Monday Blues – really?

Imagine it is Monday…

…And you get up in the best mood ever!

Wait! Monday morning you always feel tired and irritated? The bed is so comfortable and won’t let you go? Routine tasks pile up like the Himalaya? 

Wonderful, do you remember pictures from the Himalaya? It is breath-taking, no? But not out of fright but because the mountains are so beautiful, so perfect and majestic!

To go to work, doing laundry, go shopping, and settle disputes… doesn’t really feel majestic, does it? True – but only at first sight. Once you start to crest those mountains you will get used to the challenge.

Folks who have been exploring heights know what I am talking about. But to climb a mountain of 4000 meter without acclimatisation is not a cool idea! I am talking out of experience here, you get huge headaches, your joints ache and you feel dizzy all the time. You cannot go any further and the only way out is to decline.

However, if you let your body step by step adjust to the height, you will become more capable and in the end you conquer the highest passes in the Andes singing and whistling – and here I am also talking from experience.   

Step by step with an announcement!

Monday morning. The entire week sits in front of you. Maybe five days packed with work and challenges, or five working days filled with boredom, or five days at school with surprise tests or five days at home with a toddler and no idea how to survive.

Fact is: There will be always plenty of challenges on our path, no doubt. But we can certainly choose to declare those challenges to be the beautiful Himalayan mountain range in front of us – no problem at all. Throw a bit of powdered sugar on top and there you have your own personal giant mountains!

In order to make it to the top, and not get altitude sickness, it is very important that on Monday morning you put on your right hiking boots and pack the right provisions.

And that is how we do it:

Turn off the buzzer the moment it goes off and open your eyes. No snoozing, no buzz repeat, because that is the time you need for your acclimatisation.

Listen inside yourself. Right there, next to your tiredness is an enormous power in you that is just waiting to get up rock it, a power that cannot wait to conquer that mountain and enjoy the view from the top. In that very moment, the most important thing is to activate that feeling – be it as little and as covered by the “sleep a bit longer, just five more minutes” demon. 

Rise and shine and say Hello World! At best with a big fat smile on your face. Because to make a declaration for the day ahead is YOUR job and will decide the further course of YOUR day!

“What? A declaration?” you ask, ”when I am tired and not in the mood for an entire week of routine tasks ahead of me, how do you want me to rise and shine, to brightly smile at myself in the mirror and on top of that make a strong declaration for myself?”

Very simple:

Ignore your feelings, aka your tiredness, aka I don’t feel it, aka I feel overburdened. Do not care for them. YOU decide to give space to those negative sensitivities or not.

External circumstances grow when given too much space. That is a fact. The only thing helping here is to cultivate, to care, and to cherish your inner independence from all externalities.  

That works! It starts with a declaration for yourself:

Do it like that: Stay upright, take a deep breath and look yourself in the mirror:

I am what I am and I have everything I need to be happy here and now!

I am beautiful and full of power to make the impossible possible!

I love every inch of me and dance with myself!

I am just right the way I am!

I encounter my fellow human beings full of respect and inspire them deeply.

I am acclimatised and conquer the mountain whistling!

I always advance: even if I lost my breath yesterday – today I am going to make it for sure!

I have endless wisdom and act the right way in every situation!

I am happy to be here and I withstand the urge to give the negative feelings power over me!

I declare loud and clear STOP to all big and little inner demons trying to manipulate me!

I deeply trust myself and my life.

Here we go! Sounds crazy, but that stuff works! Start each day with a declaration, tell yourself that you are wonderful and in possession of everything you need to succeed, that is the essential step to transverse the Himalaya mountain range!

Training camp Monday

In a way, Monday can be considered as your altitude training – maybe even Sunday evening shortly before you go to bed. Use this typical moment when all the big and small mountains come to your mind…

When you start here and do not let yourself overwhelm by those emotions then you already made the first meters in height and your body and most notably your mind grow stronger. 

And one more thing:

When I mention emotions and feelings I not only mean the negative feelings. It is about all emotional states, happy, enthusiastic, tired, disappointed, self-pity, desperate. That’s very important! The thing is that YOU decide, that YOU own your heart and not your emotions.

Imagine your emotions as an alternating bath. The ups and downs of the 10 Worlds are not a joke but reality. We do have the marvellous possibility as humans to make choices. That is exactly what you do in your morning declaration. You choose a profoundly happy life that bubbles over with a joy that comes straight out of yourself! It is about strengthening that joy of life and vitality. I call it Buddhahood, you can call it love. Or deep trust. 

An energetic kick-off into your week without moaning and lamenting

“Great if that works for you, but I have to deal with other stuff. My mountains are higher than the Himalayas and honestly I have tried everything!”

Are you sure? Have you really tried everything?

It is about persistence, about the hardiness of excellent mountaineers who step by step conquer the highest mountains. Using their inner strength. That does not happen without training. So, do not be too harsh with yourself. 

Regard the moment of getting up every morning as the best training opportunity. Open your eyes and challenge yourself – bamm! 

Even when you move ahead only an inch every day, that in itself is fabulous! You can celebrate that! You can celebrate yourself! Because that very inch every day is the difference between “never mind, I will somehow manage” and fantastic! 

Replace your lamenting and moaning whenever you notice it. It works really well if you pick one of the declarations as a substitute. In that way you instantly remember what it is all about!

And even if your rational mind rebels and tells you: “Com’on, what a nuts idea, petty self-suggestion, psycho-stuff, blablablabla…” 

Just do it!

Use the time that your mind and feelings want to waste lamenting to make a determination! For your happiness! And for the happiness of your environment! Just do it! And write me what happens! I am looking forward hearing from you!