5 things to do every day

In a busy and hectic schedule that we all follow, it is very important to enjoy small joys in life. We need to balance our life, and taking out some time to count your blessings is as important as following your dreams and working hard towards it.

If you are like me, there will be days when you will be so caught up in something that you will forget to be grateful. I know that I need to remind myself that I have way more blessings in my life than the stress, struggles and low moments.

In an effort to try to balance my life, I have made this list of 5 things to do daily.

1. Meditate daily.

This means that you take out a minimum of 5 minutes and up to 30 minutes out of the 24 hours of the day to connect with your inner self. You can use this time to calm and relax yourself. Meditation takes time and patience, and I myself am still learning. But remembering to take out the time to be thankful, to reflect on your life, to pause and stop your busy daily routine and make a connection with yourself is very important and a type of self care that we all can practice over time!

In meditation, you try to focus on only your breathing and try to stop any other thoughts. Or you can focus on one thought or activity, so your mind is not racing and you try to make your mind calm and stable. I use my backyard in the early morning and the living room at the end of the day with kids to take out time on a daily basis, but any place in home can be used as a routine to sit, think and/or meditate.

2. Work out every day.

In one of my earlier posts “It is a new decade to be healthy” I have written about the benefits of exercising, motivations and steps for putting this practice to use. Working out helps physical as well as mental well being of everyone, irrespective of their age. Of course depending on where you are physically, there are different types of work out styles that you may chose from. Here is also my list of 10 tips to motivate yourself to work out and stay healthy. Please check the list by clicking here. A short walk or achieving your steps goals for the day or any type of movement daily helps.

I follow Lucy Read Wyndham because her YouTube work-outs are free, doable, effective and balanced for me. I can work as little as 7 min (she has tons of 7 minutes long free workout videos ) or do 2-3 sets to make it a whole body longer work out. Most days I do a 7 minutes belly fat and a 20 minutes full body workout. For the past year, I have been doing her work outs and spend between 7-30 minutes 6-7 days of the week. It has become a routine and part of life for me now. You can check her free YouTube videos here.

3. Journal or write your thoughts daily.

I have written about our journaling habit in 2 of my earlier posts, and we really like the GLAD journal. At the end of every day, kids and I jot down things to wind our day. G stands for what you are grateful for, L stands for what you have learned today, A stands for what you have accomplished today, and D stands for what has delighted you today.

Although these are brief notes and not writing pages, it helps us since it is short and concise. Below are couple journal pages as our examples.

4. Cook and eat one home made meal.

I know for many, if not most of us, this may be a routine but I also know that there are times when we may end up eating packaged or carry out food for days. This is a reminder for all of us that food is the fuel for our body, and what we put in is what makes this machine, a.k.a. our body work. The food is the energy and our body does respond to the nutrients and the ingredients we put inside it. Healthy eating is one of the most essential steps to leading a healthy life.

Over this quarantine period and staying at home, I have tried multiple new recipes. I try to always look for recipes made from scratch and minimize processed or packaged food. Below are the few pictures of home-made food prepared in the last week or so.

5. Take out time for connection.

It may be in the form of spending quality time with family or any loved ones, or it can be time reading something that you prioritize. Reading or talking relaxes you and your brain, and helps you make connection with others around you.

In my home, I read mostly online but also get a book or 2 from my kid’s bookshelf every now and then:)

In my earlier post on having an attitude of gratitude, I wrote about the mind set where we are given strength and the will power to be thankful by counting our blessings daily. We should not take things for granted and always should be able to look at what all we have instead of always worrying about what we may not have, or what is going on wrong in our lives. Here are the few basic things that we all can always be thankful for –

• Good health: self as well as family
• Home: rented or owned where you spend your nights at peace and protected from the natural elements
• Education or job or skill sets: what you have achieved in your life because of your prior experiences
• A spiritual guide: religious or not, spirituality is when you acknowledge the power that you are not in control and the confidence that things will always work out for you. It gives us the strength to continue when things may not be working our way. Faith moves mountains and is a pivotal step for confidence and contentment in life.
• Family or friends: social people that you have in your life whom you can rely on and reach out for help.
• Being able to give back to community: in any small ways as possible; remember that home is always the first place to start!

Wrap Up

In today’s post I wrote about 10 things to do daily. To summarize, life is not a battle to be won but rather a journey where you take out the time and chance to make and cherish beautiful moments. Please share your thoughts about what you do on a daily basis, that keeps you focused on the good in life and helps you lead a balanced life.