How About Trying This Scaled Back Version of the Miracle Morning for Those in a Time Crunch?

The Miracle Morning changed the lives of countless people; why not yours?

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I was five years into retirement and knew I wasn’t making the most of every moment. I needed a plan. I wanted a change. To be more productive and creative was my goal. I found a routine that set me up to achieve my objectives.

In the fall of 2018, I discovered The Miracle Morning, a book and routine created by Hal Elrod.

Whatever your life is like right now — whether you are currently experiencing extraordinary levels of success, enduring the most challenging time of your life, or somewhere in between, I can say with absolute certainty that The Miracle Morning is the most practical, results-oriented, and effective method I have ever encountered for improving any — or quite literally every — area of your life, and doing so faster than you may even believe is possible. — Hal Elrod.

Practicing the Miracle Morning changed my life. This is not a small thing.

I had been floundering in the morning and without focus. Now I knew what I would do and didn’t need to think about it.

I now have direction, purpose, and enthusiasm as I greet each new day.

This article suggests how to use a modified version for days you cannot spare the time for all of the steps.

For more in-depth information, I wrote an article about The Miracle Morning published on Medium on October 5, 2021, entitled This Simple Morning Routine Helped Prepare Me for My New Sober Life.

This is how your morning will look.

Your morning will revolve around the acronym S.A.V.E.R.S.

• The S is for Silence, either reflection, meditation, or inner prayer. The choice is yours. If you like to watch your breath, that is fine, too.
• A is for Affirmations. Either silently or aloud, affirm what you want to achieve for the day or the long term. Simply seeing the end result will not work. You must state how you will achieve your vision.
• V is for Visualization. Picture yourself walking through the world the way you want to be seen, heard, and live. I often combine my affirmations with visualizations.
• E is for Exercise. You decide how much time you want to spend. Hal suggests 10 minutes of jumping jacks to get you warmed up. I usually exercise after completing the other practices.
• The R is for Reading. I always pick a book that will motivate me to excel or a spiritual work that is enlightening. This reading must be pleasurable — not something that your work position requires from you.
• S is for Scribing (or journaling). I love this part. It’s where I pour out my dreams, plans, and complaints. Get them on the page where you can see them and work on them.

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Scaling back

The entire process takes about an hour. On days you are pressed for time, feel free to postpone one or more of the practices until you have time later in the day.

You can always use your weekends to do the one-hour version.

Some days you may only have 15 minutes to spare for the Miracle Morning routine.

I suggest not skipping Silence. This is how we calm ourselves before jumping into our day. Meditation, concentrating on the breath, or whatever method you choose is a gentle way to begin.

Writing (Scribing) takes more time for me, and often I will wait until after exercising for 30–60 minutes to hit my journal.

You may find that getting up earlier to use the Miracle Morning method is initially uncomfortable. Most new ideas take a bit of time to become comfortable.

Again, remember — you work this program in any way that seems best. The beauty is it’ll still work even if you only have six minutes.

Give each SAVER one full minute. If later in the day you find time to give additional SAVERS more attention — go for it.

You could also try working on one of the SAVERS a day until you get accustomed to it. Add a new one when you feel ready.

Customize this routine in any way that works for you. That is the beauty of this program. One size does not fit all.

You will see how implementing the Miracle Morning into your routine will renew, motivate and bring creativity into your day. Plus, you’ll find you are more productive and have more time, not less, to do what brings you joy.

How Stephen King Quit Drinking and Why You Should Quit Your Way

 Check out how others got sober — and then you decide what is best for you.

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Stephen King has no memory of writing Cujo, his thriller about a rabid St. Bernard gone mad. That is a significant blackout if ever there was one.

King also admits there are several other books he has no memory of writing. Incredible.

There are various ways to find sobriety: spontaneous sobriety is quitting without help from outside sources; a DIY job if you will, is the way I chose. My only support came from the truckload of quit-lit books I read the two years leading up to my quitting the drink.

The other ways are with organized help from Alcoholics Anonymous, SMART Recovery meetings, and in-patient or out-patient rehab facilities. One can also go the more personal route with a therapist or psychiatrist and be aided by drugs for withdrawal or to ease cravings.

None of these were the choices Stephen King chose. He hadn’t any intention of quitting his addictions.

Stephen’s addiction

The first time he remembers getting drunk was his senior year of high school in 1966.

By 1975 he decided he was an alcoholic, yet this realization did not sway his choice to keep drinking.

He said:

I thought, I’m an alcoholic…I’ve gotta be really careful, because if somebody says, ‘You’re drinking too much, you have to quit,’ I won’t be able to.

By the 80s, King was introduced to cocaine while attending Hollywood parties as his books were made into movies. He also was addicted to cigarettes, smoking two packs a day and adding pills, mouthwash, sleep aids, and more to the toxic mix.

King admits this about his addictions:

If it would change your consciousness, I was all for it.

King’s wife, Tabitha, staged an intervention with his friends and family present by dumping out a garbage bag full of empty beer cans, cigarette butts, cocaine in gram bottles, cocaine in plastic baggies, and coke spoons, Valium, bottles of cough and cold medicines and even mouthwash.

Tabitha gave Stephen an ultimatum — sober up or get out. She gave him two weeks to make up his mind.

He decided that even though he thought giving up his addiction would kill him, he chose to do it for his wife and family.

King has been sober for over 33 years, adding that an anonymous organization got him through.

He comments:

It certainly allowed me to live a more spiritual life in many ways. It makes it easier to live a moral life. Because when you do something that’s rather shitty, you know that you’ve done it, and you have to talk about it a little bit.

Of course, we can come to the same realization by choosing any method to attain sobriety.

I love this myth-busting statement Stephen makes about addiction and creatives:

Substance abusing writers are just substance abusers — common garden-variety drunks and druggies, in other words. Any claims that the drugs and alcohol are necessary to dull a finer sensibility are the usual self-serving bs.

What about you?

Don’t wait for an intervention that may not come.

You can’t hope someone will take the reins of your life. You are responsible for your life, health, and sobriety. You are strong and capable — do not think for a minute you are not. You can do this.

For the books that helped me achieve sobriety, see my article published on AINYF/Medium on February 8, 2022, 10 Outstanding Books to Help You Stay Fully Engaged in Your Sobriety.

Choose your way of attaining sobriety. I’ve given a few suggestions above.

Please seek medical help if you are concerned about withdrawal.

Help is available and only a Google away. Or contact the National and 24-hour Drug Addiction and Substance Abuse hotline number: 877–268–2787 or Alcohol Abuse Hotline: 888–744–0069.

How an Apple Watch Can Enhance Your Life and Inspire You to Improve in Many Areas

No, I am not on Apple's payroll — yet I now rely on this gadget daily.

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I love my new Apple Watch! Can you tell I'm excited? Do you have one, too?

I know I still have a lot to discover on this fantastic device. It seems I learn something new daily, and it's all good.

I was a Fitbit wearer for years. The primary reason was to keep track of my exercise, daily steps, and sleep. It was simple. I didn't need to do a thing except wear it.

When it would die — each one lasted a couple of years, I would purchase the latest iteration of it, and I was satisfied.

Exercise

Satisfied until I noticed that some of my pickleball buddies were asking their watches to start tracking our pickleball game. Really? This watch tracks specific exercises?

Indeed it does. Okay, that did it. I had to have it.

One day a friend and I went for a walk, and she tapped her Apple watch to track her outside walk.

Not only did it measure the miles, but it told her the pace — an 18-minute mile. If we stopped to chat with a neighbor, the watch would ask her if we had finished walking. She would pause it and resume it when we did.

Now I'm using mine every day.

When lifting weights at home, tap on Functional Exercise, which follows your movements — recording the time you're lifting and the calories you burn.

It does the same for abdominal exercises — called Core Training — you get the idea.

I love that. The watch tracks the time and calories burned for every exercise you perform. I haven't even read the entire list as there are so many sports and activities on the watch.

Not only do we receive this information, but I have discovered that I want to improve the time and distance of my last hike. 

I'm challenging myself thanks to this device. 

The watch reminds me every hour to get up off my butt and stand for one minute. I take this time to walk around the house and stretch. Writing is absorbing, and this prompt to move is essential.

Emergency help

My friend slipped and fell on a hike up the mountain — she wasn't hurt and got up immediately. The watch picked this up and asked if she was alright or did she need them to contact 911!

She answered that she was fine and did not need emergency help.

I often walk or hike the mountains alone with my dog early in the morning, and falling can be a concern. I always bring my cell phone, but what if I were unable to retrieve it from my bag? My watch is on my wrist, and all I need to do is talk into it.

This feature enhances my life by helping me feel secure and safe and may save my life.

Sleep

I'm not sure what my favorite feature of the Apple Watch is, but this category is near the top, if not the pinnacle.

For $4.99, a one-time charge, I added Auto Sleep from the app store so that I would receive more detailed information about the quality of my slumber.

There's more information than we need to assess our sleep health. However, once involved in evaluating it, I found it illuminating.

This app provides:

• Time Asleep
• Sleep Rating
• Sleep spO2
• Respiration Rate
• Sleep Fuel Rating
• Readiness
• Tonight's Bedtime
• Sleep Consistency

I went into detail regarding these sleep categories in my article on Medium, published September 5, 2022, How to Improve the Quality of Your Sleep With These 4 Simple Daytime Tactics.

Briefly, Time Asleep, Sleep Fuel Rating, and amount of Deep Sleep are the most crucial areas to be concerned about. You can find the amount of your deep sleep within the Sleep Rating area.

I learned that the Sleep Fuel Rating is critical. For several days my fuel rating was Poor. I did some investigating and found that Poor often means one suffers from anxiety or depression. 

As it turns out, I was anxious for various reasons, and I could remedy my anxiety by using meditation and the Mindfulness app on the watch. 

Of course, you can’t cure all anxieties easily. However, since mine was situational, it eased when I was more mindful of the issue and cleared it up.

Within a few days, my fuel rating slowly climbed from Poor to Regular to Plus and finally to Premium. Apple bases these ratings on gasoline gradings. The top is Jet Fuel. I haven't reached that level yet.

How wonderful this watch can help settle and calm us, thus attaining a higher quality sleep.

I am inspired to improve the quality of my sleep by assessing where I need to make adjustments.

Mindfulness

I love this feature. It has helped me improve the quality of my sleep, energy level, and mood.

You can Reflect and Breathe — two aspects I use several times daily.

I have set a reminder every few hours to take a minute to reflect. The app offers a topic to ponder — such as what are you inspired by today? 

Breathe is sitting quietly and paying attention to your inhalation and exhalation for that minute. 

Both of these practices calm you and will impact your sleep quality.

If my day has been busy and I passed on these soothing moments, my sleep numbers go down.

Besides using the Mindfulness feature to help improve my sleep, it has significantly enhanced and calmed my emotional state, and my productivity has increased.

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There are dozens more features and tips that I haven't yet explored. I will do a bit more investigating and perhaps will update this article in the future.

By the way — this watch also tells the time, imagine that. There are many clock configurations from which to choose as your home screen.

You need an iPhone — it's the mother ship. It stores and analyzes all the data that is collected. The Apple Watch and iPhone work in unison.

We all have cell phones anyway — this one is worth it. The phone is where you will view your stats. 

For now, the Apple Watch will be a fixture in my life as it's already proven to improve and enhance it.

How to Improve the Quality of Your Sleep With This Simple Daytime Tactic

Sleep is the elixir of life — why not enhance it?

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I’ve become obsessed with my sleep since I switched from wearing a Fitbit on my wrist to an Apple Watch.

I wore the Fitbit for several years, and it worked well, but when it conked out and it was time to replace it, I thought I’d try the Apple Watch instead.

The sleep app provided is not as detailed as I would like. My son suggested I add the AutoSleep app to it.

This untechy information seeker took a while to understand all the nuances this app supplied. 

First thing upon waking, I’d find myself absorbed in my numbers and ratings.

This app provides:

• Time Asleep
• Sleep Rating
• Sleep spO2
• Respiration Rate
• Sleep Fuel Rating 
• Readiness
• Tonight’s Bedtime
• Sleep Consistency

The categories I’m most interested in — and you should be, too — are Sleep Rating and Sleep Fuel.

The Sleep Rating provides total hours asleep, time in deep sleep, sleep quality, and BPM. This information is vital to know you slept well and are ready for the day.

Sleep Fuel is the most significant category. Yes, deep sleep and total hours of sleep are critical, but the fuel rating shows how efficiently you slept.

Think of fuel the same as the fuel you put into your car. It is more efficient if it’s premium fuel; if it is regular, you get less benefit.

The fuel ratings are Poor, Regular, Plus, Premium, and Jet Fuel.

When I consistently reported poor fuel for several days, I became concerned and decided to see if I could change this. 

Here’s what I did:

1. I would take a break every hour and take five slow deep breaths to the count of five for the inhale and another five on the exhale.
2. I would set aside three periods each day of five minutes to sit and “meditate.” By this, I mean, get in a comfortable sitting position or, if you prefer, lie down (I did at times), close your eyes and allow thoughts to pass, and let your mind go within, listening to your heartbeat or paying attention to your natural breathing. This calms you and is restful and rejuvenating.
3. Finally, at bedtime, take a few minutes to repeat the deep breathing or sit quietly following your natural breath, allowing thoughts to pass without focusing on them.
4.  Before falling asleep, take another moment to find something you are grateful for that may have happened today. Or, you can be thankful for being alive today or that your heart is beating and your body carried you through another day. Gratitude at bedtime makes you appreciate all your blessings—what a lovely way to fall asleep. 

Right from the start, my fuel rating improved from Poor to Regular. Within a few days, I advanced to the Plus rating. 

One hectic day, I didn’t follow my plan, and the next morning my rating was again a dismal Poor.

I returned to take a few minutes each day using my new calming method, and now my rating is a Premium.

I’m thrilled.

The best news is that I’m feeling far more rested and energetic. All it took was about 30 minutes a day.

"Your life is a reflection of how you sleep, and how you sleep is a reflection of your life. "— Dr. Rafael Pelayo, clinical professor of Sleep Medicine at Stanford University.

Of course, you don’t need a sleep app to tell you how you feel. But, it is so helpful in identifying where you can make improvements.

Try this method by taking a few minutes out of your busy day to relax and calm yourself and see if you notice a more restful sleep and a more energetic wakeful day.

After all, sleep is fuel for your brain, body, and well-being.

A Famous Songwriter Shares 6 Affirmations That Could Help You Sober Up

 Written by a recovered alcoholic and his friend who wanted to have what he was having in his journey to sobriety.

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In the years leading up to considering sobriety, I watched Paul Williams and Tracey Jackson being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey about the book they collaborated on: Gratitude and Trust — Six Affirmations That Will Change Your Life.

As you may recall, Paul is the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Grammy-winning songwriter of many outstanding hits, including, We've Only Just Begun, Evergreen, and You and Me Against the World, among others. 

Tracey is the author of Confessions of a Shopaholic and a TV and comedy writer.

Their book Gratitude and Trust threw a wrench into my drinking. The book jolted me into taking a deeper look at my alcohol consumption and forced me to ask a few questions.

The most important question was — am I addicted to alcohol? The next one was — what, if anything should I do about it?

It wasn't the first time these questions tickled my brain, and the book impacted me.

Paul was a severe alcoholic and cocaine abuser for decades. When he co-wrote this book, he was sober for 25 years. 

Tracey was not addicted to any substance but admitted she had many problems — overspending, a control freak, OCD, and men.

Paul and Tracey have compiled Six Affirmations of Personal Freedom in this book.

I recall writing these affirmations on an index card and reading them daily. 

I focused on one at a time, sometimes spending a week on it. Sometimes more. 

The years have passed, and other inspiring books have replaced Gratitude and Trust, yet somehow this one materialized in my thoughts today.

I unearthed it from the vast array on my bookshelves. My attention is once again riveted on these six reminders of where I want my awareness to be.

As the authors advise of the affirmations:

To make them effective tools in reconstructing the way you live your life, you’ll need to make them as much a part of your day as your toothbrush, razor, or morning run.

Six Affirmations of Personal Freedom

1.  Something needs to change, and it's probably me.
2. I don't know how to do this, but something inside me does.
3. I will learn from my mistakes and not defend them.
4. I will make right the wrongs I've done wherever possible.
5. I will continue to examine my behavior on a daily basis.
6. I will live my life in love and service, gratitude and trust.

The first statement is one that grabbed me by the throat — who me? Immediately, I knew the answer to that was — yes, you!

I spent a lot of time looking at my behavior and what I needed to change. It's probably six years since I read the book and worked on the affirmations. I will again write them on a card and begin over with the first.

As the authors state: "You've turned away from defending your behavior to admitting your culpability. You've recognized your part in the problem and are prepared to change."

The second affirmation asks us to look inward. For me, that is turning to God. For you, it may be different. Maybe you will look for your inner voice or intuition. 

The important thing is to understand there is a collaborative spirit inside you connecting to your higher self. Sitting in silence, prayer or meditation will often help you recognize this.

Third — learn from our mistakes and not defend them. I was/am a great defender. It is not an easy habit to break, and I'm glad to have this reminder back in my life. Of course, repeating mistakes is another blunder for me to correct.

Paul and Tracey: "We spend much of our lives running from our mistakes, hiding them, covering them up, lying about them, and often blaming them on others."

Fourth — righting the wrongs we've committed. Luckily, to the best of my recollection, I didn't wrong many people. I was the one I wronged by not believing in myself, by thinking I was weak because I was addicted to alcohol.

The authors remind us that owning our mess is the first step toward healing; it is essential to clean it up by taking action. I'm sorry may be the most necessary words you can speak.

The fifth affirmation may sound like a marathon. Seriously, continue to examine my behavior? Every day?

Yes. Tracey and Paul suggest that we take a close look at our behavior at the end of each day. What didn't you do that you should have done? What did you do that you shouldn't have done? Put those on the top of your to-do list for tomorrow.

And finally, for the sixth, we live in love, service, gratitude, and trust.

If we can do our best every day to keep the first five affirmations centered in our lives, the sixth will unfold naturally.

Gratitude and trust are the predominant emotions, the essence of thankfulness for what we have and knowing that more good is in store.

Sharing our stories and challenges will help others. Service is noticing when someone is in need and doing what we can to address that. 

Giving back is service and a way to show love. Being available to your friends and family and yourself is love.

These affirmations work for alcohol addiction and life in general — in all its glory, pain, challenges, and joy.

Can you embrace these affirmations to change and improve your life? Give it a try. What have you got to lose?