For more wellness, for more happiness in our lives, I definitely and strongly recommend we revisit these three areas in our lives.
Sleep. Meditation. Exercise.
Yes, these three items require us to set aside time and schedule it into our daily lives. But, when you do do it, it is almost guaranteed to make everything better. When you interview a successful person what is the one thing that contributed to their success, chances are it will be one of these.
Sleep. Sleep is so underrated. So underrated that I cannot understand it. I mean, how does one function without at least 8-10 hours of solid sleep at night. I mean, function properly. Smoothly. Like nothing in your life can ever go wrong kind of properly. I can make do with a minimum of 4 hours but you definitely will not be seeing the me who is striving, thriving, and performing at 100%. Chances are you will come across the cranky, sour, easily agitated, minimal creativity, negative Nancy me and so much more!
When you think about it, no car can run forever without refuelling. Our mobile phones cannot function perpetually without being recharged. Why on earth than do we humans think that we are somehow super humans who can function without minimal to no sleep?! Sleep is often the first thing we sacrificed when we are short of time. Truth is, this is probably the biggest non-negotiable we should be keeping sacred!
Without referring to science or any scientific studies, we all know that when we have had a good night’s sleep, we just feel a 100% better. We have all felt it before, whether or not we would like to admit it. You probably will not need a 10 hours snooze but you definitely a good quality snooze. The one thing I could not recommend enough is installing a sleep app on your smart phone. I personally use, Good Morning. You simply placed your device near or under your pillow so that the app can record any movement or noise throughout the night to determine if we are awake, in light sleep or in deep sleep. This later on generates a score of our sleep quality. You want a good or great night sleep! I also recommend turning your phone into a pure sleeping app device i.e. turn on Flight Mode or Do Not Disturb simply to avoid excessive radio magnetic waves being so close to your head!
Meditation. We spoke about before about this M word. It is simply tried and tested. It is also not as daunting as you would think! Everyone would have started their own meditation and mindfulness journey in their own ways. For the beginner, I really recommend some guided meditation. One of the popular apps out there is Insight Timer. You can choose from a variety of time duration to include meditation in your daily routines. And truth is. Even a 5 minute practice will lighten you up, give you more clarity, inject more calmness, sharpen your thinking and so much more!
There are now so many types of meditation practices and offerings out there. There is bound to one for you personally. Maybe you are into chakras. Maybe loving kindness is your thing. Maybe there is just that one soothing voice you can resonate with more than others. There is bound to be one! It has to be! You simply just have to put the initial ground work at the start and begin to reap the benefits on an ongoing basis. It is like searching for an apartment to live in. It is bound to take some work, some searching, and some digging in the process, but once we found it, it is time to make a home sweet home out of our place.
Exercise. I seriously and personally think that exercise is ecstasy. People out there don’t simply claim ‘movement is medicine’ or ‘motion is lotion’ simply for the fun for it, or that it sounded cool, or that because it rhymes, or anything like that. It is because there is so much truth to it. Scientifically, exercise releases endorphins and dopamines, which are feel good hormones. We may not feel like it leading up to our exercise but chances are we always come out the other end beaming and glowing. Two things we do need to knuckle down are time of the day and types of exercise.
Not everyone is born an early bird and not everyone enjoys an evening workout because it might keep them up during the night etc. So the first thing to really pin down is your own exercise clock. Is it best that you get it out of the way before hitting other items on your to-do list? Do you respond best if you are able to break your day into two halves and slot your workout during lunchtime? Or do you simply have the best piece of mind when it is at the end of the day after work which might also helps you sleep better? Get this right because it needs to fit with how you function. Otherwise, you are going to find any excuse under the sun to skip your workout.
Speaking of excuse, if you found something you truly enjoy then instead of avoiding it, you will be anticipating for it. So naturally, we have to find something which tickles our fancy. There is really no excuse here. It is 2018 and there is so much out there! From the good ol’ spin class, to group exercise classes, to yoga, to barre, to dance, to running groups, to personal training to Crossfit, to F45, to strength training…the list is virtually endless! Look for something that you truly enjoy. With the help of technology such as apps and YouTube and Google, exercise and workouts are now so readily available. The key is search for a movement-based activity we can enjoy. Which means, it doesn’t even have to be confined with the brick and mortar called a gym. It could be dance studio. It could be outdoor bootcamp. Swimming. You name it, I bet there is something for you.
There you have it. My three tips for more wellness and happiness in our lives. Which is what Living Simply Simon is based on at the end of the day. Active wellness. Because it is all holistic and interconnected. And it will all come full circle at the end of the day. Until next time, get more sleep in your life, try out guided meditation, and move more daily for more wellness and happiness in your life!
xx
Simon
PS you can now also checkout my new personal solo show podcast, https://anchor.fm/simon-ngo/embed/episodes/17-May-2018—Pilot-Episode-e1fvgj” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Pilot Podcast – Happiness Made Simple! I would love for you to check it out and let me know what you think!
Not Your Average Gaysian 