Written by: Karin Glannstam, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." – Wayne Dyer
I don't know about you, but I feel like I have lost some of my inspiration and motivation during this past year.
I believe that a lot of people feel fatigued, a sense of burnout, overwhelm and stress right now due to the conditions around them.
There are a lot of things going on everywhere. Sometimes it feels like the world is spinning out of control.
But if we start focusing on everything that is going on around us, the news, the media and what we can't control, after a while we will most likely feel like our own world is spinning out of control.
We can choose to get involved in all the drama and chaos around us or we can simply decide to start focusing on what we have control over.
It feels that we have control over very little right now. But there is always one thing we have control over and that is ourselves and how we choose to react to what is going on around us.
So today we are only going to focus on what we have control over so that we can make our own lives a little bit better at this moment and also in the future.
Here are 12 things we can focus on and start doing today to feel better right away.
1. Move Your Body Every Day
We are now sitting still way too much and that will lower our energy. Get up move around. Go outside for a walk or a jog. Do yoga in your living room. Attend exercise classes online. Most of us can go outside for a walk. Do it every day and make it a habit. It will make you feel better right away. I have been doing yoga in my living room for many years and it's a great habit that I do 30 minutes 3 times per week. I also walk twice a day with my dog Lady.
2. Create A Morning Routine
A morning routine will set you up for success for the rest of the day. Instead of reading the paper or watching the news, do something that will inspire, empower and uplift you. I started my "Power Hour" over 10 years ago and I seldom go a day without it. I listen to something inspiring and educational for one hour every morning. It can be an audio book or a seminar on YouTube. You can exercise, do yoga, meditate, write in your journal. Do whatever works for you, but the important thing is that you do something to start your day off right. It can only be a 10 minute morning routine, as long as you start one and then do it daily.
3. Eat Healthy Foods
I am like most people, I love sugar and I enjoy a glass of wine once in a while. It's important that we nourish our bodies and our brains by eating healthy. Make sure you include a lot of vegetables and fruits in your diet and try to stay away from processed food, fast food and sugar. Treat your body as a temple, because it's the only place you have to live.
4. Stay Hydrated
Drink plenty of water. Since it's colder weather right now, I don't feel as thirsty as I do during the summer months, so I have to pay extra attention to how much water I drink. Stay away from drinking too much coffee, sodas, fruit juices and alcohol.
5. Get Plenty Of Sleep
Make sure that you get plenty of sleep. Sleep is healing for the body and the brain. 6 - 9 hours of sleep should be enough to make you feel energized again. Make sure you shut down all electronics at least 1-2 hours before bedtime. Try to have a sleep schedule where you go to bed and get up at the same time, all the time. I get up every morning around 5 and I try to be in bed no later than 9.30 pm. I do this almost every day of the week.
6. Listen To Inspirational Voices
Listen to podcasts with empowering messages, online seminars, read books, listen to audiobooks.
Listen to messages of faith and hope by your favorite pastor.
Listening to positive messages will rewire your brain and it will silence the voices of anxiety, worry and fear.
It will make you more positive and it will create a more positive mindset. I have a lot of people that I listen to virtually right now to stay upbeat and inspired. I am also spending more time listening to positive things online right now, to offset all the negativity coming from everywhere.
7. Connect With Your Dream
Take a least 30 minutes every morning to connect with your vision or dream. Visualize your ideal future.
Look at your goals every single day. Write them down. Think about them.
Get obsessed with your dream instead of what is going on in the news and social media. Do some brainstorming. Visualize what you want your perfect life to look like. Create a vision board. Write down some action steps for you to take. Take action on a few steps every single day.
8. Spend Time With Happy People
Spend time with people and friends that are positive. You might not be able to spend time with them in person but Zoom, Skype and FaceTime is always an option.
If you have someone close to you that is very negative, you might want to make them aware of this.
You don't have to blame them, you can simply make them aware of the fact.
Today, pick up the phone and connect with someone that you haven't talked to in a while.
9. Gratitude
Be grateful for what you have and who you have in your life right now. If you look around I am sure you can find quite a few things to be grateful for. Start a gratitude journal.
10. Have A Bedtime Routine
I have a morning routine and I also have a bedtime routine. I usually spend some time listening to a spiritual or empowering message before I go to sleep. Find someone that you enjoy listening to and make it a habit. Find someone with a message that is uplifting, filled with hope and faith. Do this daily.
11. Smile
You will be surprised how much a smile will raise your own energy. Give others a smile and you can smile anytime, to raise your own vibration.
If you meet someone that doesn't have a smile, give them one of yours. A smile doesn't require any effort and it's free.
12. Sing & Dance
Turn on some music and start singing and dancing. Jump around, clap your hands and shout out empowering affirmations. Doing this will make you feel awesome and it is contagious so others will automatically catch your energy and awesomeness and hopefully, it will lift their mood and spirit.
We must be aware of what we consume because some of it will make us tired, sluggish and less focused. It will also lower our inspiration, motivation and our hope and faith for the future. The wrong foods, too much alcohol, lack of exercise and not enough sleep, might leave us with a hangover the next day.
If we consume a lot of news and social media especially during the evening hours, the harder it will be for us to get a good nights sleep and we might wake up with a hang-over the next day. And then we will experience a loss of motivation, inspiration, focus and it will slow us down.
Stop talking about what is not working in the world. Stop talking about all the negative things going on. Stop spreading the negativity. Stay away from all the drama, if possible.
Everything that I have suggested is something that we all have control over. Now it's up to each and everyone of us to put in the effort and start doing some of these strategies.
Karin Glannstam, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Karin Glannstam is a Personal Success Coach specializing in helping people successfully get back on track after life has knocked them down
She has self-published 4 self-help books and she writes a weekly newsletter and blog.
She is also very passionate about, fitness, health, and well-being and she runs a private Facebook group, Empower Yourself To Succeed.
Born and raised in Sweden, Karin started out working as a nurse. In 1987 she moved to the US and today she spends her time between Texas and Sweden.
Her mission is to inspire, empower and educate others to create a powerful vision for their life, develop a game plan and then take action on that plan to bridge the gap from where they are today to where they want to be in the future.
Karin's motto is “Be Courageous, Take Action & Make It Happen!”
