Ramblings of a Coach on the road… The cyclical nature of feeling good and bad, and how this impacts on our daily habits

I have found that our daily habits play a huge part in whether we are successful in achieving our goals or not. A big part of my personal development journey has been about applying daily habits and reaping the rewards of this over time.

Recently I took part in the 30-day Miracle Morning challenge, a process developed by Hal Elrod, where you get up an hour early every day and do a series of 10 minutes bursts on 6 different tools: meditation, affirmations, visualisation, journaling, reading and exercise. I found this bite-sized daily format to be really rewarding and beneficial, and I will be continuing with it now that I am beyond the 30 days.

As part of doing this practice I noticed that there have been days that felt tougher than others.

I recently captured on dictaphone my thoughts on the topic of how feeling good or bad comes in cycles and looking at how this can impact how we see the daily habits and rituals that we do to nourish us or help us grow. I have shared my thoughts on this below, written almost exactly as my original train of thought.

You can listen to the original audio on YouTube here:

"I have had some amazing moments, or bursts, or even phases in the last few months, in the last six months. Bursts of spiritual growth. Bursts of enlightenment or greater understanding in both my spiritual practices and my business practices. Which I think are hugely intertwined.

And I've taken on different daily activities that have helped me get clarity and understanding in both. Which have helped me to feel good. Ultimately, helped me to feel good as I go about my day and my life.

I have also found that there are times when this really works, and then there's also times when it doesn't. It just seems to stop working, or just not work so well. And I don't feel so good.

And then the temptation is to not continue to do the things I have been doing because they're now not working. So making time for meditation, or visualisation activities. Or doing morning exercise, or even, having what I consider to be a healthy breakfast. If they're not working any more, then why do them, right? I mean, what's the point? If you keep doing the same, you get the same.

BUT, and here's the caveat. It just occurred to me, whilst driving this morning that I've heard spiritual things referred to as ‘a practice’. You know, a spiritual practice, a yoga practice, a business practice. And I'm not talking about practicing here. As in practicing to do something. I'm talking about a practice. Having a system or a routine that you do regularly. So it's not practicing, as in to then go and do something for real. The real is in the actual turning up and doing it daily.

So, it just occurred to me (and this is like a 'doh!' moment, like a palm on forehead moment) that it's not that the things I'm doing aren't working, it's that there will be good days and there will be bad days. And there will be days of all the greys in between when it comes to having a spiritual practice or a business practice or anything where you are kind of evolving.

So the secret is actually to continue doing the daily steps. Continuing to turn up daily and do the things that have worked, because you aren't giving yourself a chance to see if this is just the equivalent of a bad day. And actually, practices deepen and develop over time. So I'm not saying keep doing the same and getting the same, but expecting different results with things that aren't working. I'm saying that certain things become a deeper practice. Such as meditation for instance, or my tai chi practice. So it's riding out the storms.

And it might be that you tweak things. Put some variety in so that things don't get boring or staid. And adapt your practice to suit you. But not abandoning it in its entirety just because today, or this week, you might be on a lower ebb. And therefore you might be moodier. You might be more tired. You might be grumpier. Or things might feel basically shitter.

But I equally know that it's a cycle. And the cycle comes back round. Like the seasons. Okay so it's a grey wintry day, but summer will come back around and we will have hot balmy summer days. It's just the way of things. And so how you feel internally, as long as you're doing things that will add to you and nourish you, will come back around to feel good.

So determine your practices. Be open to having some variety. And tweak them to better meet your needs. And equally keep turning up. Keep doing your practices that have worked. Whatever that is. Whether it's daily writing, meditation, turning up at your desk every morning to answer your emails. Whatever it is, keep doing it. But be open to flexibility."

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