With the new year starting, you may have several new year resolutions or goals you want to accomplish in 2021. A great way to start to efficiently accomplish your goals is through self-improvement. Working towards self-improvement helps you become a better you, which increases your rate of self-discipline, productivity and progress towards your other goals in life. You may be thinking about the time it will take or how you will fit self-improvement in your busy schedule, well VALLEY is here to help. VALLEY has a great resolution towards self-improvement that you can add to your schedule that only takes eight minutes a day with great results. Do every activity for one minute every morning after waking up. This routine is meant to be done every morning for eight minutes to see long-lasting results.
1. Make your bed.
Reset your bed for the next night. This will have your room feel and look more complete and make you feel less tempted to get back into your bed and move on with your day.
2. Drink a glass of water.
There are many benefits to drinking water, especially after waking up. Your body has been sleeping for several hours so it’s dehydrated. Drinking water to start your day will make you feel more energized and rejuvenated, along with many other health benefits. It strengthens the immune system and hair follicles improving hair growth, enhances your metabolism and helps with weight loss, rids the body of toxins and highly prevents kidney stones and bladder infections according to Markets Insider.
3. Focus on your breathing.
As you start to fully wake up, you start to think about the day full of tasks you have ahead of you. This can be stressful and overwhelming if you have a busy day. It’s great to practice controlling your breathing at all times of the day, but the morning is a great time to take a minute to relax and practice a breathing exercise.
4. Practice meditation.
Buddha once said that meditation trains the mind to “not dwell in the past or contemplate about the future.” One of the great benefits of meditation is that it releases serotonin. Meditating in the morning allows you to start your day with a mood booster. Though there are numerous physical and mental benefits of meditation, according to Trinlay Rinpoche, a meditator and a scholar, the five main benefits of meditation are enhancement of empathy, improvement of cognition, a natural stress stabilizer, promotion of emotional health and well-being and increase of attention by inducing a state of flow.
5. Write in a journal.
Journaling is a great habit to acquire. You may think you don’t have much to write about but it’s great to get your feelings and thoughts down on paper. Journaling can bring clarity on your stresses, desires and overall getting to know yourself better. If you don’t know what to write about, try a journal prompt or writing about what you can do to improve yourself and your life. You can write about anything and everything during this time.
6. Do some type of exercise.
Choose an activity to do for a minute. This can be cardio, stretches or any type of exercise. For example, you can run back and forth in your room, look up a yoga routine or do crunches. By exercising in the morning, you don’t have to worry about planning time to go to the gym while still having long-lasting effects and you get another mood booster because it releases endorphins.
7. Recite what you’re grateful for and what you will be grateful for.
It is important to remember the things you are happy and grateful for. This helps you notice the positives in your life. To manifest more positivity, recite to yourself what you will be grateful for as if you already have it.
8. Read a book or listen to a podcast on self-improvement.
You may not be able to change the world around you, but you can always improve yourself. Even if you just read one page you are working towards becoming a better you!
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