What are you doing today? Are you satisfied with what you’ve done so far or with what you plan to do?
If we don’t take a moment to take stock of how we’re using our space and time, we can live controlled by them. We just go on day by day until suddenly a week has passed, a month, and then years. On the other hand, if we design and make good use of our space and time, we can be successful at whatever we attempt.
Many people begin their day hating to get out of bed in the morning, and they go to sleep after a hard day without first cleaning out their emotions. Those who have jobs live their lives led about by time, as, out of obligation, they just check the clock for the time to go to work, the time to get off work, and the time for their next meeting.
To actively direct your time instead of being led about by it, check in with yourself instead of only checking the clock. Report to yourself three times a day, but don’t just do it passively. Move your body actively to wake up your body and brain. One exercise I like to do as I check in is called Belly Button Healing.
>Belly Button Healing is a method of abdominal massage that primarily involves repeatedly and rhythmically pressing your navel with your fingers or a tool over your clothing. It’s a way to improve blood, lymph, and energy circulation; strengthen your core; lift your mood; warm your body; and calm your brain waves. You can use just a minute of Belly Button Healing to reset your energy, mind, and mood throughout your day.
Your first report begins as soon as you get up in the morning. Press your belly button with the attitude, “I will live today with meaning and passion, and I will make it a moving, happy day.” See how you are that moment and set an intention and goals for the day.
Then do an intermediate report to yourself in the afternoon. Ask yourself, “What have I done so far today? How will I spend the time I have left?”
Finally, as you end your day, do a closing report, thinking, “How did I live today? Did I do work that was somehow meaningful?” With each press of your belly button, let go of the thoughts and emotions you accumulated that day.
Incremental Self-Care and Achievement
These three daily reports—beginning, intermediate, and closing—you make to your true self, not to anyone else. They’re different from the obligatory reports you make at work. We are generally under obligation or compulsion when we schedule our time, but these are one minute bursts of time we take for ourselves.
By frequently reporting to yourself, try to design your life each day, thinking about how you will live a life of fulfillment, compassion, and self-care. Your life will change once you’ve done that. With just these short bits of time, accumulated day after day, your life can become more energized, proactive, and intentional. And you can achieve deeper unity with your true self. The starting point is one minute of Belly Button Healing.
Doing Belly Button Healing three times a day is significant on more than a physical level. You can also connect with the earth as you do Belly Button Healing. Our bodies are the earth.
Our bodies are nature, and the earth is nature; they are ultimately one. The belly button is connected with all life and also with the earth. As you do Belly Button Healing, try to think, “I’m also healing the earth right now. My body is for the earth, so healing my body is healing the earth.” If you do this, your consciousness will grow.
With this daily practice, you have the power to resolve to yourself: “I am the master of my life. I design my life.” That beginning originates in the belly button.