YouTube Video of Robin Palmer’s TEDxTalk at TEDxConejo 2012
I performed leading roles in Broadway Musicals for fifteen years. Some favorites include playing Linda Ronstadt’s sister in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE with Kevin Kline, co-starring with David Cassidy in JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, and singing Memory in CATS.
My passion for fitness led me to becoming a top personal trainer in NYC. A few years ago, I moved across the country to CA, got married and took a desk job. I kept wishing for an affordable personal trainer to positively motivate me to wake up and work out each morning and to help me to start my day positively focused. I had read that the mindset with which you start your day influences your perspective as your day progresses, which made sense to me. I started reading up on the subject and also went to “Google University” and discovered that all of my favorite thought leaders stress the importance of starting your day positively. Ironically, most people wake up to an annoying buzzer or alarming news on the radio, like, “Someone got murdered. Now get out there and prosper!” I became interested in finding a solution because I needed it myself.
I’ve learned that our minds are the most open; we are literally the most open-minded the first few minutes and the last few minutes of the day, when we are transitioning between the subconscious mind and consciousness. Each day is like a mini-life, we awaken into consciousness and then let go and return to sleep at the end of the day. Since my mindset when I start my day sets the tone for the rest of day, I wanted to wake up positively focused on achieving my goals, instead of playing “Russian roulette” with my alarm clock radio every morning.
Once I started looking into it, it felt like the “Law of Attraction” was at work in my life. I enjoy reading books and listening to personal development programs. I noticed that everyone was including the importance of starting your day well in the material they were sharing. There is research about our neurotransmitters being like train tracks and thought patterns are formed like well-traveled train routes. To create new positive thought patterns, the initial positive thought is crucial to “laying down new tracks,” creating new positive thought routes, and letting the old thought tracks disintegrate. And, first thing in the morning, when our minds are the most open, is the best time to “get the thoughts rolling” in the right direction.
I heard Dr. Wayne Dyer speak at an event. He said that he learned from the research he studied to start every day by envisioning the day during his meditation. He envisions himself participating in his day, the way an elite athlete or Broadway performer prepares for an event or performance. And then it’s “play ball!”
Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith, minister at the Agape International Spiritual Center, or “another thought leader,” says that since we are all electromagnetic energy fields, he has found that it is most important to ground himself energetically every morning. So he goes outside in his bare feet and stands in the grass in his yard for the first five minutes of every day and “inhales” the grounding energy from mother earth. Rev. Beckwith starts every day this way, even when he is travelling, as long as there is soil or sand somewhere in the immediate vicinity of his hotel. The only times he misses his morning ritual is when the hotel is surrounded by concrete. My husband is fascinated by Rev. Beckwith’s morning ritual and has jokingly suggested the solution for grounding himself when he stays in urban hotels is to order a large potted plant from room service each morning. Or he could start his day by scurrying down to the hotel lobby in his bath robe and hopping into a large planter as inconspicuously as possible for five minutes!
Jack Canfield, author of the #1 NY Times best-selling book series (approaching 1 billion book sales), Chicken Soup for the Soul, along with The Success Principles, and many other books, received his BA at Harvard and his Masters at the University of Massachusetts in Psychological Education. He has spent the last thirty years studying how to create and sustain successful behaviors. He begins every day with “20/20/20,” an hour of physical, spiritual and emotional self-care: 20 minutes of exercising, 20 minutes of mediation, and 20 minutes of reading. He credits starting his day this way with setting up a successful trajectory for the rest of his day, every day.
Marianne Williamson has spent the last three decades studying and teaching the spiritual practices and principles that she has found to make the biggest difference for people. She says that she cannot emphasize enough the importance of starting your day with meditation and prayer. Her hope is that people awaken to the realization that starting their day with a spiritual practice is at least as important as that first cup of coffee in the morning. She explains that most people would not feel comfortable starting their day without brushing their teeth and showering and that starting the day with a spiritual practice washes off the dirt you can’t see on the inside.
This is hard for me to fathom, but I used to wake up every day with an alarm buzzer. I have no idea how I tolerated that! If I happen to hear one of those alarms now, my heart starts racing! It turns out that there is a spike in heart attacks on Monday mornings, which have been linked to alarm clock buzzers! It is neurologically bad for people to start their day in a physiological state of responding to an alarm!
Now I wake up positively and motivated to have a wonderful day, just like I had envisioned I would! I notice that I am more focused and productive and self-caring. I really benefit from starting my day positively focused on achieving my goals for the day. My day flows better. Since time may be my most precious asset, it is important for me make good use of it. I regularly meditate and exercise before I begin my work day. I notice that I am more focused and energized for the day, which I really appreciate!
I’ve learned that since our minds are the most open and impressionable when we are awakening in the morning and when we are about to fall asleep, that it is an invaluable time to program it with positive thoughts, gratitude, visualization and affirmations. And as Dr. Wayne Dyer says, since our subconscious minds work on the information they receive right before we go to sleep, it is imperative that we use that time well. He stresses that most people listen to the news before they go to sleep or don’t make conscious choices for what they want their subconscious minds to work on while they are sleeping. He jokes that if you want your subconscious mind to work on the news of the world for the next six to eight hours while you are sleeping, then watch the news before you go to bed.
Dr. Dyer, for example, envisions the completion of his goals he is working on accomplishing just before he goes to sleep, to give his subconscious eight hours to “work on it” while he is sleeping.
Marci Shimoff rubs a few drops of essential lavender oil on her feet every night before she goes to bed and has made it a habit to turn off all electronic devices two hours before bedtime.
World as One co-founder Kim Terranova opens up her journal every evening right before she goes to sleep. She writes a gratitude list on the page on the right and acknowledgements about herself on the page on the left. She writes at least 5 every night on both pages. Then she lays her head on her pillow and repeats the gratitudes to herself as she drifts off to sleep. And every New Year’s Day, she and her children each write a gratitude list of 100 gratitudes.
I have several great evening exercises that definitely make a difference for me. I would be happy to share one of my favorite exercises I do in the evening with you. In fact, we can do it right now together, if you’d like. Great!
Please close your eyes and get comfortable. Normally, you would do this exercise when you are all tucked in and ready to go to sleep at night. We will start with 3 deep Pranic Healing breaths. So we will inhale through our noses slowly for six counts and hold for three counts, then exhale slowly through our mouths, just like blowing through a straw, for six counts and then hold for 3 counts. We will repeat this breathing pattern 3 times, ok? Ready? Great! Please inhale slowly through your nose for 6 counts… and hold for three counts… exhale slowly through your mouth for six counts… and hold for three counts. Terrific! And again…please inhale slowly through your nose for 6 counts… and hold for three counts… exhale slowly through your mouth for six counts… and hold for three counts. Wonderful! And once more… inhale slowly through your nose for 6 counts… hold for three counts… and exhale slowly through your mouth for six counts… hold for three counts. That’s great! You can do Pranic breathing anytime you need to relax, while you are waiting in line at the grocery store or making dinner. It is a wonderful way to de-stress.
Now, with your eyes closed, please place your hands on your heart. Continue inhaling deeply through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Now express gratitude silently or audibly to everyone who was a blessing to you in your day today. Maybe you’d like to thank a friend who called you today or a business acquaintance who reached out to you. You are creating a real live gratitude list of people in your life.
Now gently imagine your day tomorrow and express gratitude in advance to the people you are planning to see or speak with tomorrow. Send them thanks and appreciation. Excellent! Take one more deep breath…and exhale…Wonderful! Good night. Sleep well. Enjoy the good night’s rest that you’ve been dreaming of.
You can also choose to do this exercise as a written gratitude list at night before you go to sleep or in the morning, if you’d prefer. You will notice that your real live gratitude list will grow and soon there will be more people on your list and in your life than you thought possible. As Rev. Michael Beckwith says, where attention goes, energy flows! What you focus on expands.
I am more positive and I feel a lot happier. Total strangers come up to me and unsolicited tell me I have a lot of light and ask me what I do! Wow! The goal of my life is to make a difference. I would imagine that many people feel the same way. My company is called My Successables, Inc. We create audio and visual products that help people to successfully achieve their goals and dreams. Making conscious choices about waking up well and going to sleep well at night help me to make a difference in my life.
Since the mindset with which we wake up and fall asleep each day so greatly influences the way we live each day, I felt it was very important to create a success tool to start and end every day positively focused on achieving daily goals. I searched for what I needed and couldn’t find it anywhere. Finally I went to a lawyer and asked him if my idea existed. He said it didn’t but it’s a great idea and I should create it. So I invented My Wake UP Call® Motivational Alarm Clock® Messages; which are patented daily 5-minute motivating messages which start your day positively.
Once I created My Workout Wake UP Call and saw that it was making a difference for me and for others, I reached out to well-known wellness and motivational experts like yourself, Marci Shimoff, Janet Attwood, Mary Morrissey, the author and producers of the Discover the Gift movie, Dr. Judith Orloff, Victoria Moran, Sharon Lechter and others to create each month of My Wake UP Call messages. You can currently choose from 16 different product lines, including messages to help you to wake up and work out, lose weight for life, to messages for financial freedom, stress relief, wellness, or waking up to love in your life. Our customers tell us that our messages have changed their lives and that they also listen to messages anytime they need a boost during the day. And we have recently created My Good Night Messages, which are wonderful!
My Wake UP Call and My Good Night messages are a bridge tool, to positively motivate people to get from where they are to where they want to be. Many people want to work out, take good care of themselves and succeed in their lives. I’ve found that an automated success tool helps us to consistently achieve our goals more easily.
Robin B. Palmer
Inventor of My Wake UP Call Motivational Alarm Clock Messages
Patent # 8,064,295
