U GOT MY HEART by Clement Leroux, Emma Hoet

Now that we understand the order and construct of Daily Bloomified’s routine, let’s look deeper into each step of the routine, beginning with Step 2:  Prayer and Meditation.

Step 1:  30 Minutes Cardio

Step 2:  30 Minutes Prayer/Meditation

Step 3:  Writing (1 Journal Entry or Blog Post of minimum 3 Paragraphs)

I have received a lot of questions and calls pertaining to learning how to meditate or pray.  In this post I will provide a plethora of options for how to pray or meditate for 30 minutes each day.  This also happens to be one of my favorite skills to teach as it has deeply enriched and calmed my life.  I would like to first discuss meditation and the ranging versions of meditating that are available.

Meditation

I have read countless books on meditating and methods of clearing one’s energy.  Back

when I lived in Santa Monica, Venice and Manhattan Beach, I had the chance to explore the world of meditation first hand.  I will mention specific strategies I use to bring myself to a place of clarity, peace and understanding.  However, the tab in Bloomified’s blog “Feed Your Spirit” has a long list of places and literature to dive into, which allow you to meditate or nurture the meditation lifestyle.

To start, here are a few options for learning how to meditate:

1. Use a book.
2. Use nature.
3. Use silence.
4. Go to a meditation class or meditation session.

When I first dove into meditating, I read the following books to guide the process.  I attended a meditation class in the evening at Mystic Journey Bookstore on Abbott Kinney in Venice, and I attended two hour silent meditation sessions every Friday at Lake Shrine off Sunset in the Malibu/Pacific Palisades area.  I will save the Christina/Catholic references of meditating for the Prayer section that is to follow. Note:  All books or places in this post have a link connected to the title so that you can order the book or go to the place mentioned if you wish (also these links are available in the Feed Your Spirit tab above).

BOOKS READ/RESEARCHED

1. Meditation Bible
2. Developing Intuition
3. Creative Visualization
4. Soul Lessons and Soul Purpose:  A Channeled Guide to Why You Are Here
5. Ask Your Guides
6. The Answer is Simple:  Love Yourself, Live Your Spirit!
7. Spiritual Growth:  Being Your Higher Self
8. The Complete Book of Chakra Healing
9. Your Aura and Your Chakras:  The Owner’s Manual
10. The Leap:  The Psychology of Spiritual Awakening
11. Clearing Spaces

The list above is a pretty solid place to start.  There are many more of course, but starting from the top and going down you can use these books as part of your actual meditation/prayer time.  In the books above you will learn the following essential tactics for meditating:

1. How to release negative energy daily and in a short amount of time.
2. How to forgive and send others love, who either need it or who you are thinking about constantly.
3. How to create a bright and positive aura – or in other words, how to cleanse yourself of anything you are holding onto in order to live your life in an honest way.
4. How to focus on a higher power that you believe in (God, angels, guides, spiritual goodness).
5. How to develop a sense of self that leans not on an egocentric mindset, but rather a will to do good in this world.
6. How to listen and not be distracted.
7. How to feed yourself joy for small spurts at a time.
8. How to build endurance of sitting quietly for short to long periods of time.
9. How to focus on a quiet, calm place within you in order to face the realities of your day.
10. How to ask questions and get answers from a place of trust and love.
11. How to visualize your life in a way that speaks to you, provides answers & clarity, and assists you in pursuing your own goals.

Simple tips for the 30 minute meditating process:

1. Choose a quiet, undisturbed place in nature or in your house.
2. Begin by reading one chapter of a meditating book of your choice.
3. Sit with your eyes closed, palms open, chin tilted slightly up, and legs in criss-cross applesauce position or sitting at the edge of the bed or chair with feet on the ground.
4. Feel your breath and breathe consistently for about 60 seconds, taking note of inhaling and exhaling in a rhythmic way.
5. Once your breathing is in motion, allow yourself to sit in silence in this position for the remaining 30 minutes.
6. **Begin here as this is the base for letting meditation do its own work.  Do not worry about the thoughts that seep in.  Simply force yourself to sit here for the remaining 30 minutes.
7. As you progress, and do this more often, start to ask questions to yourself and sit in silence to wait for answers.  Answers of clarity and guidance come visually or in auditory form for most people.
8. Consistently do this for 30 minutes each day for you to get results.
9. Results will strengthen and become easier to achieve with each day.
10. Play meditative spa or yoga music in the background as you get better at meditating, but make sure to meditate silently throughout the week as well.
11. Lighting a candle and sitting it in front of you as you meditate or burning essential oils/incense provides a calming and trusting atmosphere as well, and enhances the meditating experience.

PRAYER

Whether you are a person of faith or not, prayer is accessible to everyone.  Prayer has

deeply enhanced my meditating experiences because it is connecting to a form of faith.  Similar to the process I previously explained for meditating, I will provide you with books to enrich the 30 Minute Prayer session.  Additionally, within the Christian/Catholic community are very specific forms of prayer that I will explain toward the end of this post.  These forms of prayer are incredible; they never fail you and provide the utmost comfort, reprieve of pain, and complete clarity on the goodness of life.  Remember, prayer IS meditating.  However, prayer is more powerful and allows you to release your ego completely.

BOOKS READ/USED DURING PRAYER

1. The Bible (New Testament for beginners, or The Promise Bible)
2. Mere Christianity
3. The Jesuit Guide to {almost} Everything
4. Mother Teresa:  No Greater Love
5. In the Heart of the World by Mother Teresa
6. The Screwtape Letters
7. Interior Castle by St. Teresa de Avila
8. A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer: Discovering the Power of St. Ignatius Loyola’s Examen
9. The Spiritual Exercises
10. The Daily Examen (St. Ignatius of Loyola Website)
11. How to Pray the Rosary
12. Resisting Happiness

Using the books/literature above to guide your prayer is very helpful when first learning how to pray.  Here are some methods for using the above mentioned suggestions, broken up into the following categories:  Scripture, Saints, Daily Reflection, and The Rosary.

SCRIPTURE

1.  Lectio Divina:  Lectio Divina is a form of prayer that allows you to achieve 4 phases of

   

   prayer by focusing on portion of scripture.  Go to the link to learn all the specifics, but in a nutshell, you do the following.  You first, choose a small portion of scripture from the Bible.  You read it as a form of meditation.  Then, you choose a part of the scripture that speaks to you and repeat this part of the scripture to yourself over and over allowing yourself to submit yourself to a state grace and vulnerable listening.  Finally, you enter INTO the scripture through deep contemplation.  In the secular world, this method of entering into a scene is similar to transcendental meditation.  However, that is not to undermine the complete holiness of what occurs during deep contemplation; this comparison is to only point out the closest concept to it that exists outside of Christianity.

2. Ignatian Spirituality:  Spiritual Exercises:  You can attend a retreat where you are able to learn the Spiritual Exercises more in depth, or you can go to this link and explore ways to incorporate the Spiritual Exercises into your daily scripture or prayer time.  St. Ignatius was a teacher and he created specific ways to connect to the Catholic Faith using very specific tactics.  When reading scripture, he puts emphasis on the ability to contemplate scripture, not just read it.  It is called Ignatian Contemplation.  Ignatian Contemplation teaches you how to use the Gospels and your imagination in order to be fully present during a time in Jesus’ life.  This process allows you to communicate with God on a very personal level involving all the senses: taste, smell, sounds, sights feelings.  This has been one of the most powerful forms of prayer for me and has uprooted me from lowest times in my life.  It has also guided every transition in my life, filled me with firm hope and understanding of how to trust God in my life.

SAINTS

1. Reading a book written by and Saint or about a Saint is completely therapeutic and life altering.  A place to start is simply reading about a Saint per day.  There are many facets for attaining this kind of information.  The following links will take you to a list of all the Saints.  From there you can research more about their early life and understand how each Saint was very “unperfect” in so many ways before they submitted their life to and for God.  Reading about the Saints is a great way to feel empathy and draw parallels to your current pain or journey.  Their pain, doubt and confusion is similar to what we today are periled with.  This would be a good way to pray or meditate for 30 minutes – just reading about a specific Saint’s life and learning about the twists and curves of their choices that led them to a life of complete holiness.
2. Websites:  Saints A to Z
3. Books:  Saints for Dummies, (fun one for outside of reflection:  Drinking with the Saints:  Sinner’s Guide to a Holy Happy Hour)
4. If you are Catholic, starting with your Confirmation Saint Name is a personal and safe place to begin diving into deep reflection with the Saints.  My Catholic Saint Name is Saint Teresa de Avila, I went to Loyola Marymount University (St. Ignatius of Loyola), I moved to Santa Monica (Saint Monica), and I felt a calling to pursue sisterhood with Mother Teresa’s order Missionaries of Charity.  Through my natural connection to each Saint, I decided to dive deeper and learn about them.  Through learning about them, I learned how to pray and began a relationship with God that I did not have before.

DAILY REFLECTION

1. The Examen by St. Ignatius of Loyola can be implemented quickly during your 30

   

   minutes of prayer and meditation.  It is a quick and simple way to reflect about the day, thank God for your blessings, forgive yourself for anything you have done, and be filled with the grace to look at tomorrow with hope and comfort.  The steps in short are the following, or visit the website in the link at the beginning of this paragraph:  Become aware of God’s presence, Replay the day and thank God for the each specific blessing, Ask for forgiveness for something you fell short of or are sorry for, Notice when you felt God throughout the day and where you paused, Think of tomorrow and what do I see ahead or in what spirit do I enter tomorrow as?  The Examen is also available on Spotify now!  I have used this on my breaks at work when I needed extra rejuvenation to get through the day:  The Examen with Father James Martin, S.J.

2. The Prayer Process by Matthew Kelly:  Matthew Kelly, inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola created “The Prayer Process.”  It is the last page of his book, Resisting Happiness, mentioned as #12 in the above list of books to read or use during prayer and meditation.  The Prayer Process is a reflective set of questions and mediative practice that allows you to get answers and peace from the current day.  His steps revolve around the following:  Gratitude, Awareness, Significant Moments, Peace, Freedom, Other Intentions, The Our Father.  You can watch or learn more about this process through the following link:  The Prayer Process and Matthew Kelly’s Session 4 “The Prayer Process”.

THE ROSARY

1.  I have never felt more grace and peace from any other form of prayer than The Rosary.    That is not to say that every single time I pray The Rosary it is the most perfect feeling in the world.  I have prayed The Rosary during times of gratitude, confusion, loss, despair, blessing, and pain.  Each time I pray it, the experience is unique – but always necessary.  It brings me great joy to share The Rosary with anyone who is even remotely curious and there are SO many websites, videos, audiobooks, and books in general that could teach you much more.  Once I began praying The Rosary consistently, I witnessed more joy than I ever thought I would in my life.  It became a very personal and intimate part of my relationship with God as I am sure many others who pray The Rosary can attest to.  When I went to Greece, I came back with a Rosary from the land where Jesus’ apostles spread the first days of the Good News; I was forever moved.  I then decided that wherever I traveled to, I would purchase a Rosary and feel comfort in the fact that I can find The Rosary wherever I go.  To learn more about The Rosary and how to pray it, please visit the following link:  How to Pray the Rosary.
2. Guided Rosary:  Spotify also has guidance on how to pray the rosary and there are several apps that can step by step take you through the process.  The app I currently use is free and very simple.  Go to applications in your phone and type in:  The Catholic Rosary.

GET STARTED

I hope this post is one that you can constantly go back to and get ideas from.  There are SO many more methods of prayer and meditation, but this at least provides you with a solid foundation for getting started and filling your 30 minutes with as much closeness and solitude as you can possibly get.  Sometimes I start with a self-help book I am reading at the time, or a Catholic related piece of literature.  Then, I meditate and allow myself to get quiet and connected.  Finally, I either write down my prayers in my journal, say them out loud, or use scripture to help myself navigate through my prayers subconsciously.  The point is, you can mix it up and utilize every piece of this post to be ACTIVELY PRAYING OR MEDITATING for the entire 30 minutes.

ENJOY!

GIVING UP THE GUN by Vampire Weekend

I happen to be teaching this method of Daily Bloomified’s morning routine as I too am going through a rough patch.  Funnily enough, that coincidence is proving to me more and more how much I can trust the process of completing that morning 30 minutes of cardio, followed by 30 minutes of prayer/meditation and topped off with an entry of journaling or posting a blog.

It is amazing because I have been a teacher my entire life and only through writing does the bulk of the teaching come alive.  Meaning, when you teach in person to a crowd, you learn quickly that it doesn’t matter how you teach it, how you deliver the information, or even your relationship with your audience.  What matters is if the audience CHOOSES to be engaged.

You learn this the hard way as a teacher.

You are pumped, young, creative, endlessly intelligent.  You seem like Mary Poppins to your

crew, just pulling ideas out of thin air and making your audience for a split second buy into what you’re selling.  But as time goes on and data proves, people only internalize what you teach them if they WANT to learn – if they want to embrace the details.

When teaching coffee, I had a similar revelation.  An infamous trainer in the Australian coffee industry just enlightened me the other day, as I had the chance to be taught by him and learn from his training session on Bar-Flow & Customer Service.  He said, “We’ve learned a lot today.  We’ve dissected extraction and I’ve shown you the most efficient and quickest habits to master pumping drinks out in 1 minute or less, but you each will only retain about 10% of what I said today.  And it all comes down to you exhibiting that 10%, him exhibiting his 10%, and her sharing her 10% once I’m gone.  Then, hopefully, one of you will take the reins and be the leader in which you reinforce this process everyday.”

I felt like I was listening to myself.  These are the types of truths you come to know as a teacher, but cannot explain to anyone else.  In the coffee industry, I was able to be one of those humans who took the reins and reinforced everything I was being taught.  It was amazing.  Almost too perfect, to where you realize how good it feels to bring to life something that not only you can teach, but you internalize at the same time.  You start wishing that everyone you knew (outside of coffee) cared as much as you.

But guess what?  You are not alone.  There are actually many more people out there who are great learners.  Who care about the details.  Who want to improve their own lives whether they are in an UP or a DOWN, or just CHILLIN in the middle.

 

 

I know this because the audience for ALL writers are people who WANT to learn.  They are choosing to read what you’ve discovered or created.

You cannot see them, and the audience does not know each other, but they are out there

internalizing what they came to learn.  Practicing what they are choosing to preach.  Believing in something for themselves by living it out.

And this is why writing is so powerful.  Sure, on the day to day, there are a million people who refuse to change, or see the world any different.  Worse, there are people in your own family who are in fact in straight up denial about all of their mishaps and more.  But they do not want to learn like you.  They choose not to internalize.  And that is their own dismay.

YOU came to learn. And you came to learn so that you could live it out.  And when you live it out, you are TEACHING by example.

So you see?  The 3rd Step of Daily Bloomified is extremely important.  It takes all the glory home in one quick swoop.  When you write, you pull together every truth that you have begun to solidify in your mind and heart. You create affirmations just by writing.  That’s what writing is!  One huge affirmation.  We call this entire process of understanding transformed into fluid practice, internalization.  If you can write out the truths for yourself, then you can teach it to others or live by example for anyone else looking for a hopeful mentor.

If you were to do this every day, then these affirmations – these writing sessions – become

culminating factors in your ability to overcome obscene amounts of stress, negativity, disagreements, family issues, friend drama, career choices … the list could go on.

Only when all three steps are committed to in a consistent way, does Daily Bloomified really pay off.  It usually takes a full cycle: Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 for Daily Bloomified to reveal its strength.  When you feel its strength, you unveil the knowledge that you’ve had all along.  You unleash the truest you, and you are that much more motivated to repeat the cycle.  Thus, Daily Bloomified is a daily routine.

Enjoy Daily Bloomified!  I will be posting consistently as well with more insight into each of the 3 Steps of this specifically crafted, yet very simple routine.  I know that you will find what you are looking for, as it has had great healing affects on my own life and brought me closer to who I truly am in this world.

With Much Love & Much Hope,

Diane

AS IF BY MAGIC by La Roux

Running this morning was tormenting, for fear I was so frustrated that I wouldn’t connect

to a song in my morning workout.  I was livid about some family problems and feared the anger would consume me, causing me to completely miss out on the benefits of the workout entirely.  But that’s what the workout is for, remember?  Imagine if I didn’t work out this morning with that kind of anger and frustration built up inside?  I realized that this is the hardest part about trusting the routine, facing our doubts.  Which brings to mind one of the central, early struggles with implementing a new routine: wanting to control every aspect of its progress.  We begin to question if our process is already working or if it will work and when it will start working?  We immediately want to give up and try something new for fear we are already not getting what we wanted out of it.

We start to beg for signs or data that could somehow prove we are on the right track, that it is helping our daily lives.  Sound familiar?  Yes.  Sounds exactly like the process of life.  Sounds like when we doubt our motives or decisions in life and we begin to feel lost, as if we don’t even know ourselves anymore.  When this kind of negativity takes over it could get the best of you, but then, “as if by magic” the routine sparks a tiny sliver of hope in you.  Maybe the right song comes on during your workout – the one that lures you into the realm of trust, hope, faith, and belief.  Just when you thought Daily Bloomified wasn’t going to work?  Or maybe it isn’t the song that wins you over.  For me this morning it was, but sometimes it’s just the peace that comes over me after morning cardio, or the fact that I am able to notice the little things again, like an uplifting breeze shaking the trees’ leaves as if trying to tell me to “hold on and just enjoy.” This topic of struggle and doubt suits today as I would like to stress the importance of Step 2 in Daily Bloomified: Prayer/Meditation.

Prayer and meditation is the doubt crusher.

Morning cardio sparks in us the motivating energy to continue the routine every morning, but what keeps us in it for the long haul?  Prayer and meditation.  Prayer and meditation is the platform for taking what we’ve brought to the surface during our morning workout and drawing out solidified truths of comfort, and trust.  Through prayer and meditation we are able to find the words, the answers, and the affirmation to articulate these findings in our morning routine.  The comfort we get from these answers then translates into HOPE.  And hope is what inevitably makes us more open to the possibilities of life.  Remember, hope eliminates fear and breaks down boundaries of false truths from our upbringing or past experiences.  Hope is everything we need from this entire process of Daily Bloomified, thus positively affecting every part of our decision making, career choices, passions, and direction in life.

When we are hurt, struggling, or filled up with negativity it is hard to hold steady with our routine.  But just like how we put faith in ourselves, in God, in a higher being or belief, we learn to LET GO and allow the hard work to pay off.  You are already doing the work by starting this routine, so let it do its part and give back to you what you are asking for.  Let it show you the answers you are seeking.  It’s like when you put 100% into applying to a bunch of different jobs and just when you think no one is going to call back, 4 or 5 call you a couple weeks later asking if you can come in for an interview.  Your simple choice and submission to do the work to better your way of living and thinking will play out in a positive way, if you just let it.  Don’t try to control it, instead, TRUST it.

By praying and meditating consistently every single day for 30 minutes we become more patient with life’s results; we are teaching ourselves to stop forcing out the results we want in the time that we want them.  By practicing the skill of praying and meditating every day, you learn how to see into your life, understand it, and guide it out of love instead of anxious fear.  That’s why it always feels good when we do pray or meditate.  That sense of peace is just YOU letting go of all the lies or misconceived notions about life.  It’s as if we get a chance to look at our own life from an aerial view and finally see how beautiful it is.  It’s not messy or confusing or painful and monotonous like we thought it was.  It’s not hopeless, stuck in a rut, or passionless, like we keep telling ourselves.  Instead it’s full of the answers we are looking for.  Full of knowledge and honest signs of how to enjoy it if we’d like to.  But it’s true, we must learn to let go in order to see all of these happy and hopeful answers.  Prayer and meditation bring these answers to life, FOR YOU.

Step 3 is the writing and reflection portion.   Tomorrow we will go more into how after basking in the comfort of the benefits of prayer and mediation, we are able to understand the answers we have received.  Through understanding, we find peace which most of the time sparks new ideas, creativity, courage, and the will to take action in our lives.

DESTROYER by Panama

DAILY  BLOOMIFIED is constructed very specifically as a routine foundation.  Meaning, sure, if you are able to do these three tasks every single day, with cardio and prayer/meditation in the morning before work, plus writing any time after that, then you are more prone to increasing your level of workouts per day, reading more books related to your meditation and prayer seshes, or writing different forms of works beyond journaling.  What I love about Daily Bloomified though, is that once you are able to do the first step, the rest comes naturally.  We all know how excruciating it feels to wake up to that alarm clock and face the fact that we actually have to get up out of bed to get the cardio part done.  This morning, even though I have trained for marathons, and woken up early as a teacher and barista for most my life, I still struggle to answer to the alarm that rips my literal dreams and subconscious apart.  We writhe in pain by the thought of having to face the day; and ironically enough, the more normal the day, the more unwilling we are to face it.

But no.  This morning I wasn’t going to let the the thoughts ruin me OR this blog post.  I remembered, for a flicker of a second, how much I love that feeling of being at the gym so early in the morning, seeing the sunrise while everyone else is asleep, feeling the crisp, cool morning air while I drive with the window down to the gym, barely awake.  These memories are what force me to get up: these memories and these feelings.  For others it might be just the sense of accomplishment or the people you meet while working out.  But for me, it is the serenity and hope that I feel from being in my own world, running alone.

The remembrance of this world unknown to others is what makes my morning workout feel special.  That specialness lures me out of bed, outweighing all the other thoughts and emotions from that typical morning paranoia.  This is what I believe makes morning workouts perfect for Step 1.  Morning workouts are that lure to get you going and they inspire you everyday to maintain the routine.  In some ways, you are now emotionally attached to the First Step of the day.  It’s as if there have been tiny drops of irreplaceable feelings associated with morning cardio dropped into that First Step.  Scientifically, yes the endorphins are unforgettable and they transform your brain.  But that’s not what you’re thinking of in the morning when you’re pressed to get up; that’s not what you’re able to identify when you’re groggy and fighting to take that first step out of bed.  Instead, you lie there replaying and reliving all the FEELINGS you had when you worked out the day before, to convince you to do it all over again.  Accompanying those feelings are visions from the morning before as well. Visions of the previous day’s workout, to remind us of how good it was to start the day with morning cardio. These tiny feelings and hopeful remembrances are now within you and the beautiful thing is they stay with you forever, even after doing the workout JUST ONCE.  This is why it is more likely for many to pick up routines again later down the road in life – their emotional impact is almost greater than the physical.

Despite my love for the outdoors, I have found that the EASIEST way to get my butt moving and inspired for the day is to just keep things simple and go to the gym.  At the gym, I have no choice, whereas when I go outside, I immediately get distracted by how beautiful everything is.  I’ll start praying, crying, listening, writing and thanking God for everything.  Then, next thing you know, it’s time to go to work and all I’ve done is complain or give thanks. Not to say these tasks are not important or inevitable in life, but they are best confronted after being shaken up by morning cardio and put into perspective alongside the endorphins you get from visualizing your life while working out.  Therefore, after a looooooot of trial and error, I’ve discovered that for me, when I go to the gym and stick to the same exact machine/class, then I KNOW I will be working out for exactly 30 minutes straight and the task is done.  No thinking, no bargaining, no way of getting out of it.  I just show up and jump in.

Now, if you have your own version of the gym outdoors or you are powerful enough to do your cardio routine outside to start the day or in your house without getting distracted by the world or your thoughts, go for it!  But for some of us, if we make this first step as EASY as possible, then the rest of the routine will just get done without a fight.  Not to mention, if you work out at the gym in the wee hours of the morning, your body will naturally crave to workout AGAIN but this time outside and probably later in the day.  But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.  We want to make sure Step 1 gets done for now.

As most of you know, it takes about a month for something to become a habit. But, a routine is not a habit. How about this thought:  It only takes 7 days for you to get attached to doing something you like. Where the keyword is ATTACHED.  Routines are different from habits and here’s why:

Routines are built in emotionally to your way of living.

Like making coffee.  You wake up and you feel emotionally attached to this cup of coffee, or

even down to how you brew it.  For some, it is the only quiet moment they get before their kids wake up, or before they head into a grueling day of work and pressure.  Just you and your coffee; the quiet haven of hope for you to get ready and face the day.  Whereas, washing your hands just has to happen after you go to the bathroom.  This is a good habit for many reasons, but you are not emotionally attached to it, or at least you don’t have to be.  It has been drilled into you since you were little, by your parents or guardians.

A routine is a choice to adhere to; it is a specific way of living and a GATEWAY for growing more into your passions.

Therefore, routines can be created out of anything you truly enjoy!  That is the cool thing about routines.  We can manipulate them so that they feed our souls exactly how we want them to be fed.  They encourage us to be more of ourselves, or they serve a purpose in self-discovery and contentment, like this one: Daily Bloomified.  So, if the routine has running in it, then you will most likely be compelled to train for a half marathon one day or a full marathon.  This is obviously more challenging than just 30 minutes of running in the morning (30 minutes is usually around 3 miles btw).  Or if your form of prayer is sitting in nature quietly for 30 minutes, then you might sign up for a silent weekend retreat one day in Santa Barbara or Hawaii!  You see, Daily Bloomified is simply a foundation, but with built in reinforcements for however you wish to grow, in a hopeful and consistent manner.

And that is exactly what is lacking in our lives – the secret ingredient about routines – consistency and hope.

We get excited about something, but we don’t follow through.  We have a million ideas of what we want to do or what we want to pursue, but we don’t go at it consistently.  We think of different passions and hobbies, but we are afraid to make them a part of who we truly are.  Daily Bloomified is a foundation for teaching you how to beat those odds.  It provides you with 3 simple steps that are constructed to pull out of you your deepest desires, your truest identity, your honest cravings in this life.  It teaches you along the way how to live them out and admit that they are a part of your journey.

How is Daily Bloomified able to do this?  Well, it consists of the three main components to living a joyful life:  endorphins, alone time, and reflection (cardio, prayer/meditation, and writing) respectively.  When you are able to learn joy, you are able to live life unafraid of what you wish to be and what you wish to accomplish.  

Joy eliminates fear, paranoia, anxiety, low self-esteem, and doubt.  Joy keeps you focused on what you believe in as the center of the choices you make.  Joy inspires you to choose to live life instead of stand by.  Joy diminishes all inner aching and unleashes your true spirit.  Daily Bloomified can help you create this joy for yourself.

Daily Bloomified is a launchpad for people to find joy, understand it, own it, and use it the way we were all meant to use it in this world.

Let’s see what happens and what comes to the surface on Day 3!

THE FUTURE (featuring Antony, Cleopatra) by Motez, Antony, Cleopatra

Daily Bloomified is a new project I am working on to show how we self-coach the day-to-day throughout EVERY single chapter of life.  Whether you are the underdog right now, on top of the world, or in a transition feeling insecure about the path ahead, Daily Bloomified will kick-start an internal routine that is less likely to end because it becomes a part of who you are.

We all know how helpful it is to have a routine of some sort, but sometimes we lose interest in it, or we doubt that it is working.  Most of these failing routines revolve around external motivation, but I have created a very, simple set of 3 daily tasks based on the research I have analyzed over the past 10 years.  I have used this routine to overcome great adversity, face life experiences (both negative and positive), and to attract the next step in fulfilling my dreams and purpose in life.  This is what I have come to know about this routine:

It protects you from the overwhelming negativity that surrounds, instills a consistent perspective of hope, and helps you attract all the opportunities you are truly seeking.

Overall, Daily Bloomifed maintains a healthy and positive mindset for whatever is to come and for whatever chapter of life you are enduring.  This routine ignites the inner belief to pursue life in the way that is most honest to your heart.  Daily Bloomified is something you can do every single day, no matter how you feel or what you think when you wake up in the morning.

Not only will I be teaching this routine daily through my blog, but I will be executing it alongside you.  You can’t coach the team without running with them, right?  So here we go!  The three steps to the routine are stated below, followed by some stipulations:

DAILY BLOOMIFIED

1. 30 Minutes of Cardio
2. 30 Minutes of Prayer/Meditation
3. Writing (1 Blog Post, 1 Journal Entry)

** Stipulation 1:  The first 2 steps must be done immediately after you wake up in the morning to start your day and the 3rd step can be completed any time before dinner.  The 3rd Step “Writing” must consist of 3 paragraphs minimum, written alongside any song from your morning cardio workout.  I suggest playing the song on repeat to keep those vibes going – that is how I write and edit my blog posts.  This blog entry has been written alongside the song that most affected me this morning, while I allowed the Runner’s High to encompass every part of my being.  I will be writing a blog post every day as I complete Daily Bloomified, sharing with you the insight and uplifting changes I experience along the way.

**Stipulation 2:  You can choose 1 day off per week (where 1 week = 7 days).  On this day, feel free to not do any of the 3 steps.  For the remaining days, all 3 steps need to be completed in order to keep the mindset and heart-set going strongly.

******************************************************************

I would like to keep this entry short as it is the kick-off to DAILY BLOOMIFIED.  If you need ideas for music in the AM, you can follow my workout playlists on Spotify @Dianeski22.  The following playlists are great for visualizing your dreams while working out or catalyzing  your inner creative muse:

1. ALL GOOD
2. All The Time
3. New High
4. Trance Running
5. Positive Reflection
6. Visual Running EC

Have fun, and I’ll see you tomorrow!