THE MAGICAL LIFE

Well, okay.  Two.  Two things. 

1.) Meditate for 10 minutes every morning. 
2.) Do the next right thing. 

That’s it.  That’s the formula. 

So here’s what it looks like in practical reality:

You get up, have your shower, feed the pets, drink some coffee, and go SIT.  You do not check your email or Facebook or go shopping on Amazon.  Not yet.  You do the things you absolutely MUST do, and then you go sit and relax and let your mind wander for a few minutes. 

THEN you get started on the day in earnest.  That’s the “do the next right thing” part.  You make a plan and then you execute it.  Because you meditated first, you won’t worry too much about whether all the details of that plan are ironed out yet.  You won’t worry about all the things that *could* go wrong.  You just start where you are and do the next right thing.  More will be revealed.  But it will NOT be revealed until you start taking steps in the general direction of your dreams.  You only get one piece at a time, and it’s for your own good, so stop fussing about it. 

Now, when you hit the advanced level of this simple formula, you’ll probably start meditating in the afternoon as well – just for a few minutes – and you get your brain reorganized and de-stressed before you hit the next round of things to do.

But first you sit.  Don’t just do something, sit there. 

When people talk about meditation or mindfulness, what they’re really saying is “refocusing on the present moment.”  The most interesting thing you’ll discover is that there are no problems in the present.  Not one.  All of our problems exist either in the past or the future, where they cannot be reached.  In the present moment, there is only awareness.  And it doesn’t take long to discover this.  The minute you stop worrying about whether you’re “doing it right” or whether it’s “working” and just do it, you’re 90% of the way to mastering this mindfulness thing.  Who cares if you’re doing it right?  You’re not being graded.  What if it’s NOT working?  Are you worse off?  No.  You’ve lost exactly nothing.  Let’s be real here.  We both know you waste more time than that on Facebook, which has a lousy ROI.  

The truth is that you cannot critique a process you have not experienced.  And if you want something to change, then you have to change something.  Of all the changes you can possibly make, this daily 10-minute exercise has more power to change your ENTIRE life than any other. The minute you make a decision to do this, and follow it up with action, you start becoming a master of your mind.  

At the Master Level, you’ll start to become very sensitive to your own needs.  You’ll notice when you’re going off the rails and getting stressed about stuff that hasn’t even happened.  You will pay attention when your body yells at you that it needs a protein fix.  You’ll notice opportunities and do the next right thing. 

At the Master Level, you’ll notice an uptick in your creativity.  You’ll start meditations asking yourself questions like “Hmm, what’s the ONE thing I could do today that would put me light years ahead of my schedule?” or “Who do I know who could help me with this idea?” or “How much more fun could I have with this project?” and then you’ll wait for answers. 

You’ll also start taking advantage of those meditation breaks to envision your life the way you’d like it to be.  Not in a desperate “I don’t have what I want” way, but in a peaceful, playful way.  Just imagining, exploring, and discovering what those things might feel like IF you had them.  You’ll discover that what you really want is to feel that way right now, and you’ll accomplish it.  But more than that, you’ll continue feeling that way as you move into the next segment of the day, taking all those little actions. When opportunities and ideas arise that match those desired emotional states, your unconscious mind will send up a flare. 

The fact of the matter is that it’s already doing that – sending up a flare that notifies you when something that matches your dominant emotional state arises.  It’s not selective about it.  If your dominant daily state is one of anxiety, you will notice everything that reinforces that state.  But you do get to CHOOSE which states you’ll notice the most.  As you learn how to feel better in this moment, your past and your future – which are nothing but a series of “this moment“ experiences – both change for the better. 

That’s it. 
That’s the formula. 
However. 

The “do the next right thing” part CANNOT be overstated.  You must take action, and you only get to take action in the sphere that is closest to you.  You cannot take actions that exist a year out.  You can only take action today, right now, immediately.  You don’t worry about tomorrow or next year or whether or not your plan will succeed exactly the way you envision it today.  It won’t.  That’s okay.  Stop living in the future.  Just do what you can today.  Let your unconscious mind notify you when a better plan arises and stop trying to figure it all out.  Just take that small step, relax, and let things happen. 

Just as a for instance, today’s action might be to enter “meditate” into your phone calendar at 7:00 AM, set it for 10 minutes, and then set it to repeat daily.  That’s a step you can take right now.