Amid the nitty-gritty of modern-day sophistication as well as woes, we have a lot of reasons to be unhappy: digital dependency and social media addiction, wars in the Middle East and Europe, polarization of world powers, racial and ethnic violence, ecological and demographic problems, economic fears, decline of social trust or social unrest, and so on and so forth. Over these wrenching problems, I pine for ample reasons, even tiny or simple ones, to be happy – on a daily basis.
Back in my old seminary days (particularly high school and college years), our regimented life revolved around the ringing of the bell, from rising in the morning to retiring in the evening. Consisting mainly of PRAYER, STUDY, WORK, and PLAY, our typical daily schedule would run, thus: rising at 5:30 AM; morning prayer and meditation; Mass; breakfast; classes and noontime prayer; siesta; recreation; showers; Rosary; evening prayer; study period; supper; night prayer; retire and lights off at 9:00 PM.
As it were, in my young age (my seminary years were the prime of my youth), I didn’t put much premium on the activities that antagonized my comfort zone – waking up early, regulated study period, housework or fieldwork, and prayer exercises – except, of course, the meals, snacks (even if a little piece of bread), games or recreation, and siesta time.
When I got out of the seminary, as if hell broke loose that I became disoriented and quite helpless with regard to my daily schedule. I gravitated, on my first year outside, to the rather worldly activities (those which were absent from my past seminary days) – drinking and being merry as if “tomorrow you die” (not excluding beerhouse visits); leisure adventures or gimmicks; and, yes, youthful flings and trysts. Ah, I thought then I was just imitating St. Augustine, who has had his haughty indulgence on sinful adventures before his conversion (except that, unlike St. Augustine, I didn’t sire any child out of my venturesome trysts).
Then after my first year of unregimented and discretionary daily schedule, I started to MISS (yes, seriously so) my erstwhile seminary “conventual” activities – waking up early for the morning ritual of prayer, meditation, and mass; the “silentium magnum” (great or complete silence) during weekly recollections and semestral retreats; and the luxury of “alone time”, which I hardly found outside.
When I got married, my daily activities focused more on work or finding money. Thus, waking up early was not meant for prayer, mass or meditation, but was intended to beat the daily horrendous traffic in going to work. My discretionary or personal upliftment activities (prayer, physical exercise, etc.) and family time were relegated to weekends only.
Then, at roughly past 50, not retired yet (even as now) but working at home on discretionary time, I started putting back some amount of regimentation into my daily activities – no necessarily similar to my erstwhile seminary days’ round-the-clock schedule, but I tried to weigh in more on the doable or simple habits. Tiny as these habits seem, they provide a profound impact on my well-being, happiness, and perhaps longevity.
Life is short, I reckoned. Hence, there’s no better time deciding to be happy and well than now.
Here are my tiny but profound daily habits that make my days happier, healthier, purpose-ful, and meaningful.
1. Waking up at 6:00 AM with gratitude, faith, and hope. Upon rising from bed, after planting a kiss on my bedmate wifey, I sit on the bed for a brief prayer – thanking God for the night’s rest for and for the new day, and offering to Him with gratitude and love the ensuing day’s successes and blessings. Then, I usually go out to our house’s side- and backyard (we have no veranda) to feel the fresh air and welcome or embrace the bright sky and morning sunrise.
2. Not checking on my phone immediately. I just started this habit recently, after a long bout with gadget addiction. I simply realized that I should dedicate the first moments of my day to myself – peaceful morning routine, “throne of equality” (toilet bowl) detoxification, calm breakfast with wife, and taking my meds – rather on filling my mind with information, demands, and stresses from my phone.
3. Charting my “Ikigai” or day plan. Ikigai is a Japanese word roughly referring to our “life purpose” (or “the reason we get out of bed each morning”). After having accomplished on a paper or blank index card my ensuing day’s target tasks the evening before, I make it a habit to look or review my Ikigai card and my day’s activities (itinerary) with prayerful optimism.
4. Daily walk-jog, or biking. My usual fare is from our house to a nearby mall, approximately 8-10 kilometers back and forth. I find it not only physically refreshing, but likewise I’m able to relish the fresh air, sunshine, the natural surroundings, and meet fellow seniors along the way.
5. Daily “wasting time with God”. I and wife make it our daily habit to spend at least 30 minutes of prayer and reflection, or “divine meeting or presence” in the church. At times, we make it one-hour, or even more. In this way, we keep our life anchor on God, our true north star.
6. Regular “wasting time with myself”. The time of “being alone” or “self-contemplation” is what I sorely miss from my old seminary life. Now, as long as time permits, I make it a habit of having solitary personal time – reflecting on myself, my life journey, my relationship with my significant others well as God. Truly, Socrates cannot be more right when he said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”
7. Putting off my phone before bedtime. Like the habit of not checking immediately on the phone in the morning, I adopted this habit only recently – only after I realized that I sometimes have difficulty sleeping at night especially when I’m stuck to my cellphone even already in bed. Now, I see to it that my phone is put off practically away from bed. Yes, it’s a no-brainer to posit that poor sleep can decrease happiness.
In closing, let me end with this beautiful acronym of B-L-E-S-S-I-NG, thus:
B-egin your day with gratitude,
L-ove and Prayer;
E-xpect Blessings;
S-hine with kind abundance;
S-hare goodness;
I-nspire others and
N-ever forget that
G-od is with you all the time!
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