Beginning Your Day in Bliss

While living life on this crazy planet there are all sorts of ways in which to become distracted. Usually these distractions will come and go, often replaced by a new distraction or similar stressor. One could argue that there are very few times in life when we are not darting off from one task to the next oftentimes at a pace  that is far from conducive to the normal human's functioning capacity. Hardly ever do we even feel like we are able to give the task at hand our full attention, and some days this even seems to be completely unavoidable.

For instance-

You oversleep your alarm and you are rushing out the door to catch the meeting that you are now only physically present for at best. Aloof in the proceedings as your mind wanders back to your home where you go through a checklist of things you have already missed out on. Some surprising new tasks show up on your desk from the boss and meanwhile your significant other calls to tell you that your son or daughter had to be sent home from school for bad behavior and it is not even 10:30 in the morning…

Now, it is easy and almost expected for one to allow for frustration and strife to take control of the body brain and spirit in times like these. From the first moment of the day until now you may have been feeling behind in life, playing catch up and getting nowhere. Is that ever the case with you? Well, if you are a human being living on this planet Earth than I am sure it has been. So what can we do? How can we get out of this funk and stop the tumultuous ball of raging stress from rolling any further? Is it possible to stop if for good?

Well, there are many different methods in which to cause a slow or even make a progressive stall to a raging ball of rolling stress such as this, many of which I have discussed in detail in some previous writings found here, and some more over here. But, when exploring this idea of stopping this ball all together there is but one method in which I have found to be effective.

Never allow the ball to start rolling at all.

A morning routine is something of beauty. It should be something to look forward to each night and something dearly missed when times like this have made you skip it. When a morning routine is met and performed in flying colors, often times a progressively good day is more capably followed. This is all information you have heard before though, so what is it that I want to offer, tweak or change?... The very first moment.

From the beautiful, comfy cloud of sleepy theta and delta brainwaves experienced during the throes of blissful sleep to the first breath of conscious waking alpha and beta brainwaves there are many ways in which we can approach the day. In this moment of first wake we can choose to allow our day ahead to creep into our conscious and give us reason to yearn for ten more minutes in Dreamworld; or,  we can be proactive. And what I am going to suggest is not a big action moment that will just turn into another means of stress to start your day, no. All I ask of you, to keep your ball of rolling stress parked safely on top of the hill where it will soon be growing cobwebs, mold and dust…

Smile.

Yes, smile. Simple and harmless but oh so effective. Force a smile as you lay in bed upon first hearing your alarm, or upon first transitioning out of Dreamworld and into the wake of the new day. Before doing anything at all, force a smile and just lie there in bed with it plastered on your face. Shoot for 10 seconds to begin with and realize why this is such an important part of starting your day.

Instead of your first action of the day being one of stress, remorse, delay and negativity; you are inviting your body to let out a gentle stream of endorphins and serotonin (the body's feel good hormones). All from simply creasing your lips upward and elevating your cheeks a bit.

But, will this really work if my smile is not real?

Yes it will. Your brain responds to a vast array of stimuli; one of these includes stimulus to muscle action. Specifically in the case of smiling, your brain is responding to your smile muscles being activated, and it is responding by fulfilling its normal action associated with smiling- making you happy! Now, perhaps immediate joy and a stress-free day to follow will not be the outcome to this every day. But it certainly won't hurt! And now with science to back the theory and psychologists all over prescribing this method for stress relief, blood pressure lowering and heart health; why not try it?

Try your smile out first thing in the morning and if nothing else happens at least you will have something to giggle at as you imagine how silly you look lying there with a smile plastered on your face. Your day to follow may still have some issues that arise. You may still reach for your snooze button and delay the day a bit further. But, if you begin the habit of staring down your stressors and distractions with the eyes of a smiling face, you will surely be able to live out the day in a happier, healthier harmony.