STARTING YOUR DAY RIGHT - PART 3

Article By
KAYSOON KHOO

When you've recited to yourself that magical formula before the mirror, you've put yourself in the right frame of mind. Sustain it while you’re taking your bath, preparing your breakfast and getting dressed for work. The longer you maintain that buoyant spirit, the more it intensifies, and the longer it stays with you.

How do you keep that good feeling alive? Do something spontaneous, like singing or humming a tune under your breath as you go about your little tasks. Be careful what song you pick when you fill your head with music. Let it be one with a happy connotation. Songs and their lyrics leave subtle impressions in our minds. Look at the lyrics of hymns and religious songs. Why do you think they are composed in that special way?

If you don’t know any appropriate songs, hum “Jingle Bells”. Never mind if it’s June; that little ditty is replete with happy connotations. Or let a lilting tune run through your head whenever you get a dose of what is known as “the blues”. If you’ve ever heard Mantovani’s rendition of the Swedish Rhapsody, you’ll know that some tunes literally make the heart dance.

I’m not going overboard in insisting that you sing or hum the right kind of song. Music hath charms, but it can swing your emotions either way. There’s a particular oldie composed and recorded by Simon and Garfunkle way back in the sixties, with lyrics that go:

A winter’s day, in a deep and dark December.

I am alone, gazing from my window to the streets below,
On a freshly fallen, silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock, I am an island.

Look at the words – deep and dark December, I am alone, silent shroud of snow, I am an island! The implication is that the singer is strong because he cuts himself off from the rest of humanity! If that’s so, why did someone assert that “no man is an island”?

What MOOD does the song try to put you in? It gets even worse in another verse :

And I have no need of friendship;

Friendship causes pain.
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.
I am a rock, I am an island.

These are messages you DON’T want to relay to your inner self! That’s why I’m saying you can’t just sing ANY song to lighten up your spirits. Simon and Garfunkle’s “I am a Rock” isn’t tailored to make you feel happy. It’s meant to do the OPPOSITE. The lyrics are the outpourings of someone who’s given up on life, love and himself! How do you think your mind will respond if you keep planting within it the ideas suggested in that song? Stick to Jingle Bells.

Another thing you can do to preserve that happy feeling is to insert into your mind a picture of someone, the very thought of whom gives you a warm glow inside – someone you love very much. That person could be your child, who’s still in his cot, fast asleep – your wife, who’s in the hospital, recovering from an operation – your good friend, who’s gone overseas to advance his job prospects – your grandfather, who’s dead, but whom you’ll always remember with the deepest affection.

It need not even be a person. It could be your pet, your little dog who goes into a frenzy of happiness each time you return home from work. It could be a place that you frequent when you want to get away from it all, and just enjoy the closeness of nature. It could be a picture you’re painting, which you consider your best effort so far. It could be a particular view you always enjoy looking at when you take the bus home each day. Just latch onto something that gives you a good feeling.

Those with religious convictions can use a religious icon – such as an image of Christ or the Buddha – to lift up their spirits and put them in the proper frame of mind when they encounter difficulties in their daily lives.

Whether you use messages or images to give yourself that inner lift, DO IT at the very start of each day and KEEP IT UP as the day progresses. Try your best not to let anything get you down.

Remember ALWAYS that each and every emotion you feel is a product of your own thoughts. That being the case, to shift an emotion that works against you – such as irritation, anger, fear and worry – simply replace the thought in your head with another.

Try repeating to yourself slowly, dwelling on the purport of the words, the following statement again and again until it sinks in deep within your consciousness: “I am always deeply relaxed, and in full control of myself in every situation.” This is a message your mind can readily accept. After all, you’re not telling yourself you can sprout wings and soar above the rooftops. What you’re telling yourself is something your mind can absorb and digest. And what your mind believes and accepts, it brings about. You’ll find that you really BECOME a person who is calm, self-collected and always in control.

The key to success when you use these methods, or any other for that matter, is CONSISTENCY. Keep at it, day by day, all your waking moments or as often as you can. The loveliest thing about this exercise is that it never wears you out. The more you practice it – and experience its effects – the more you want to indulge in it. This, you might say, is one form of addiction where the benefits are immeasurable and the ill-effects nil.

Start your day with the conviction that you are meant to be happy and that happiness is everyone’s NATURAL state. If you don’t already know this for a fact, you’ll find out the truth for yourself when you get into the habit of starting each day right and letting a positive frame of mind sustain you for the rest of your day.

 

Enjoy your day, enjoy your life!