There are many little things that we do everyday that we wouldn’t dream of skipping, like brushing our teeth, taking a shower, or eating. Though many of us live very different lives, there is a stark difference between surviving and thriving.

Individual’s that choose to live their lives in a manner of consistent growth and development know that creating daily non-negotiable habits are integral to living a life of greater purpose and fulfillment. It must be understood that most things that bring a sense of peace and joy are not found through temporary and immediate gratification, but are often hard won after a certain level of sacrifice has been implemented.

Those that employ daily non-negotiable activities enjoy greater mood regulation and stabilization along with more consistent feelings of overall purpose and value. In other words, if you want to enjoy life to the fullest you need to consciously implement daily strategies in order to maximize conscious growth and expansion.

Here are five basic non-negotiable activities that you can choose to adopt in order to create a healthier overall lifestyle:

1. Sleep – Follow Nature’s Natural Rhythm

They say that for every hour you sleep before midnight, it is like an additional two hours of sleep. Though this may largely be a widespread myth, the fact remains that getting to bed early helps the body’s natural circadian rhythm and sleep cycles to perform at optimum levels. From an energetic perspective, the amount of sleep you need is largely dependent upon the food that you eat, the thoughts and emotions that you have, and the level of overall vibrancy of your energetic system.

Vegetarian diets are easier to digest and put less strain on the body thus requiring less sleep to revitalize the body’s energy levels. Thoughts and emotions also play a large role in the amount of sleep one needs; with habitual worry, anxiety and a negative mind-set resulting in poor sleep stretched over many hours.

Finally, energy vibrancy aka prana or chi energy is cultivated through meditation and energetic practices, which overtime, lowers the amount of sleep the physical body needs to recuperate during the night.

Whether you need five hours of sleep or eight, going to bed early allows one to get up early and there are a great many advantages to getting up prior to sunrise that will get your day started off in a very powerful way.

2. Meditate

Like Hatha Yoga, the West has adopted ‘meditation’ as their own and now happily espouses the virtues of this ancient spiritual practice. It must be said however, that meditation in the traditional sense is quite different from what the Western mind has molded it to be. Meditation is a consequence of a certain state of consciousness and is a result of a purified mind with no thought or ‘object’ as its subject. Meditation is natural and available to anyone but needs to be cultivated over many years of consistent practice.

There are many reasons why one would practice the regular stilling of the mind to a no-thought state, not least of which is the immediate sense of clarity of perception, higher awareness, and emotional regulation and control stemming from the watching of thoughts and executing the choice of whether or not one chooses to respond to a particular thought or simply watch it float on by.

“WHEN MEDITATION IS MASTERED, THE MIND IS UNWAVERING LIKE THE FLAME OF A LAMP IN A WINDLESS PLACE. IN THE STILL MIND, IN THE DEPTHS OF MEDITATION, THE SELF REVEALS ITSELF. BEHOLDING THE SELF BY MEANS OF THE SELF, AN ASPIRANT KNOWS THE JOY AND PEACE OF COMPLETE FULFILLMENT.” – THE BHAGAVAD GITA

Long time meditators enjoy silence not because they are boring but because in silence we expand our awareness beyond the confines of the small ‘me’ that we perceive ourselves to be. With conscious expansion comes higher awareness of the natural unity of all life and feelings of deep compassion and love for existence.

Breaking the chains of habitual thought and rising above our thought level allows one to consistently be the ‘observer’ instead of always being the exhausted participant. Meditation is the elixir of the soul and building a daily practice is a panacea to many mental/emotional disturbances.

3. Exercise

Incorporating daily exercise should be a no-brainer at this stage of health awareness. Our body needs to move and stretch, heart rates need to be elevated, sweat released, muscles strained and bones stressed. Our bodies are physical machines that need to be oiled and lubricated daily in order for them to be operating at optimum levels.

Whether it is running, swimming, weight training, cycling, yoga or simply floor exercises, the body craves activity while the mind enjoys some time off. Exercise releases tension, stress, and anxiety and releases stuck and stagnant energy. Those that exercise daily enjoy tight firm bodies, radiant skin, bright eyes and a relaxed happy attitude.

There is more than enough data available to confirm that daily exercise is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. Anywhere from 30 – 60 minutes everyday can make a marked difference in one’s overall attitude and emotional well-being.

4. Healthy Eating

Food is fuel for the body and is just as much a chemical process as it is an alchemical process. As everything is energy on the quantum level, so too is the food that we choose to eat. Different foods carry different qualities and energetic vibrations that affect our internal chemistry and vibrancy. Food that is natural and unprocessed offer the highest pranic (energy) value and requires very little energy for our body to break down and assimilate.

Food that is highly processed or dense (meat) takes a very long time to digest and siphons a huge amount of energy to process. From an energy efficiency standpoint, it doesn’t make sense to eat foods that are highly processed as they offer little to no nutritional value.

If one is clear in making health and wellness a priority in their lives, then nutrition and healthy eating should also be a no-brainer. Each meal should have high energy potency that allows the body and brain to function at the highest possible level for long-term well-being.

5.  Contemplation/Reflection/Self-Inquiry – Journaling

The journey of life should be one of continual growth, expansion, and maturity. As children our lives are occupied with learning about the outside world and how we can potentially fit into it.

We spend these early years paying stark attention to social mores and cultural traditions. We seek to fit in and be part of the group whether that is a family unit or one of our choosing. As we continue to grow and mature we evolve past these confines and start to seek a deeper connection to life itself; a more inclusive attitude that incorporates all of humanity, not just our familiar family and friends.

For this to happen we must expand and grow into someone new. Journaling is a very powerful tool to help aid in the continuing evolution of Self and who we aim to create ourselves to be. The awareness that we can ‘choose’ to be someone instead of defaulting into someone is in itself a very powerful revelation.

For those that have come to understand that, “…All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players..” (Shakespeare), it is time to consciously choose who we want to become. For this, journaling is an immensely powerful tool of illumination, revelation, and contemplation.

Live Simply 

Life is simple. 

These five basic non-negotiables of everyday life will take you a very long way.