Begin and End Each Day with your Best Mindset

I’ve been finding it hard to get out of bed lately. My old house is always cold, it’s too dark for a run, and once I’m up, there’s no excuse for not getting on with the “To Do” List.

While those things are true, I realised they’re not exactly helpful in inspiring me to spring up and get started. Which is why I love an idea I came across of rebooting my mindset each day with a short series of questions and answers.

creating feelings of excitement and gratitude

Here’s how it works: our feelings are our thoughts in motion. I’m lying there enjoying the warmth and cosiness of my bed then I have the thought I’m still tired or there’s too much to do and my mood immediately plummets.

This little ritual of asking myself a few questions that provoke different feelings – anticipation, a sense of purpose, gratitude and love – are a way of heading the negative stuff off at the pass – and energising me into a new day.

After all, being kind to my own mind is one of the cornerstones of Louise Hay’s teachings on living a life that works.

Good morning

If you want to try it you can sit up far enough to jot your answers in a journal, or stay where you are and run through the answers mentally. It’s the routine that’s important, and noticing how you feel as a result.

Here’s what helps get me out of bed in the morning:

What’s one thing I’m looking forward to today?

What’s one way in which I’ll practice self-love today?

What’s one thing I’ll do today to make someone else happy, or to make a difference?

What three things am I grateful for this morning?

Not only will this little ritual help you start your day feeling more positive, it will get you focused on what’s working in your life.

And good night

I’ve been using a similar night-time ritual for many years, seeing it as a chance to end my day in a mindset of recognition, gratitude and peace.

My last-thing-at-night questions are a way of noticing and praising myself for achievements, however small. And downloading any concerns with a clear commitment to fixing them in the morning, so they won’t keep me awake through the night. Here they are:

What went well today?

What did I do that made a difference to me or someone else?

Is there one concern I have? What I will do about that in the morning is..? (if there’s nothing practical to be done you can always use a reassuring affirmation such as ‘whatever happens I’ll handle it’.

What three things am I grateful for today?

Once again, you can set them down on paper or do them mentally. I find it works best for me to share them via text with a close friend. It makes us accountable for actually doing them and needing to think them out clearly enough to write them down helps cement the good feelings they bring to the end of each day.

Sweet dreams!

Jane Matthews is a Heal Your Life ® teacher and coach
as well as a UK Teacher Mentor. She is the author of seven books,
including Have the Best Year of Your Life and the forthcoming title Living
Softly. She can be contacted via janematthews.com