Cheat Sheet to Having a Good Day

Life Cheat Sheets (2 of 7)

Mar 31, 2023

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-9:36

Not every day has to be a good day. Not every day can be a good day. But I bet you wouldn’t mind MORE days becoming good days. What if you could contribute to how you experienced your day rather than being at its mercy? What if I told you that you already do?

Example:

“Oh, no! Look what you did! You spilled the water all over the place.”
“Oh, oh! Your water spilled all over the place. Let me help you.”

It’s fairly easy to see that in this same incident - spilled water - two different responses resulted, one angry and accusatory and the other accepting and kind. Let’s just pretend for a moment that YOU were the one to utter both of these sentences

on different days
under similar circumstances
to the same person.

How does that happen?

Quite simply, it has to do with your brain state at the moment the water was spilled. If you are already in a calm, empathetic brain state you are far more likely to be calm and kind. Whereas, if you are already stressed and tired, it is quite easy to explode over even a bit of spilled water.

This demonstrates that one’s brain state is just as instrumental in whether or not you have a good day as the actual unfolding events of the day. That’s good news! Why? Because we have the capacity to influence our brain state through our own choices and awareness (and, dare I say, meditation?) Thus, it means YOU have far more control over having a good day than you might have previously thought.

So, let’s practice! (And practicing is a huge key.)

Free to Print

Cheat Sheet to a Good Day

Check the Stress Continuum
Catch Yourself Expecting Good to Happen
Enter Your Day with Loving-Kindness
Imagination Break
Printable Cheat Sheet

“We create with our consciousness. What we think about, pay attention to, focus on, and choose to believe...whatever goes on in our mind, is what becomes our reality.”
― Anthon St. Maarten

Check The Stress Continuum

Awareness of your own state of being is crucial. So why not take frequent inventory this week and really awaken your awareness. Think of stress on a continuum - red on one end and green on the other? Place yourself on the slider right now. Where are you? Now, set an hourly timer and record where you are on the spectrum. Tune in to tune up! (Church 168)

Catch Yourself Expecting Good to Happen

If you aren’t already in the habit of manifesting a good day, there’s no time like the present to begin. Heading to the grocery store line for check out? Pause long enough to expect a short line awaiting you. Driving somewhere? Expect all green lights! Running late for a meeting? Don’t stress. Anticipate that the other meeting goers also need a few extra minutes. Headed to a busy parking lot? Expect a close spot to open up just as you are arriving.

We have simple opportunities all day long to expect good things to happen. Why not take advantage of it (and retrain your brain in the process)? And, most of all, CATCH yourself expecting good things! Notice and take note of those miraculous moments when you were right or even underestimated how good it would be. Even better: Watch your list of fortunate events grow by recording them in a journal.
Why it works: At the quantum level we are always creating the reality we live in. First comes the thought, then comes the reality. Of course that is a simple answer to a complex question. Perhaps it is easier to sum it up as the Universe works in mysterious ways. Expect the good. Notice the good. Notice the good increase in frequency and flow.
I remember the day Brent helped me pick up my brand new gong in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. We had a large gong and stand, both in boxes, and needed a taxi to get home. Taxis were usually plentiful enough if you just stood next to the road a few minutes and waited. But with these boxes it was unlikely that a regular taxi would work. We stood by the road and waited. And waited. I had been practicing “expecting good things” and was getting proficient and expecting specifically good things - like a large taxi van. But that was a rare sight. Still, within a few extra minutes, the very first taxi we saw and hailed was. . . a taxi van! Just what we needed.

Enter Your Day with Loving-Kindness

If you think about eating yummy ice cream, your mouth waters, right? Think about that scary movie and your heart begins racing. It’s because you only need the thought to trigger that effect. In fact science researcher and writer Dawson Church explains that“we are able to activate or deactivate all of these brain regions by consciousness alone” (113). That’s power!

Therefore, use the first waking moment of your day to focus your thoughts on calm, loving -kindness, to elevate your emotional state (which just so happens to be a particular brain state). You can use a loving-kindness meditation like:

May I be well and free of suffering. May my loved-ones be well and free from suffering. May my acquaintances be well and free from suffering. And may those I dislike be well and free from suffering.

Or, if you really want a potent morning meditation with the scientific evidence to back it up, use Church’s Eco Meditation (see Resources for the link). (With a few months of consistent practice, brain scans show remarkable changes similar to adept meditators’ brains!)
Why it works: Your thoughts can now be viewed using fMRI scans. And different thoughts light up different regions of the brain. We can now see how the brain responds to imagined and real stimuli - and it’s the same. This means our thoughts are very powerful! To our brains, our thoughts are reality. Loving-kindness meditations have been demonstrated to be the most powerful in transforming one’s experience. I highly recommend the book I am presently reading Bliss Brain for an in-depth dive into what science is showing us about the brain and how we can create our own “bliss brains.” Every little bit of practice matters, especially if it is effective practice like loving-kindness meditation or EcoMeditation.

Imagination Break

Church offers a great cheat to train the brain to create good days: Give yourself about 5 minutes of imagination break each lunchtime. Imagine a relevant and positive outcome in a single area of your life (Church). Do this consistently and journal what happens. Over time, those moments of imagination (dare I say, daydreaming?) will add up to lived experience.
Why it works: Consistent and effective practice puts the brain in a high frequency state (calm, relaxed, connected to the universe). Much like consistent and effective practice of a sport fundamentally changes your muscular structure and metabolism, exercises like practicing mid-day with your imagination activates and literally rewires your brain little by little until your default IS that higher frequency and happier state of being. And that can turn the tide toward having more and more good days.