Hi. I have noticed some of you have mental and emotional struggles. I have my issues too. Depression, Underachiever, procrastinator, unhappy with my life yaddi-yadda
Quite often I use gaming as a distraction. Not just gaming but thinking of games!. Something we do here all the time.
I used to laugh at self help books when I was young and troll but I dont anymore. There is a book I I think it works. The Miracle Morning. It is super basic really, you wake up early in the morning and allocate the first hour of the day for self development practices.
It is good because
it creates a healthy habit
you no longer wake up just to go to work or uni or whatever, you don’t wake up like an slave anymore, you just wake up to have a great time where you help yourself.
The fact of dedicating the first hour to improve yourself makes you gain self esteem and confidence
The practices to follow during this hour are very standard, nothing fancy here. Meditation, Affirmations, Visualization, Reading, Journaling and Physical Exercises. The book gives you a baseline dedicating a few pages to each but obviously it is up to you to decided how to spend that time.
I have been waking up at 5 AM (almost) every morning this week. I’m becoming a believer I am beginning to feel really good. It is not as hard as it sounds. Actually because you dont go to work you kinda anticipate it, yes even if you are not a “morning person”
But if that is a bit too long just look up “The Miracle Morning” On youtube , there are loads of videos about it
I am happy to maintain the thread. And welcome other forumites to join the club so we can I have some knowledge on meditation, not so much on Affirmations and visualizations but they are simple techniques really.
I spoke to my wife about this yesterday (as someone that particularly struggles with that AM start) and we might try and give it a go. The problem is that if we wake up and even make a rustling sound, our kids will hear it, and then we can kiss goodbye to the idea of having an hour to ourselves!
When I worked in the theatre I used to love the summer maintenance period, it was a normal 9-5 day and weekends off. I also used to get up early every morning to enjoy a cup of tea and some music, then go swimming for an hour, grab a healthy breakfast on the way to work and munch on that with a cup of tea (and an “oily rag”) before starting. Having that time was truly wonderful, so I can imagine it making a massive difference. Like you say Sik, even an early morning wee can wake our hellions up so thats any relaxation gone.
Its not a terrible idea though, perhaps half an hour is enough for a quick row on the machine listening to music to get the blood pumping
After one week I am really happy with my results.
I am not following all the activities. Mostly meditation affirmations and visualization, if I have time I do a 30 mins walk.
Meditation is my favourite, there is something magical about stopping thinking, it is a bit like freezing the time, it happens for glimpses, then it seems to happen for longer periods.
I think for gamers meditation can be positive. Our brains are overstimulated . I think meditation could work great as a palate cleanser for the mind.
For the reading exercise I picked a book that I think it is great. Mastery by Robert Greene It seems to be a good guide to follow when we want to archive something to the fullest.
I still struggle sometimes to find the right time to go to sleep, but it is getting better.
That’s not a bad idea actually. I usually get my time of an evening once my kids are in bed and I stay up late to make the most of the quiet time i get.
