How do you wake up in the morning? Are you mentally alert, raring to go, ready to leap out of bed? Do you open your eyes looking forward to the day ahead, or is yours perhaps a more lack-lustre, pedestrian, or even sluggish awakening? There’s a way to put more pep into your life, and it doesn’t necessarily have to come out of a bottle or a packet.
● Start from the “inside-out”.
Finding the sparkling energy that gets you up out of bed and carries you effortlessly through the day, starts with what you’re thinking about when you first open your eyes. Rather than taking the “outside –in” approach – that is, trying to energize the body, people have found success by energizing their thoughts. Educational psychologist Kendra Cherry says research is finding many benefits to an “inside-out” mental approach.
The reason for starting with one’s thinking, is that physicality is a bit like a car parked in the garage. The vehicle has all the working parts, but it remains inactive. It doesn’t move until a person gets in and drives it. The same can be said about one’s physical state. What one thinks about the body, can push it towards experiencing good or bad health outcomes.
In an interview about best health practice, Dr Mimi Guarneri, author of The Heart Speaks: A Cardiologist Reveals the Secret Language of Healing, discusses how to achieve greater wellbeing. Described as a catalyst in the field of integrative medicine, Guarneri says, “…I firmly believe when people have peace inside, when they go in and they feel connected to something larger than themselves. …They start to have healthier behaviours. I have really changed from looking at health from a physical outside-in to a spiritual inside-out.”
TIP: To get more zip-and-zing into your life, start the day in the driver’s seat. “Take possession of your body and govern its feeling and action” (Science and Health p393). Don’t slow your energy levels down by rehashing negative thoughts and fears. Worry is weighty thinking. Set yourself free from any jaded and humdrum thoughts. Engage in activities that excite or energize you. Do something you love. Cultivate meaningful relationships. Be proactive. Keep mentally energized.
● Practice, practice, practice.
Henry David Thoreau famously once said, “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”
To possess a zest for life, and express vitality from sunrise to sunset, requires a hands-on approach. In other words, it takes practice. Your choices, thoughts and actions can influence your level of vim and perkiness. Perhaps that’s why staff at the Mayo Clinic believe that “People who strive to meet a goal or fulfil a mission — whether it’s growing a garden, caring for children or finding one’s spirituality — are happier than those who don’t have such aspirations.”
TIP: Boost your energy levels. Think positively about your physical state. Invigorate your thinking with glad-to-be-alive, optimistic, hopeful thoughts. Practice putting a spring in your step by staying mentally energized every second of every day.
Once you get the knack of putting this approach into action, you’ll probably find yourself practicing it frequently. After all, who wouldn’t want to enjoy increased physical well-being and better mental health?
This article was originally posted on August 5, 2013 on Spirituality and Health Connect by Beverly Goldsmith. Beverly is a Melbourne-based health writer who provides a diversity of health content on how spirituality and thought affect health.
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