Starting Your Day...

Getting up each morning is like fighting a war for most of us. It seems it is the greatest problem we have with ourselves. But once we understand the techniques of how to wake up each morning and the activities we should regularly do, life will take a drastic change. Most of our tensions, stress and 'urgency' syndromes can be controlled. It all begins with how to start our day effectively.

Stephen Covey in his book, Seven Habits of highly effective people calls this process as Sharpening the Saw. Find below a few tips on how to start our day with ourselves. Note, while following these steps, understand that no one can do it for you. These are 'Do it yourself' tips.

As Lord Krishna says, in the Bhagavat Geeta "Let a man lift himself by his own self alone, and let him lower not himself; for, this Self alone is the friend of oneself, and this Self is the enemy of oneself"(Chapter 6, verse 5) Man can rise up from his bed and also in his life only by his own self efforts. No Mummy, Papa, brother, sister, wife, husband or children can help in this matter.

Wake up softly

Most of us are habituated to wake up with jerks and shocks. A research conducted recently by medical expert shows that the first thing that 80 % of people living in cities do each morning, is to look at the time and tell themselves repeatedly, "Oh its late again!". Can you imagine the mental condition of a person who wakes up with such a negative mindset? We give ourselves an Auto suggestion that we are late. Then we get ourselves into a trap called 'Time Management'. No workshops, books or training sessions can help us to improve our Time Management skills if we start our day by looking at the Clock. Time is a concept of the mind and to manage time you have to go 'beyond' time. Instead learn to wake up softly.

As soon as you wake up, slowly rise yourself and sit with the eyes closed for about 10-15 seconds. You can either be silent, observing the calmness that your sleep has given you. If that is not possible, you can chat some verses from your religious scriptures or start with some ‘Positive’ auto suggestions like ‘Today is going to be a great day’, or ‘I am going to do my best today and will not be focused on the results'.

For persons who are in the habit of getting woken up by their family members please tell them to wake you up softly. Most of the family members wake up their children and spouses by shouting at their highest volume “GET UP! YOU ARE LATE FOR YOUR WORK” Many of them also physically shake the body with force “GET UP. YOU IDIOT!”

Tell your family members to wake you up softly. If you are the ones to wake up others, practice this, Go to the person who have to wake up. Touch him/her softly on the shoulder and whisper slowly “Good morning. Its time to wake up” You can also plant a kiss to them. You will be surprised you will not require repeated shouting. The person will slowly wake up in his own pace. But do not shout.

Do not sit it bed for long.

You will feel lazy and go off to sleep again. Directly go to your washroom. Wash your face with water (normal room temperature) and brush your teeth. Attend to your natures call. After you come out of your cleaning up process, drink a glass of water. Your body for the last 7-8 hours, was in the bed with the quality of Tamas (lethargy and laziness). This process of cleaning up will get your mind to a state of Sattva (pure and calm). Drinking water will wake up your internal digestion system which too has got a bit Tamasic. With this 90 % of your sleep is gone.

Yet note that you should make it a point, not to go back and lie down on your bed. You know the reason why…

Exercise

A few physical movements will help your body to get ready for the wonderful day ahead. Deep breathing, stretching, walking etc will give the message to the body that the day has arrived for you to function with strength and focus. Note that exercises should be done without jerks. If you are not exercising regularly do not start the very first day by exercising for 1 hour. Give your body some time to get adjusted to exercises. A professional in this field like Yoga teachers and health instructors will be able to guide you as per your body’s requirements. Keep in mind that each body pattern is different, so what physical exercises may look good for one may be harmful to others.

The 6 golden rules of exercises in the Indian Yoga Asana systems is “Slowly-slowly, According to your capacity, regular practice, with respect towards your life, surrender to god and with Awareness” In case you do not have time due to an early morning appointment, still make it a point to stretch your body and give physical movements to all parts of your body for at least 5-7 minutes. You can put up some soft music or religious chantings during this time.

Most houses in India have the habit of listening to Subrabhatam, Shlokas of Bhagavat Geeta, Bhajans or some divine music. After exercises rest for some time. Let your body to cool down to normal room temperature. Take your bath giving attention to each part of the body. For many of us bath means pouring water on the body. Bathing is also an exercise by itself. As you are applying soap or cleaning your body; do it with full attention. You can also give a light massage to each muscle. Treat your body with love. After all this is the instrument that will helps you to function with the world outside.
Swami Chinmayananda, the founder of Chinmaya Mission said, “Keep your body the way the driver keeps his car”. It’s every driver’s responsibility to keep the car in a good working condition.

Study and Meditation

Your body is now fully ready to meet the challenges of the outside world. But before that you need to make your mind ready too. Study of religious scriptures and Meditation will help us to do that.

Swami Chinmayanada used to instruct all his devotees. “Start our day by studying 5 verses per day of the Bhagavat Geeta”. Bhagavat Geeta is a universal book that has helped people across the globe for centuries. Mahatma Gandhi never had a day when he did not study the Geeta. He used to call it his ‘Mother’. With your own evolution and as per your religious tradition you can also go to other scriptures like the Upanishads and other great works of seers and saints.

After you have studied, meditate on those ideas you have gathered. Meditation is not a process it is state of mind. Most people associate meditation with some process. Swami Chinmayananda used to tell “Meditation is not a verb it is a noun”. Most people struggle at the seat of meditation ‘trying’ to make their mind calm. Mind is a flow of thoughts. It will always be like that.

As Swami Ishwarananda of Chinmaya Mission, once so beautifully wrote “Freedom is ‘IN’ the mind, not ‘for’ the mind or ‘of’ the mind”. For beginners in the seat of meditation start for 10 minutes each day watching your mind. You can get guidance and tips in meditation from various spiritual masters of various spiritual organizations.

Now you ready jump in the world of challenges…. With your body strong, your mind calm and your heart full of love and enthusiasm there is no situation that you cannot handle.

But remember… Do it regularly. This process of starting your day has to be done regularly on a daily basis. Do not get too upset if you miss a little here or there. Yet the greatest challenge is to come back on the track each time you become aware you are ‘off track’.

Understand the Golden rule “THE BODY AND THE MIND HAS NO HOLIDAYS OR WEEKENDS”. The Sun does not tell us, ‘Boy! It’s SUNday today, so let me sleep a little more’. Your heart does not say, ‘Can I take a break, I have been beating for the last 30 years’. Like nature, our body has its own beautiful systems. Keep in lines with those natural systems. Discipline is the key to success in any field.

Wake up at the same time of the day even if you do not have to go to workplace. There are better things to do in life that just going to offices. Utilize your holidays and weekends to do the BEST things in life instead of lying on the bed. As you do it regularly it will become a part of your system.

Your body will get adjusted to your ‘Internal Alarm clock’. No more will be you dependent on others for your success in life. Remember, “Life is what we make out of it. Otherwise it will become something others want to make out of us”.

For the whole process mentioned above, an average man will take about one and a half hours. So if you have to go to office at 8 in the morning. Wake up by 6.30 am. Don’t wake up at 7.45 am look at the Watch and tell yourself “Oh its late again!”

Have a nice day..
(The writer Radhakrishnan Pillai, is the Director of the company ATMA DARSHAN. www.atmadarshan.com, which helps seekers across the globe discover Spiritual India. He can be contacted at radhakrishnan@atmadarshan.com M-91-9820374796.)
To know more about Chinmaya Mission’s activities visit www.chinmayamission.com