Chris Forte on how to start the new year in the most optimal way for body and spirit.
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It’s a new year! We have been taught to have a new year’s resolution every year: lose weight, go the gym more, go on a diet, etc. We have been taught to push ourselves full steam ahead for that instant gratification, and then quit once hit it’s too hard to maintain because of the quick fix approach.
In this light, I think is the right time to share my daily Spiritual Fitness routine which includes Body, Mind, Spirit/Soul work. I’ve added a new spiritual tool to my daily routine toolbox this year. This is a Spiritual Fitness Lifestyle that if incorporated anyway you like, will provide positive results in your life and make 2016 wonderful year.
Unless something out of the ordinary happens, I do this daily. I don’t sweat if I don’t do something due to something a life circumstance I cannot control. This is a lifestyle that, with an open heart and mind, can dramatically change your life within one year.
So what I’m about to outline here is to give us all the permission of one year–not an instant fix. Lasting, positive change rarely happens overnight, if ever. I’m sharing over 20 years of time-tested work that can be accomplished with the right attitude and with the openness to change. Ultimately that’s why all of us are here, to change. That’s the gift: to find ourselves, love ourselves unconditionally, be and live our purpose–the purpose to be ME or I.
Here is my daily routine:
- First thing in the morning when I wake is to give thanks and gratitude for life. 30 seconds
- Go to my bathroom, splash cold water in my face, look in the mirror and say, “I’m well, I’m happy, I have peace within.” 30 seconds
- Go downstairs and read my daily affirmation from my new 2016 “I Can Do It!” calendar from my friends at Hay House. (This is the new tool to my toolbox.) 10 seconds
- Do the rosaries with my cup of coffee. 10-15 minutes. This is a form of meditation and prayer for me. Most of the time, especially in the winter, I sit and do this in front of the fire. At other times, I walk around in a circle and stop to meditate after I complete a series. This I’ve been doing for 20 years and have had some amazing experiences. Find what kind of meditation, prayer, or conscious contact with God works for you–it doesn’t have to be the rosaries.
- Read three daily readers. 5 minutes. These are books which contain inspiring short passages or quotes.
All these morning practices take no more than 30 minutes. Doing this routine daily and putting the right stuff in our mind over and over is just like training our physical bodies. You are setting the tone for your whole day… in time, your whole life.
Throughout the day, anytime I’m in front of a mirror, I repeat this mantra: I am Love, I am Everything.
When it’s time for bed, I will read for 20 minutes. I like spiritual, personal development, and autobiographical books. My book stand holds anything I can learn from or that inspires me.
Lights out; give thanks and gratitude for the day and my life. 30 seconds.
Here what’s important: starting and ending every day giving thanks and being grateful. Over time, this can open one’s heart. It did and continues to do so for me.
You can see that I invest about an hour a day in this type of spiritual fitness. What made it possible over time is that I chose to let go of things that were in the way of me doing these routines. Like I mentioned before, if something comes up like I cannot do the rosaries because one of my children gets up earlier than usual, no sweat, it’s not meant to be done that day. I continue on with the rest of my daily routine.
I will do a future post on my physical fitness routine. From my experience, the one I shared today is way more important.
Live Brave,
Chris
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This article originally appeared on Chris Forte
Photo credit: Getty Images
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