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Wake Up & Stop: Starting Your Day with Quiet Time Is Key to Mindful Productivity

Wake Up & Stop: Starting Your Day with Quiet Time Is Key to Mindful Productivity by Barb Schmidt | #AspireMag

“When you arise in the morning, think about what a precious privilege it is to be alive. To breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

There was a time in my life when I’d wake up and start tackling my to-do list even before I got out of bed. I thought I had it all figured out, and if I just stuck to the script, my day would unfold in perfect order. My thinking and planning gave me a sense of control over the outside world, but I would often find myself trying to hammer things into place and feeling let down when they didn’t fit. Life often felt chaotic and stressful, and I knew deep down my methods weren’t working. Although I was being productive and running a chain of successful McDonalds’ franchises, my efforts were often at the expense of my happiness and inner peace.

When I was introduced to meditation thirty years ago and began my spiritual journey in earnest, I felt an enormous relief to discover that we really cannot control the outside world—no matter how detailed our to-do list is! Knowing this took a huge weight off my shoulders. What’s more, I learned that the only thing I really needed to take control of was my mind, as my thoughts themselves were the cause of the chaos I felt inside.

I have been sitting in meditation regularly first thing in the morning for nearly two decades. This quiet time gives me the opportunity to bring myself into balance before I go out into my day. It allows me to calm my mind of its chatter so that I can hear the whisperings of my heart. My intuition rises to the surface, and while I cannot stop my mind from thinking, my thoughts are more productive when they tune into my inner guidance.

When I am connected to myself—to my source of strength, peace, and confidence—every action I take is done with mindful intention. I am more productive because my awareness is focused on what needs to be done in the present moment to further the goals that are in alignment with my heart. In fact, I credit this part of my practice with giving me the strength and fortitude to accomplish all the nonprofit work I have done to spread the message of love and peace to others.

In my book The Practice: Simple Tools for Managing Stress, Finding Peace, and Uncovering Happiness, I offer a framework for structuring the day around practical spiritual tools. The first practice of the day is meditation. Instead of waking up and going, as we all tend to want to do, we find a quiet place to sit and just be—even if just for a few minutes. “Wake up and stop” may sound counterproductive as we’ve just woken up and we “should” get going, but meditating first thing in the morning has enormous benefits.

Think of your quiet time as preparation for the day. Would you leave your house in the morning without first checking your appearance in the mirror? Most likely not. So why go out into the world without first looking within for a few moments to put your inner appearance in order? When your inner world is calm, your outer world will be a beautiful reflection of this. You’ll find that you naturally accomplish what is important to you, as you fight less against “what is” and intuitively figure out how to work with it or around it.

If meditating first thing in the morning sounds impractical to you, let me offer a few suggestions for starting your day:

#1. Use a gentle alarm to awaken you in the mornings—no blaring music or annoying beeps, which can be quite agitating to the mind. Try setting your alarm for fifteen minutes earlier than usual so you don’t feel rushed.

#2. When you open your eyes, take in the sunlight and remember to be grateful for the precious gift of having another day on this earth. Turn off your alarm, stretch, and take a few deep breaths.

#3. If thoughts bombard you, allow them to pass without engaging them, as if they are storm clouds that are being swept away by a gentle breeze of mindfulness. Visualize the sunlight peeking through the clouds in your mind.

#4. Get out of bed. Don’t immediately engage the outside world by checking the notifications on your phone or turning on the news. Go ahead and do whatever you feel cannot wait, but ideally, if you are up a few minutes earlier than usual, there isn’t anything that must be done right away.

#5. Go to your meditation area—whether that is a cushion or chair in the corner of your room or another room entirely. Sit with the intention of being present to yourself for a few precious minutes.

#6. Find a position that is comfortable for you, settle in, and take a few deep breaths. Again, if thoughts come, allow them to drift away and turn your attention inward to access the still place inside you. Continue to breath. Sit quietly for five minutes or longer, resisting the urge to get up.

#7. When you’ve “checked in” with yourself and your meditation is over, thank yourself for setting aside this time to just “be.” Whatever challenges you face in the day ahead, know that the opportunity to live another day on this earth is a precious gift.

#8. Go about your day with the mindfulness that you are in alignment—body, mind, and heart. When these aspects of yourself are in sync, your actions will be in tune with your goals for the day. While not everything will unfold as planned, be assured that you are doing your best by being present to yourself, to the people in your life, and to the situations that arise.

This process of “wake up and stop” can last for as long or short as you would like. In my book, there are no rules for how long you need to meditate to get the benefits. When you carry your experience with you out into the world—even if you sit for just a total of five minutes—you will likely find that your day is naturally more productive and less stressful. The more you cultivate mindfulness through a regular practice of mediation, the more you will be able to focus on what needs to get done in the moment while finding enjoyment and fulfillment in your actions and experiences

Mindful productivity is when our life is in balance, time devoted internally and then taking this out into our external world. The choices and actions that we take will be in alignment with our highest, and greatest ideal. This is how I endeavor to live my life, and I find that it gives great meaning and purpose to everything I do. I wrote my book The Practice because it is one of my greatest wishes that we all learn to develop an inner knowing that life actually does unfold perfectly—maybe just not in the order we expect.

The practice of “waking up and stopping” gives us the opportunity to live our days more productively as well as in a more loving and compassionate manner. What better way is there to live our magnificent lives?

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About the author 

Barb Schmidt

Barb Schmidt is an international lecturer, life coach and author of “The Practice.” Barb is founder of Peaceful Mind Peaceful World, designed to promote dialogue in the greater community on the topic of inner peace by incorporating workshops and weekly teachings with Barb and many of her esteemed mentors, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Andrew Weil, and many others. Barb is also the founder of Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life, a non-profit organization through which she teaches The Practice, and is her tool for spreading her belief that “outer peace begins with inner peace.” Learn more at www.peacefulmindpeacefullife.org

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