Healthy Lifestyle: An Extra Thirty Minutes

If you added an extra thirty minutes to your day, what would you want to do with it? It isn’t difficult to give yourself thirty minutes more, although it does take a bit of discipline. You could use those freed up 1,800 seconds to create a healthier lifestyle by giving TLC to your mind, body, and soul, or spirit.

Where to Find 30 More Minutes:

• Get out of bed a half hour earlier
• Turn the TV on 30 minutes later than usual, or off 30 minutes sooner
• Get off the computer sooner (or on later)
• Make better use of your lunch hour
• Give yourself 30 personal minutes before going to bed
• Make use of TV commercial time
• Make use of time spent driving

The expression “we are what we eat” does not only apply to our physical self. It is just as true for our mind and emotions, or mind and heart. Taking time to care for or inspire yourself each day is a habit worth forming. It reduces stress and anxiety, and helps maintain a healthy attitude about our self and life in general.

We feed ourselves through movement, sound, words, beauty, creativity, connection to others, and by learning, meditating, and dreaming. Many of us cannot eliminate the stress from our jobs and other responsibilities, but we can offset it by “eating” right.

Things You Can Do With 30 More Minutes:

• Exercise during TV commercial breaks: walk in place, do yoga poses or any stretching exercise, sweep the kitchen floor, clean the litter box, walk up and down the stairs, dance around
• Listen to educational or inspiring audio programs in the car (or on the train/bus)
• Journal a paragraph or two, or email someone to keep in touch
• Organize a drawer, the top of your desk, or a kitchen cupboard
• Make a healthy snack
• Work on a crossword (or other) puzzle
• Read poems or inspirational books
• Practice mindfulness therapy, or a walking meditation
• Listen to uplifting music and relax, exercise, or dance
• Shoot a few hoops in the driveway
• Dust off the camera and take new photos
• Imagine or visualize things you need or wish for
• Play with your dog, cat, or boa constrictor
• Talk to a neighbor
• Plant a small garden, or take care of the garden you have
• Draw and/or color mandalas
• Start a book of favorite quotes and find a new one each day
• Play, have fun, experiment, laugh - every day