On a scale of 1 (low energy) to 10 (high energy), determine the time of day when you’re at your best. Spend a week on this exercise so you have an accurate picture of how you feel during an average workday.

Repeat the same process with your routine tasks. Make a list of everything you do and assign each task a number (again, 1 = low energy, 10 = high energy).

 Evaluate your daily work responsibilities and put them in order of priority. Some will go on a daily task list, while others will be done weekly, quarterly or even annually. The important thing is to know what truly matters for your job.

At the beginning of each day, select three to five MITs (Most Important Things) that need to be done that day and do those first. Only when they’re completed should you work on other tasks. Also, pay close attention to your energy levels. When you feel unproductive, switch tasks and do a task that doesn’t require a lot of thought or concentration.

 At the end of each day, evaluate what you’ve accomplished. If you completed the important tasks, then stick to the same routine. But if you struggled with your tasks, identify the leaks in your productivity and plug them. Finally, before you leave work, make tomorrow’s to-do list.

There are many obstacles that prevent you from having a stress-free, productive work environment. The good news is, if you’re smart about how you prioritize tasks, it’s not hard to stay focused.

 We suggest adopting a few habits:

Strategy #1: Kill the monkey.

This is a dangerous mindset where you let the thoughts in your head negatively impact the task you’re currently working on.

The best way to kill monkey mind is to jot down the thought on a piece of paper (even on your to-do list), then explore the idea when you’re not focused on a specific task.

 Part of the reason we recommend the Pomodoro Technique is that it forces you to focus on a task and ignore all distractions. If you strictly adhere to this concept, then you don’t “count” a task if you break concentration and do something else. The idea here is to teach you the discipline necessary to kill the monkey that often pops into your head.

Strategy #2: Close out email.

Email that is open all the time is too tempting. Even if you don’t respond to email as it comes in, the pinging notifications are often distracting enough to weaken your resolve and break your focus. Master your email by designating specific times for it; otherwise it will master you.

Strategy #3: Find the right noise levels.

Some people need absolute silence, while others need white noise to block out distracting sounds in their environment. It all depends on what works best for you. If you like to listen to music, experiment with different styles until you find one that helps you be more productive with each type of task. Steve prefers classical and relaxing music while writing, but he needs upbeat music when he’s working on mundane tasks.

 Strategy #4: Manage (or avoid) meetings.

Depending on your work situation, you may not have control over the meetings you attend, but if you do, keep the following tips in mind:

• Conduct meetings standing up. You can keep a chair or two in the room in case anyone really needs to sit down, but if the majority of the people are standing, the meeting won’t last long.
• Set an agenda for the meeting. Send it to attendees ahead of time so they have an opportunity to propose important items before the meeting starts. This keeps the point of the meeting clear and helps prevent you from falling down a rabbit hole of tangential topics.
• Put a time limit on each topic. People will learn to get the important things out fast and focus on work-critical conversations.
• Only invite people to the meeting if they absolutely need to be there. If you have 10 people at a meeting that takes an hour, you’ve used 10 man-hours, when perhaps only 3 were needed.

Most meetings are an incredible waste of time and human resources. We suggest that you either avoid meetings when you can or look for ways to streamline the entire process.

Strategy #5: Avoid multitasking.

You may feel you get more done when multitasking, but countless studies (like this one) have proven that people’s productivity diminishes when they engage in this activity.

In fact, multitasking reduces creativity, causes a higher ratio of mistakes and makes it harder to remember important details. We recommend that you work on one activity at a time and nothing else.

Strategy #6: Know how to deal with interruptions.

 You don’t always have as much control over your day as you’d like. What often happens is your workday becomes a series of interruptions, making it impossible to stay productive because you constantly have to deal with them.

Interruptions range from minor irritations (such as an unexpected phone call) to major problems (e.g., illness or the death of a family member). They also include major life changes such as getting married, giving birth or making a job change.

When these interruptions happen, it’s easy to fall out of your routine. Whether you fail to complete your tasks for one day or drop your entire exercise routine, interruptions definitely make it difficult to stay on track.

We all encounter interruptions, but what separates the successful people from everyone else is knowing how to handle them when they occur. Here are a few ways to do this:

•  Accept the fact that interruptions will happen— they are a fact of life. What you can control is your response to these random events.
• Create interruption buffers. Identify how you’re often interrupted (phone calls, text messages, email or people in your office) and take a proactive approach that prevents them from happening when you’re engaged in an important task.

As an example, you could wear a pair of noise-canceling headphones at work. Even if you’re not listening to music, this often acts a subtle signal to co-workers that you’re working on something important.

• Choose the items that always (or almost always) merit interrupting you. For instance, Rebecca has decided that when her 83-year-old mother calls, she has time to talk with her, even if she’s in the middle of doing something “important.”
• Give yourself a break. The important thing is to allow a certain amount of time for a break and schedule a specific time (or date) to resume your routine.
• Rediscover your motivation. It’s not healthy to rely on motivation alone, because it’s not always possible to stay motivated. But if you’re failing at your routines, it can be helpful to remember why you added certain things to your daily routine in the first place.
• Start over. If your routine completely fails and you lose all momentum, simply have the courage to start from scratch. This can be discouraging, but it is better than never getting back to it.

We all have interruptions. The important thing is to understand that they happen and to have a plan for when they occur.

Strategy #7: Learn to say no.

People often say yes when they should say no. There are many reasons why we do this— like not wanting to disappoint someone. But saying yes to everything puts a huge strain on your time and productivity. Do this enough and it’ll kill the success of your daily routine.

 Just remember this: Whenever you say “yes” to a request, you say “no” to something else in your life.

 Of course, there might be some people you feel you can’t say no to, such as a boss. If that’s the case, practice the “yes, but” method.

For example, you can say, “Yes, I’d be happy to do [requested item], but that will put me behind on [another important item]. Would you prefer that I do [requested item] first, or would it be better for me to focus on [the other important item] instead?”

 Keep in mind that saying no isn’t rude, and there are many ways to say no without using the word “no.” For instance, you can say something like, “Thanks so much for considering me for this fantastic opportunity, but I don’t have the bandwidth to do it justice right now.”

That approach affirms the person and opportunity without forcing you to give in to a request that isn’t right for you.

 Strategy #8: Eliminate inefficiencies.

There are many tasks you simply don’t need to do, and it may be possible to minimize others. For instance, a housewife may feel the need to vacuum every day, even if doing so once or twice a week is sufficient.

In other cases, a task needs to be done, but not necessarily by you. Using vacuuming as an example, the mom can perhaps delegate that task to one of her older children.

 If you’re a business owner, or in a management position, focus on the tasks that can only be done by you and delegate the rest to others.

Other tasks can be automated. For instance, you can set up email filters to automatically delete certain types of emails. A great resource for reducing time spent on computer-based tasks is the “If This, Then That” (IFTT) website. Use this tool to create recipes that streamline many services like Facebook, Evernote, FitBit, Twitter and Dropbox. To get started, just enter a site/ device that you regularly use and IFTT will provide a number of ideas for automating these processes.

Strategy #9: Use productivity tools.

In addition to IFTT, there are a number of tools you can use to reduce the amount of time you spend in front of a computer.

Rescue Time is a time-management program that monitors what you do on a computer and provides a daily report of your productivity.

Unroll.Me is a simple tool that hunts down all your subscriptions so you can look at them in a single email, unsubscribe from unwanted lists or ignore the email and keep it “as is.”

Sanebox is a third-party program that works with all email clients. Its purpose is to only allow important messages to show up in your inbox. The rest are sent to a separate folder. Then, at the end of the day (or at a time you specify), it will send you a message that contains everything in the “separate” folder.

Gmail (and other email services) has a tool for creating “canned responses” for common questions. You can use this to decrease the amount of communication you do through email.

If you don’t have Gmail, then TextExpander (for Mac) or FastFox (for PC) can help you quickly craft messages that are common to your particular job.

We currently live in an amazing age with infinite options for streamlining work activities, but you might have to do a little digging to identify the tools that work best for your work style and job responsibilities.

It’s been said that we spend one-third of our time working. Because of this, it’s critical to systematize your day so you get the most important things done first, without succumbing to the idea that you need to complete every task on a daily basis.

Being productive isn’t about getting more time so you can work more. Instead, you should strive to be productive to spend as much time as possible doing what you love and spending time with the people who truly matter.

To quote Senator Paul Tsongas, “Nobody on his deathbed ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.’”

If you work at the traditional 9-to-5 job, set the expectation that you don’t respond to email, text messages or phone calls when you’re not in the office. If you work from home, designate space in your home as office space and, from here on out, choose to work in only that one location.

Identify where you want to be five years from now, not just in business, but in other areas of life as well. Try one of three strategies to identify what you truly want:

1. Identify your personal passions.

“Find your passion” is a popular phrase gurus love to throw around. That said, there is something to be said about doing what you truly love. Sadly, though, many people aren’t even aware of what they want from life.

Instead, they’ve allowed the drudgery of a 9-to-5 existence to dull their desire to do anything of significance. You can’t figure out what you want from life with a simple exercise. It’s a process that often takes weeks— even months— to complete. One of Steve’s friends (Barrie Davenport) has an interesting book on this subject called The 52-Week Life Passion Project. While you don’t necessarily need a whole year to figure out what you want from life, you can use the multitude of exercises in this book to unlock what you truly want.

2. Create S.M.A.R.T. goals.

We get it—“ finding your passion” might be too woo-woo for you. Perhaps you’re someone who likes turning life goals into measurable daily actions. If that’s the case, then another option is to create a series of S.M.A.R.T. goals. S.M.A.R.T is an acronym for: Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-bound Now we purposely avoided the topic of S.M.A.R.T. goals until the end of this book, because most people create goals that are focused purely on work-related tasks. While setting work-related goals is important, it pales in comparison to using them to improve the quality of your life. We suggest that you set a series of goals in seven different areas: health, relationships, business, finance, leisure, spirituality and community. If you get stuck, ask yourself these questions:

• What are your heartfelt desires for you and your family?
• What have you always dreamed of doing?
• What activities make you feel inspired and driven?
• What thoughts give you goose bumps while imagining them?
• What things have you always wanted to own?
• What uplifts you spiritually?

The key to these questions is to take action. Don’t just write down an idea and say you’ll do it someday. As  you probably know, when you say “someday,” it often turns into “never.” The best way to achieve a goal is to treat it like a project and turn it into a series of steps. For instance, if you have a goal to take a two-week trip around Italy, you should break it down into a series of actions:

• Create a sample itinerary of the places you’d like to visit.
• Determine how much the trip would cost.
• Look for travel discounts and potential trip packages.
• Set up an automatic savings plan for this trip.
• Use a site (like Kayak.com) to get the cheapest available flight.
• Book the hotel rooms.

The point here is that we all have dreams, but not many people will take the time to figure out how to make them happen. The simplest way to do what you want is to create a goal and turn it into a step-by-step action plan.

3. Add bucket list items to your daily plans.

You’ve probably heard people talk about their bucket lists. These are the high-level experiences and challenges they’d like do before… you know… they kick the bucket. Sometimes the best way to spend your time isn’t looking for personal passions or achieving small goals. Instead, you might want to spend your time pursing those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

It might sound trite, but the simplest way to identify what you want is to imagine your future self lying on your deathbed. What are the things you’d regret not being able to do? What are the things you’d be most proud to have achieved? What relationships did you most enjoy? What experiences gave meaning to your daily existence? What lives did you improve through your actions and efforts? The point behind this exercise is to reverse-engineer the rest of your life. The “death bed analogy” is the simplest way to know what’s really important and what will ultimately be a waste of your time. The items you write down from this experience will become your bucket list.

Bucket lists provide an opportunity to do amazing things in your life, but you don’t have to fly to a different continent or get chased down a street by a pack of angry bulls to find meaning. Instead, you could slow down and learn to appreciate the world around you.

No matter what, schedule time to work on those goals and consider how you can incorporate small steps toward accomplishing them into your daily routines.

Choose a way to practice stillness, such as praying or journaling. Begin to practice this daily. For best results, start small (e.g., five minutes a day). You could also start a gratitude journal. If journaling isn’t your thing, try a different tactic for expressing gratitude. For instance, make a point of telling one person what you appreciate about them each day.

Cycling is a low-impact exercise that goes easy on your joints, but an effective cardiovascular activity. You can cycle around the tracks, the road, in the gym or join a cycling club. Even for small daily works you can cycle the way which serves both as exercise again work. It pumps your heart and helps in smooth blood flow, as well as tones your body muscles and strengthens too.

Your body is built for walking. Walking is a natural way to keep your body fit, no matter whether you walk for miles on a treadmill or the jogger’s park. Make sure that you grab on the comfortable pair of walking shoes, plug in your iPod and get going.It is thousand times better walk a little, rather than sitting down idle on the couch in front of the television.

Running is like a blessing to someone who is willing to shed some weight and reduces risk of heart disease. A person weighing 150pounds can burn up to 100 calories by running a mile. No doubt, it has been regarded as one of the best exercises for all (except for individuals with physical limitations or injuries).Warm up for a minute or two before you run. And, if you’re a beginner then mix run for couple of minutes in the middle of walking for five minutes. As soon as you get used to it, increase the minutes you run.

Pool is not only a place for you to float around lazily, but a perfect and safe alternative exercise for you if you’re suffering from joint pains. Water creates a multi-directional resistance over your body, which you overcome while swimming. This improves your muscle strength and improves your heart health.

The unsaturated fat of fish is known to us as omega-3 fatty acid. It reduces inflammation that damages the blood vessels. It lessens triglycerides, lowers blood pressure, reduces irregular heartbeats and thus decreases the chances of stroke or heart attack. To get the health benefits from fish, learn to add a healthy amount of fish to your diet;

Food with omega-3 fats

• They raise the good cholesterol level and are proven to be beneficial for heart.
• Have cold-water fish like salmon, herring, tuna, mackerel and sardines at least twice a week.
• Have goal to have fish twice a week.
• Walnuts, soybean oil, canola oils are other good sources of omega-3.

Sodium in body holds onto water. This exerts pressure on the blood vessels and heart, leading to high blood pressure. High blood pressure is one of the risk factors associated with heart disease. Hence you need to check your sodium intake;

Limit your sodium intake

• It maintains blood pressure. African, Americans, people of 51 or older diagnosed with high blood pressure, kidney disease or chronic disease shouldn’t have more than 1500mg daily while healthy adults can have no more than 2300mg.
• Avoid extra salt to the food.
• Avoid packaged would where salt is used as a preservative.
• While purchasing, choose what contains less than 300mg per servings.
• Avoid meats like bacon and sausage
• Using sea salt in cooking is advisable as the sodium content is low.
• Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables have less sodium.

Nuts and seeds are great snacks. They contain important nutrients like Vitamin E, Plant Sterol, Unsaturated fats, Fiber, L-arginine, Omega-3 fatty acids which lowers low-density lipoprotein or LDL or bad cholesterol. It improves the lining of the arteries and thus reduces risk of fatal heart diseases.

Nuts & Seeds is of 80% fat, though healthy one. So you are advised to have only in small serving.

• 5-6 nuts are a serving size for nuts like walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews, almonds, and mixed nuts.
• Select dry roasted rather than cooked in oil.
• Avoid nuts that are coated with chocolate, salt or sugar. They are no good for your heart.
• To settle on the serving size for other nuts and seeds read the food labels.
• Nut oils also contain omega-3, saturated fats but no fiber. Don’t over heat it tastes bitter. Use it moderation.

Check the proportion

• Don’t eat until you feel stuffed. It is important to keep a track of number of servings you eat.
• Go for more of food which are low-calorie, nutrient-rich and avoid fast food, processed food, which are rich in sodium, calorie.
• What you eat and how much you eat, both are equally important. It is a skill to judge the serving size like one serving of pasta is ½ cup, again for fish, meat or chicken it is 2 to 3 ounces.

Prepare your meal menu ahead

Now that you know what is good for your heart and what not, you are all set to get into action. Create your own daily menus emphasizing mainly on vegetable, fish, fruits, whole grains. Strike a balance and ensure that your body gets all the required nutrients. And, same time varieties can make it interesting.

Place one hand over the center of your chest. With your other hand, tap on the valley between the ring and little fingers, above the knuckle, towards the wrist. This is referred to as the gamut point. Breathe deeply, inhaling like you are smelling a rose and exhaling like you are blowing out a candle. Tap firmly about 10 times. Pause and take a deep cleansing breath. Tap about 30 more times. If you are still feeling fearful, tap on the other hand. If you feel better after tapping for one minute, imagine how good you might feel after three minutes!

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Make a three-finger notch out of the index, middle finger, and thumb of the right hand, and place them in the V of the throat right above the collarbone. Lay your left hand flat across your left side of your head with your fingers flat on your temples. Take three to five slow, deep breaths. Change hands and repeat on opposite side.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Right over each eye, in the middle of your forehead, are neurovascular reflex points which calm the nervous system and can be used to reprogram emotional and mental responses to stress and trauma. These are great points to hold for any emotional overwhelm. Hold these points on yourself or have someone else hold them for you. Help calm a child or another adult by holding these points for a minute or two.

Place your open, flat palm on your forehead while thinking of your stressor – or don’t think of it, it’s up to you. Take in a few deep breaths – breath in, like you’re smelling a rose, and then slowly breathe out like you are blowing out a candle. Try and hold your forehead long enough so that you can feel a pulse underneath your hands. That’s a sign that blood is coming back into your forebrain. This is a good thing! It means your body is exiting its elevated Triple Warmer state and realizing that it doesn’t have to run or fight. Having enough blood in your brain so you can think clearly is a very nurturing gift to give yourself!

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Using the electromagnetic energy of our hands, we can anchor our attention and intention to the calming of our body’s energies. This self-care exercise takes about a minute to calm down the stress response but it is worth its weight in gold. The more often you do it, the better you will feel. Rubbing neurolymphatic points brings core life energy, also called chi or prana, to your constantly changing and evolving energy systems.

Starting at the navel, move your hands one inch above your navel and then one inch out to either side of your navel. Using the tips of your fingers, rub these points deeply for 10-30 seconds.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Put your right hand on the left seam of the side of your body, underneath your breast. Wrap your left hand around your right arm, holding just above the elbow. Hold this position for at least three deep breaths. Reverse sides, again holding for at least three deep breaths. Who knew hugging could feel so nurturing?

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Wrap your right hand around your left arm, above your left elbow. Put your left hand under your left knee with your fingers pointing inward. Hold this position for one to two minutes, while breathing deeply Switch by holding your left hand above your right elbow. Wrap your right hand below your right knee. Hold this position for one to two minutes, while breathing deeply. It’s important to remember that you hold both points on the same side of the body, then switch sides.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Rest your face in your hands, wrists touching with your fingers at your temples. Hold this position for two breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Inhaling deeply, lift your flat palms two or three inches, smoothing from your temples to above your ears. Exhaling, slide your palms down and behind your ears. With firm pressure, continue down the sides of your neck, and hang your hands on top of your shoulders, pressing your fingers into them. Stay in this position for two deep breaths. Then drag your fingers slowly over your shoulders with pressure, and draw your hands down to the middle of your chest on your heart chakra. Take a deep breath, and feel compassion for yourself. Each smoothing behind the ears takes only about 20 seconds, so if you did this simple routine three times, you would have one full minute of deliberate nurturing self-care.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Tune into your level of stress. Take a deep breath as you bring both of your arms straight out in front of you with your palms clenched holding all that stress. Keep your arms straight and solid so they feel like they are two unyielding steel bars. Hold, hold, hold your breath, squishing the muscles in your face. Keep holding your arms out in front of you with your palms clenched as tight as you can. Now, exhale audibly as you drop those arms down. Do this two more times. Feel how much better you feel, and bring this feeling to the rest of your day!

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

You can do this active meditation while you feel stressed, or here’s another idea, before you feel stressed. Sit comfortably with your spine straight and arms and legs uncrossed. Close your eyes and watch your breath. Slowly inhale and exhale for a minute or two.

Now tense your right leg and foot as you hold your breath. Tense it more… hold, hold, hold, release, exhale, and let your leg drop. Do the same with the left leg and foot. Inhale and hold your breath as you tense the muscles of your buttocks. Hold, hold, hold, and release your butt downward as you exhale. Tense your shoulders and raise them up towards your ears as you hold, hold, hold, and exhale while letting your shoulders drop. Tense your right arm and hand as you inhale and hold, hold, hold, exhale, and release. Repeat with your left arm. Now open your eyes widely, open your mouth and stick out your tongue. Release, and now scrunch up the muscles of your face. Exhale and relax. Scan your body to see if there is anywhere else you need to focus. Feel how much tension has left your body.

Bring this ease into the rest of your day.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Sit tall in your chair. If possible, turn away from the computer monitor, or even better, shut it off. Silence your phone and any other devices in the room. Look out of the window or at something beautiful in your space. Slip your shoes off if you can, and feel your feet flat on the floor. Let your spine grow long. Take a deep breath in through your nostrils and let it out slowly through your nostrils. Relax your jaw. Release your tongue. Ease your eyes.

Take another deep breath IN, and at the same time roll your shoulders UP towards your ears. On the EXHALE, roll your shoulders BACK and down (let the shoulder blades try to kiss each other.) Do this three to five times, inhaling as you roll your shoulders up towards your ears, and exhaling as you roll your shoulders all the way back and down. Set an alarm, and do this exercise for one minute every hour. You will have less stress, more energy, better clarity, and more ease in your day.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

You are going to rub the area where your arm meets your torso, called arm attachment stress points. With your left hand, find the area on the right side of your body where your arm joins your torso. With pressure, massage the length of your arm-body connection. Breathe through any uncomfortableness: inhale through your nose like you are smelling a rose and exhale out of your mouth like you are blowing out a candle.

If any area is tender, it means rubbing it is beneficial. Switch sides and rub the other arm attachment points.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

First, while standing, begin with the homolateral walk or march. Lift your left leg and left arm at the same time. As you let them down, raise your right leg and right arm at the same time. Repeat this march six times. Now, cross crawl march. Lift your left leg and right arm up at the same time. As you let them down, raise your right leg and left arm up at the same time. Repeat this cross-crawl six times. Do the homolateral march six more times. Do the cross-crawl twelve more times. Always end this sequence with twice as many cross-crawls to remind your body that you want it to remember to cross the midline.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Stand with your open hands on your thighs with your fingers spread. Feel the energy travel down your legs, and imagine your feet connecting to the earth. Inhaling deeply, circle your arms widely over your head until the fingertips and thumbs of each hand meet, making a pyramid. (Keep your hands in this pyramid position throughout the exercise.) Exhaling, bring your fingers down to your crown chakra at the top of your head. Inhale.

Exhaling, bring your thumbs to your third eye, the point between your eyebrows. Inhale. Exhaling, bring your thumbs down to the point between your breasts, known as the Sea of Tranquility. Inhale. Exhaling, bring your thumbs down to your navel, and flatten your hands so they are resting in a pyramid shape beneath your navel. Inhale. Exhaling, bring your flattened palms back to the starting position on your thighs. Inhale. Exhaling, smooth your open hands down your legs and bend over, hanging your hands down by your sides. Inhale. Keep bending over as you exhale. Inhale and return to standing. Exhale as you are standing.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Your aura can be massaged! This will help you feel soothed, balanced, and more peaceful. Briskly rub both of your hands together. This clears off any stuck energy while simultaneously energizing your hands. With open hands, place your hands a few inches above your head and slowly massage your aura’s energy downward. Sweep the energies from your head down off your toes. Experiment with different movements: try slow or fast and short or long movements. When you are done sweeping the energy downward, try fluffing your aura. With both hands, roll your aura’s energy forward, with your hands circling one another, as if rolling a ball up your body. Pay attention to any areas where you want to linger. Choose for this to be a way to interact with your own energy as you bring yourself to the present moment.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Take a one minute walk around the inside of your home. Notice all the abundance you have. Open the pantry and refrigerator, and notice all the food you have that you didn’t need to gather or hunt. Walk to the faucet and feel grateful for running, clean water that flows right out of the pipes. Go to your closet, and run your hands over all your clothes as you feel this abundance of material possessions. Not everyone has this abundance. Don’t forget that.

Choose to feel grateful for what you have. Thank the roof over your head, your warm bed and your soft pillow. Move into your day with this gratitude in your heart.

Choose to feel grateful for what you have. Thank the roof over your head, your warm bed and your soft pillow. Move into your day with this gratitude in your heart.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

When you wake up, lie in bed for a few moments and decide that as soon as you place your feet on the floor, gratitude will be your first utterance of the day. As you place your feet on the floor, speak your thankfulness out loud:

“I am thankful for another day on this planet, thank you for these strong feet. I am blessed to live in a country with toilets and running water. Thank you for these lungs which breathe me, thank you for my tongue which allows me to speak. Thank you for this water for my tea. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for such a soul-full ritual to begin my day.’

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Sit for a moment and feel a bubble of energy around you, like a beautiful glowing ball of light. Imagine this protective sphere is pulsing with clear oxygen. Like the movement of air produced by fan, this oxygen is effortlessly circulating all around you. Now imagine that you are flowing like the stream of air, fluidly, and easily. As you bask in the luminous light and free-flowing air, visualize that an invisible power moves with you, helping you travel through your day with a sense of magical grace and ease. The law of attraction teaches us that what we focus on expands. Focusing on life being more graceful and filled with ease is worth putting your attention on. Why not focus on creating more grace and ease in your life? What have you got to lose except that stress?!

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Find a place to sit quietly for a few moments. Bring to mind a time when you felt you did something so wrong that you could not be forgiven… you still haven’t forgiven yourself. Imagine, sense, and perceive a bright light, at the top of your head glowing down into you. Let this light embody God, Goddess, Spirit, Source and feel this energy beaming through you, around you, above you and below you. Feel this light shining within you, filling you with love and forgiveness. Decide to put down any grievance you have with yourself. Experience yourself standing powerfully in this present moment in this precious day. Feel how much lighter you feel. Thank this light for its healing presence as you move into the rest of your day with clearer frequency.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Remembering that mistakes are normal and natural, actively teach yourself (and your children) how to be accountable by rectifying a mistake following this simple three-part message: 1. Say what happened in a neutral way-a just-the-facts type of communication. “I really wanted you to get ready quicker, so I threw your coat at you and accidentally hit you in the face.” 2. Say “I made a mistake.” 3. Then ask, “What can I do to help?” Perhaps your child will want a hug, perhaps you can do it over again and toss the coat more gently. Perhaps a smile is all that is needed to clean up the situation. If you consciously use this three-part-message as an accountability tool, you will learn responsibility, forgiveness and great communication skills.

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At the end of your day, before you crawl into bed, either using your hands or a feather, begin at the top of your head, and pull the unwanted energies down and off of your body and your energy field. Imagine, sense, and perceive a hole in the floor, and put those energies down the hole into the earth. If something in your life feels particularly heavy, slowly drag your hands and gather this heavy energy. Clean the energy on and around you. Now, feel that your aura, the energy that emanates from you, is clear and ready for your dreamtime. Peaceful dreams…

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No doubt about it… every single one of us makes mistakes! Think of a mistake that you made. (You don’t have the power to change anyone else’s mistake!) What do you need to do to make this mistake right? What needs to happen for you to let go of that wish I hadn’t done that feeling? Do you need to apologize? Do you need to call someone and talk it out? Do you need to forgive yourself? If you don’t take time to make the mistake right, it’s like dragging a dead horse behind you all the time. It’s dead and done with. You can’t change the past. Make it right and you will feel so much lighter.

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If a friend asks you to do something, and you feel a clenching in your belly, stop and take a deep breath. Pay attention to what your gut is telling you. Just pretend you are a toddler and your time is your own. NO, it’s mine! It’s okay to say no. It’s healthy to say no. No is a strong self-care word. If you are having a hard time saying no, tell her you need some time to think about it. “I’ll get back to you tomorrow,” gives you time to think about how to take care of yourself. Remember, women have been taught to take care of everyone else. Nurturing others is a very good thing, just not at the expense of you. Say no. No. No. No. No. No, thank you for asking me.

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Each choice you make today will evoke feelings of joy, stress, happiness, and anger... all respectable responses. In taking the high road on the spiritual path, will you choose anger, or will you choose bliss? Today, if you are at the bank, could you choose to chat with others in line instead of silently fuming at the length of the line or the slowness of the tellers ? If your computer crashes, will you incessantly call the local computer wiz or will you exhale, knowing the computer will be returned when it is ready... at the perfect time. Both are choices, both within our rights as humans. What type of day do you want to create? Everything teaches us... the computer, the bank teller, the slow talker at the meeting who is never on subject, the cashier, your neighbor, the dog. They all gift us choices in every moment.

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Cross one arm over your chest, place it on your opposite shoulder, and rub away for an entire minute. Make some noises: moan, grunt, and let the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ out… you know you want to. Breathe in deep, rich breaths and exhale your newfound relief. Now switch sides and take another minute, a full sixty seconds.

Two whole minutes just for you, precious self-care time. After these two blissful minutes, notice how much lighter your load is. The benefits of these quick massages are cumulative. A quick massage today, another tomorrow, and before you know it, those shoulders will feel more and more tended to. As you re-enter your day, try to keep your shoulders down and a bit more relaxed. Remember, you don’t have to carry it all!

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Set a time for 30 minutes. When the timer goes off, stop what you are doing and take a minute to yourself. Breathe in and out three times… take nice slow deep breaths. Smile and feel that sweet energy fill you up as you re-connect to yourself. Bring this mindfulness into your work.

Don’t forget to set the timer again for another 30 minutes!

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When a challenge is bearing down on you, stop and face north to the direction of the ancestors. If you don’t know where the direction north is, consider where the sun rises from your dwelling; this is east. If you were in a circle, north would be one quarter turn to your left from the east. Just stop and stand in one place. Breathe deeply and imagine that you have an inner compass that is magically directing or guiding you towards a feeling of confidence in yourself. Feel the stress melting off you. Feel your ancestors standing behind you, anchoring you with their strength. Hold onto this invisible, yet tangible, feeling of support. Remember challenges are opportunities in disguise. Put some stress down, pick up your compass, and navigate in calmer waters.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Today when you are feeling frustrated; stop and clap your hands together. The simple act of clapping can interrupt a pattern on the spot. Something is out of your control, and you are not going to resist it. You are in a hurry; your child is dawdling. Clap! Take a breath and realize your child has his own sense of timing. Can you move him without feeling stressed?

You see the mud on the bathroom floor. Clap as you remind yourself bathrooms get dirty! Can you tell yourself that you will probably wash that floor 100 more times in your life? The tire is flat! Darn! Clap! It’s time for a change of plans. Tires get flat. Do you want this one thing to ruin your whole day, to make you feel crazy? Make a decision to go with the flow. Frustrations are inevitable. How you deal with them is a choice. Transformation of your frustrations may only be as silly as a clap away! Laughter is very healing medicine!

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Find a peaceful place where you can have a serene moment to yourself. Put your hand over your heart and feel compassion, acceptance, and love for yourself. Tell yourself that you are exactly who you are supposed to be and becoming who you choose to be. You are exactly where you are supposed to be. Nothing needs to be different for you to be content. This present moment is enough.

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Close your eyes and take a deep breath, and imagine you are observing whatever is bothering you on a movie screen. This observation encourages you to feel detached from your problems, because you are no longer experiencing them, you are observing them. Now, ask yourself some questions and listen for the answers: What am I feeling? What do I need to know? What would bring healing to this situation? What would bring me peace?

The more attention you give your inner witness and the more you use it, the stronger resource it becomes for you.

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First, luxuriate yourself in a bath with a few drops of your favorite essential oil or a giant handful of sea salt or Epson salts. Massage your entire body with a bath salt made with coconut oil, or softly brush your skin with a loofa while you listen to peaceful, relaxing music. Take this time to nourish your body temple. When you’re done with your bath, instead of pulling the plug, getting out, and stepping back into your busy life, sit in the tub while the water slowly runs down the drain. Start to deeply clean underneath your fingernails, one at a time (using the fingernails on the opposite hand) and tell yourself ”I am letting go of what doesn’t serve me. I am letting go of holding on to anger, resentment, jealousy…” whatever it is that is metaphorically under your skin. Feel the water as your ally, gracefully supporting you as you let go. Feel the negative energy being carried with your body’s dirt down the drain. Now, splash cool, clean water on yourself, and re-enter your world feeling a whole lot cleaner and lighter.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

Sit for a moment and bring to mind a hard interaction you had recently. Maybe you grabbed your child’s arm too hard. Maybe you yelled at someone you love and wished you hadn’t. Maybe you wanted to be supportive to your friend but that’s not what came out of your mouth. Take a deep breath, and let the memory dissolve. Feel it leaving your mind and heart, easily melting like chocolate on a hot day. You made a mistake, and it’s over and done with. Make a decision to forgive yourself. Now, right in this present moment, do it over again in your mind. You can’t take away your old action; yet you can replace it with something more kind and gentle. You can communicate with a lighter touch, a softer voice, or supportive words in the safe, gentle shelter of your own mind. Doing it over again helps you forgive yourself for not being as strong as you meant to.

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Today, pay attention to your inner self-talk. When you notice that your self-talk is judgmental or unkind, stop. Imagine a small hole in the floor next to you. Put your hand on your head. As negative thoughts come to you, gather the thoughts and direct them symbolically in your dominant hand while inhaling. Exhale and throw these judgmental thoughts that you are holding into the imaginary hole, letting the earth absorb them. Sound silly?! It is also silly to believe everything you think! Put your hand on your heart and smile as you gift yourself compassion. As Buddha is known to have said… You, as much as anyone else in the whole wide world, deserve your own love and respect.

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If you find yourself in the midst of such a situation, simply place both hands over your solar plexus (waist) with fingers touching in the middle. Begin to breathe into your hands as you envision a golden light filling your center of will with strength. You can do this without anyone taking too much notice of it, and it will calm you down and help you restore your sense of personal power. The solar plexus is at the top of the lower pyramidal body energies and is where we digest our food - mental, physical, and emotional.

Should a potentially stressful situation come up where you have advance notice, yet sense that you are not feeling strong enough to prevail, take a five minute break before going into the room. Go to the bathroom and into a closed stall. In the stall, perform the above exercise, but using more breath control and deeper breaths. Should you happen to have a Citrine stone handy, put the stone under your fingers as you breathe for added energy. Citrine is valuable as it is only one of two stones that never need cleansing as it does not hold negativity.

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Do a Temporal Tap: Using the three middle fingers of your left hand, tap around your left ear and temple, to the back of your ear, all the while verbalizing what you no longer want to do. I no longer bite my nails. Tap firmly and with conviction. Tap front to back about five times, keeping your strength and commitment intact. I no longer bite my nails… Do the same tapping on the right ear. Tap from your temple around the back of your ear while you are verbalizing what you DO want. My fingernails are growing and pleasant to look at. Tap like you mean it. Feel it as you tap front to back about five times. My fingernails are growing and pleasant to look at. Repeat this as often as feels right. The more you tap (like each morning and evening… hint, hint), the quicker you will affect your nervous system and thus your field of habits.

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.

If you are a perpetual overeater, first thing you need to do is figure out why. Is it emotional eating, is it boredom, is it a habit. No matter what the scenario, the why will help you learn more about yourself and how you can stop overeating.

60% of the time we feel hungry, it is actually because we are thirsty. Many people do not drink enough water on a daily basis. You need about 64 ounces a day or about half or your body weight in ounces of water per day. If it is hot outside or you have been active you will need more. So when it is warm day enjoy a glass of refreshing cold water. But if it is cold outside, opt for sipping on some warmed water to help avoid eating.

This will keep you hydrated. It will also keep you occupied if you just need to chew or have an oral fixation.

When you have a nice clean mouth, it will decrease your desire to eat. Try it. It does work because no one wants to dirty their pearly whites. The added bonus is that your dentist will be happy too.

This helps occupy you while giving your mouth something to do. Plus most foods don’t taste that great with a minty mouth, so it will help you avoid unneeded food.

Many times we eat out of boredom or habit, therefore by breaking that cycle by moving around a bit, we can help avoid eating for no reason. This also helps you burn calories.

This really helps during that night-time want-to-snack-for-no-reason moments. I recommend making a list of things that you like to do and/or a list of things that you may need to do around the house. Then if the urge to snack hits you, you can go to this list and do something fun or productive instead.

Play some of your favorite tunes. Music is actually a natural appetite suppressant because it actually triggers some of the same endorphins as eating.

Eat breakfast everyday to help kick-start your metabolism and energize you in the morning. From there you should be eating every 3-5 hours depending on how much you are eating. Measuring portions is essential to avoid overeating. So learn how much you should be consuming and measure food accordingly.

Close your eyes. Take three deep breaths. Now rate how hungry you are from a scale of 1-10. One being not at all and ten meaning you are actually physically very hungry and in need of some food. With this assessment you can do one of the above tricks to avoid overeating if it is a small number or realize it is time to actually have a snack or meal.

Nothing creates a bigger jolt of enthusiasm than a new inspiring vision of the future. Even if it's something small it can provide you with a new direction.

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You can give yourself a boost in accomplishment by finding the smallest task you need to complete and doing it.

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Find something to laugh about, and if you can’t, laugh anyways.

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Help someone who needs it.

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• Counsel a friend in need.
• Give a sincere compliment.
• Donate blood.

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Call up some friends or make some new ones and use your brain for what it was made for.

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Find something to get you inspired, even if just for a short time. Hear a couple audio recordings of motivational speakers. Consider replacing your daily caffeine with some inspiration to give you energy instead.

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