“This is a wonderful day. And I have never seen this one ever before.” — Maya Angelou
What if everyday of your life could be unique and wonderful?
I believe we all have the ability to create and enjoy a beautiful, satisfying and wonderful day….everyday!
You can start, by making small changes in your daily life.
Small Changes for Big Wonder
Sit down on your bed, just before going to sleep, and tell yourself that you will wake up tomorrow one hour earlier than usual. Repeat a few affirmations, so that your mind accepts this idea. Think for a while about the benefits you will gain by waking and getting up earlier, and about the things you can do in this extra hour.
Set your alarm clock to the appointed hour, and lie down on your bed. While in bed, watch the thoughts that pop up into your mind, but try to do so detachedly and without any tension. Just watch them calmly, and in a relaxed manner, until you fall asleep.
When the alarm clock rings in the morning, get up immediately, with a smile on your face.
Don’t give in to the desire to stay some more minutes in bed. Don’t listen to your mind, which will probably persuade you to stay in bed a little longer, because it is too early to get up.
Get up, wash, change your clothes, and sit down for prayer/meditation for about fifteen minutes, using any prayer/meditation technique that you know. If you do not know how to pray/meditate, just sit down and visualize some pleasurable and happy events from the past.
It is not enough just to wake up early. Often, after waking up, we do not get out of bed, but stay for some more minutes, and then fall asleep again. You have to persuade yourself to get out of bed immediately after you wake up.
It is pleasant to cuddle under the blankets, especially on a cold morning, but on this special day you need to get out of bed immediately. The feeling of pleasure and power you gain by getting immediately is greater than the pleasure of staying in bed.
I am not going to describe how to handle each and every action and situation during the day, as every individual has a different life and schedule. However, I am going to give some general examples and hints to help you design your own day.
Examples of How to design, create and enjoy a wonderful day…Everyday
1) Waking up earlier, gives you extra time in the morning. So why not enjoy a nourishing and tasty breakfast? Prepare something you love, something that you usually do not have the time to prepare in the morning. You have got the time today.
2) Endeavor to be aware of what you are doing throughout the day. When you eat, for example, pay attention to your food, and don’t read the newspaper or watch the television at the same time. If you do so, you will enjoy your food much more. In the same way, try to focus your attention on your other activities. Concentrating on what you are doing helps you do it better and more efficiently.
3) Remember to smile more often during the day. It is important that the smile is not an artificial one, but that it comes from inside you. Smiling makes you and other people feel happier.
4) Expect the best and do your best.
5) Be patient and tolerant toward others.
6) Be Kind: While driving your car, decide to be kind and tolerant of the other drivers. Stop at street crossings to let the pedestrians cross the street. Be courteous and considerate on the road. This behavior will make you, and the other drivers and pedestrians feel good. As a consequence, they too will be kind to other drivers and pedestrians, at least for a little while.
7) Smile: A good morning with a smile has a great influence on everyone. Greet the people who work with you, even if you have never done so before.
Coming to work with a strong intention to have a great day, and handling everything in a positive and decisive manner, will have its influence upon the people whom you come in contact with. This will help you to broadcast peace, good will and happiness.
Do your best to be nice and polite today, to your family, colleagues, friends, the seller at the grocery or supermarket, to the bus or cab driver, to the delivery boy and to anyone else you meet today. It is all a matter of inner attitude and choice.
Lets Exercise our power to choose a polite and considerate attitude.
One Positive Decision
Make a decision that during this special day, you are going to handle everything in a cool and calm way. If you need to meet someone or do something that usually makes you feel nervous or irritated, have a talk with yourself beforehand. Tell yourself that you are going to stay calm and relaxed, and that you are going to handle everything in the best way. If you feel you need it, make several mental rehearsals. Visualize yourself going through the situation in a very efficient way, and achieving a positive outcome.
Remember..Its Your Wonderful Day
In this special day act unhurriedly. Do your best to stay relaxed. Remind yourself often that it is your beautiful, wonderful day. Invite into your mind thoughts and feelings of happiness, satisfaction and competence. Imagine scenes and events from your past experiences, when you felt good and happy. By concentrating on these mental images you let the associated feelings and emotions well up again. Enjoy these good feelings, and try to go on enjoying them, even after you stop thinking about them.
Give Love Generously
When back home from work, what about a flower, a book, or some other small gift to your spouse and children? Even a smile, a hug or a kiss will do. You have tried all day to be kind to other people and stay positive. Do this at home too. Devote some quality time to your family. You have been out the whole day; now enjoy being together with them. Earning money to support your family is not enough. They need to feel your love and attention too.
Inspire Yourself
During this special day, make also some special effort to use your time more efficiently. Do not watch too much TV, and shorten the time that you read the newspaper. It is better to use this time to read something inspiring that will help you improve your life, or devote a few minutes to prayer/meditation in the afternoon or evening.
Time for Self
Don’t forget to devote some time for yourself. I have talked about meditation, but do also something that you love, such as reading a book, writing, devoting some time to your hobby, walking or any other physical exercises.
In conclusion:
The above are only suggestions to show you what you can do. You can adapt them to your specific situation with great ease.
At first try to design and live one wonderful day. Then enjoy another day like it. If you continue like this, you will turn this into a positive habit.
Today, remember, that its a beautiful day to have a wonderful day 🙂
Now its your turn…What do you think is a wonderful day? How do you make sure your day stays wonderful? Share your thoughts, tips and wisdom in the comments below. Lets learn from each other.
With Immense Love & Gratitude,
~Zeenat~
Counseling Psychologist/ Spiritual Counselor
Motivational Speaker/Naturopath
Holistic Healer/Writer
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Wonderful list and post Zeenat,
I believe the decision to have a good day is key, then the commitment to follow through with our choices and actions during the day. Giving, compassion, and self care are all great tools. Thanks for your consistent positive attitude backed up by useful actions that we can take. Brad
Dear Zee,
I love this article – and designing a wonderful day. My favorite tip though is to Smile! To me this is the simplest way to change my mood, my outlook and my energy and it works every time. I was going to write that smiling is like a “secret weapon” but actually, it’s more like a “magic wand.” With one smile you can change the trajectory of your entire day.
Thank you for your positivity and I feel it wrap around me each time I visit your beautiful site.
xoxo,
Angela
lots of wonderful ideas… most days this absolutely works, somedays not so much, but those are few and thankfully I’ve seen them shift so many times they no longer frighten me… because I know sadness is temporary, joy always returns.
Just lovely Zeenat. I’m a smiley Susan already and you’d be amazed at how many people smile back. Nah, you probably wouldn’t because you experience this already. I love the idea of just choosing/intending to have a wonderful day and your list is a super way to do this.
Love Elle
xoxo
Dear Zeenat,
You always provide the best advice for enjoying a happy and healthy life. I think our intentions are valuable whether one is going to work, school, etc:
“Coming to work with a strong intention to have a great day, and handling everything in a positive and decisive manner, will have its influence upon the people whom you come in contact with. ”
Well said.
Im gonna try this today 🙂
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Dear Zeenat – So many useful strategies in this post written in only the way that you can- on this given day – ‘Expect the best and do the best’ is what grabs me- it’s a great way for me to start my week. xxoo-Fran
One thing that I find makes my day better – no matter what – is to say THANK YOU. Thank you to the bus driver, thank you to the Starbucks barista handing me the coffee, thank you to my trainer at the gym for inspiring me to push through the difficult exercises. I love those two little words because they always make a difference. 🙂
My tips :
_Put more effort into your appearance to increase confidence and boost self-esteem.
_Listen to some music. Make sure it isn’t so loud that it becomes overpowering. Try to keep_it relaxing.
_Go to the library/bookstore and get a book…..
great article Zeenat thank you so much for sharing these tips with us .
Zeenat, cant agree more with the importance of starting our days with a small meditation or prayer to have a wonderful day . Also smiling more often and greeting anybody with a lovely smile can create a such a nice mood that it goes a long way to make our days special. These are just very simple and small acts but they do create amazing results. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Dear all,
Thank you for sharing your loving thoughts here. I have read all your loving comments and am so thankful for all you share.
I would respond to each and every comment…but have been so caught up with some passport renewals etc..and you know how government lines etc can be. Am physically exhausted. Pray this phase passes by fast..so that I can be back to blogging happily without exhausting distractions.
Sending you all lots and lots and lots of love~
I love this. I try to pay attention to my thoughts, which often try to trick me into being negative. We have to consciously change old habits.
Great post Zeenat
For me, I try to live the “be thankful” one. I think it’s very good advice to always thank the people in your life who make your life better. Even if you’re paying them! Say thanks to the person at the drive through, because they are fulfilling a need of yours, and so on.
thank you for sharing these useful tips