful people do.
10. Journal
A life worth living is a life worth recording. Keep a private journal where you can record events, your reactions to them, how you feel about situations, what you are learning. Keeping a journal awakens your intuition and deepens your contact with Spirit.