Four Daily Habits That Can Change Your Life for the Better

Posted on October 22, 2020 by Sam Rafoss, One of Thousands of Health and Fitness Coaches on Noomii.

For most of my life I’ve studied personal development, spiritual development and metaphysics, the branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality. I came by it honestly from my parents. When I was growing up they read self-help books, listened to inspirational music and motivational tapes daily; and shared their wisdom whether I wanted to hear it or not! Decades later, here I am, eternally grateful they showed me the value of personal growth to develop self-confidence and success.

From all of my years of study and practice, there are four habits that I believe are life-changing. If you even choose one of these and make it a daily habit, it can have the power to change how you think, feel and act.

My first habit happens to be my favourite, meditation.

Meditation

Meditation is one of the most powerful tools to tune into what your soul is yearning for. Deep. I know. And I also know what you’re thinking “I’m don’t meditate” “I can’t sit still” “I can’t turn off my thoughts” “I won’t do it right”.

It was like that for me at the beginning too. I thought I had to listen to certain music, sit a certain way and feel a certain way. I bought CD’s with guided meditation and at times I fell asleep! Then I chastised myself for not doing it properly and would stop doing it because it didn’t seem to “work”. And I wasn’t even really sure what was supposed to happen. This approach went on and off for years – I’d “mediate” two or three times a week for a few months and write in one of my journals and then I’d stop for six months or more. Life would get “busy” and I thought I didn’t have time to meditate. After awhile I would start to miss the quiet time of meditation and the “messages” that often came through to me during the quiet time of introspection so I would start all over again. As I began to meditate more often, I knew I felt better. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was, I just knew I felt more at peace and balanced in my life.

I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions but I do make one promise to myself at the beginning of every year. Sometimes I make more than one, but I’ve made an agreement with my higher self, that as long as I keep one yearly promise, that’s personal growth.

Many years ago, the promise was “to meditate, pray and journal daily if even for 2 minutes, I would commit to do it before anything else”. As I declared that promise to myself and the Universe, I felt the shift within my heart and soul and I knew I would keep the promise.

Meditation is like exercise. The more you do it, the more your body craves and needs it. I feel “off” if I don’t meditate first thing in the morning. Some mornings, it may be a 2 minute silence and prayer for a blessed day and other mornings I leisurely meditate, pray and journal for over an hour.

I noticed after about six months of consistency that reoccurring messages kept showing up. I felt more confident in my personal and business decisions. When you mediate daily, you really tune into your intuition and can make sound decisions quickly. Let’s face it, in our fast-paced world; this is a bonus to learn to trust our intuition even when it doesn’t make logical sense.

I encourage you to try meditation. Try your “own” way. It can be just learning to sit in silence and listen to your own thoughts. If that doesn’t feel right to you and you need more structure, you may want to try a guided meditation. There are lots of different ones on You Tube.

The next habit is Appreciation.

Appreciation

It is so easy to identify what’s not working in our lives and dwell on it. We all go through disappointment and heartache. After my divorce a few years ago, I was at a very low point. I worried about my children, my business, and my finances. It was tough to shake out of my own pity party but I knew I had to if I was going to feel better personally and reach my business goals.

I remembered reading in one of the Law of Attraction books, Abraham-Hicks talking about “flooding your own vibrational patterns of thought with appreciation”. So that is exactly what I did. I began to focus on gratitude and appreciation for my family, my clients, my friends, my health, my finances. No matter what was happening, I chose to look for the silver-lining and there is always one if you look.

I’m not saying it’s easy. It takes a concerted effort to be aware of your thoughts and keep them positive, but I was determined to keep at it. Thoughts truly do drive what happens in your life. I soon realized whatever you appreciate, appreciates. Whatever you focus on expands is a fundamental principle of the Law of Attraction.

One of my favourite spiritual intuitive’s is Colette Baron-Reid. I printed and framed a quote of her’s to hang on my wall where I read it throughout the day – “What you are is what you attract”.
A powerful statement that reminds me, what I want to receive is what I have to give.
If I want happiness, I have to be happy. If I want health, I have to be healthy. You get it.

So I encourage you to appreciate and give thanks for everything in your life. Even the struggles and disappointments, give thanks, for they truly do make us stronger and lead us to the good.

Take a moment and reflect on the times in your life where the “darkness” led you to the “light” and give thanks and celebrate.

The third habit is good communication skills.

Communication

For good communication it is important to be honest with yourself and others. Have the courage to say what you really want. Never assume people can read your mind. Listen to your intuition and do what is best for you first. What I mean by this, is take care of your needs in order to be healthy and happy and you will be able to do the same for others. It is impossible to please all of the people in your life all of the time but some people do try hard to do just that.

Often women put themselves and their needs last. I used to say “yes” to everything early on in my entrepreneurial journey and it is what I see from many of my clients.

Women so often “over give” or worry about other people’s needs first. This comes from a place of good intention that usually results in the opposite. I’m sure you can think of many times you have said “yes” when you wish you would have said “no”. There is a balance between giving and receiving. When you “over give”, you get out of balance.

If you feel like you give too much, it’s time to practice saying “no”. It really is okay to say “no”. Often people are happy when you do. You are being honest with yourself and them. When you say “yes” and only can give a part of yourself, you are not really helping when you have stretched yourself too thin. It is a disservice to both parties.

The same goes for asking for what you want. Have the courage to ask for what you want.

You will never get what you want if you don’t decide what you want and communicate clearly with confidence and believe that you deserve it.

Whatever it is you want in life. You need to decide for yourself. Ask for help if you need it. There are many people who would gladly help you reach your goals, but you need to ask for what you want.

Don’t let fear hold you back from saying no or yes. I mean saying “yes” to investing in yourself and your business. Many women refuse to invest in themselves for fear of losing money or making a mistake.

Every successful entrepreneur I know, including myself, has had some bad experiences and lost some money along the way. It is part of the journey. Do not dwell on it. Learn from it and move on.

Look for what you can celebrate, the fourth habit.

Celebration

I used to be one of those people that only celebrated big goals. But did you know that your mind doesn’t know the difference between a big goal and a little goal? It’s like the “fight or flight” stress response in our body. I’m sure you’ve heard of it – it’s our body’s physiological reaction that occurs in response to a real or perceived threat. Basically, if our mind sounds the alarm, our body reacts whether we really do have to run away from a big bear chasing us or not. (It could be we are “stressed” because we are running late for work).

Well it’s the same with success our mind does not know the difference between achieving a big goal or a little goal. But here’s the magic. If you start to celebrate daily, every small step forward, every mini goal that brings you closer to your bigger goal, your successes multiply.

Just like what you appreciate, appreciates. When you focus on successes, it has you attract even more success. I know this because I’ve tried it and it works.

I remember when I made the decision to continue my part-time business after my divorce, years ago, I was stressed about not getting clients fast enough. I started to worry about finances and the snowball started rolling. Once again, I knew from studying metaphysics that I had to change what I was focusing on in order to get a different result. I started thinking about all of the things I had accomplished and realized that I truly had achieved many small goals that I hadn’t even acknowledged.

Once I reminded myself of this I got back on track. I started writing down small goals and checking them off each day and celebrating and giving thanks every night before I went to sleep. This practice helped me to focus on all of the good in my life and what’s working. I soon realized whatever I went to “sleep on” brought more of it. Most of the time, life is good and I go to sleep on good thoughts. Occasionally doubt and stress creeps in and I go to bed on a worrisome thought. Guess what?

My sleep is not as good and I awake feeling anxious and “out of sorts”. This is not a good feeling. The good thing is I know how to fix it quickly. I do know that sometimes my choices may be limited, but my thoughts are unlimited. I have complete control over how I think. When I choose positive thoughts and choose to celebrate the good, even in the midst of a seemingly bad situation or event, I get back what I focus on.

Acknowledge every success, no matter how small. Try keeping a daily log of all of your accomplishments. Give yourself a pat on the back and celebrate a little every day and see what happens.

If you are stuck and finding it hard to “look at the bright side” or notice your positive aspects, shift your self talk and say something like, “I’m on my way to feeling better, or I’m in the process of completing that project”. When you talk to yourself in softer, more general terms it can help to get you started on your way to feeling better and finding things in your life to celebrate, no matter how big or small.

These are my four daily habits for success: meditation, appreciation, communication and celebration. When you make even one of them a habit, it truly can be life-changing.