5 Hidden Windows of Time You Have That Can Change Your Life - Energy Healer, Intuitive Coach, Author & Educator, Jenny Mannion

5 Hidden Windows of Time You Have That Can Change Your Life

Akashic Records Expert, Consciousness, Empowerment, General, Gratitude, Inspirational, Self-love

So many of us are guilty of it.  Saying we have no time.  Running busily from one task to the next trying to fit everything in all in one day.  Simultaneously not taking the time we need to boost our energy to get through the day feeling alive and well.  We all have windows of time to do short exercises to make us feel better.  In my book, “A Short Path to Change: 30 Ways to Transform Your Life”, I offer 30 short tools that can be done in as little as seconds or tops – just 10-15 minutes.  We need to take care of ourselves spiritually, emotionally and mentally for our physical selves to be able to function in flow and with ease.  It does not have to be hours of meditation each day.  It can be short two-minute spurts a few times a day to really see our lives begin to change the way we want it to. Here are five windows of time you might not have realized you had and daily energy boosting tools to use in all of them.

  1. First Thing in the Morning  – Before your feet hit the floor, where is your mind?  Are you worrying about the day to come?  Laboring over a pain you feel or something you are anxious about?  Are you repeating to yourself how you wish you could lie in bed just a little bit longer?  These are typical behaviors for waking up that obviously do not set a positive tone for the day.  It is much more useful to spend this time setting intentions of how you would like to day to go. Paying gratitude for your warm bed and the fact that you woke up in the morning is also a wonderful way to start your day.  If you are in pain, turning your attention to a body part that feels good and pain-free is also going to put you in a much better space than concentrating on the painful part of your body. Also listen to the tone you are speaking to yourself in. Sounding alive and motivated is a much more inspiring way to begin your day.
  2. In the shower I don’t  know about you, but shower time used to be unconscious time for me. Either I was in my head thinking about some scenario that might happen that day, imagining a conversation I might have, or spinning some story about the upcoming day. I remember times I could not even recall if I had washed my hair or not.  I was so in my head and not in the present moment.  The shower is now one of my most meditative times of day.  Water is so healing and we have the luxury of running water to clean us every single day if we choose.  One of my favorite exercises to do in the shower is to imagine the water washing away all negativity and filling me with vital energy.  Paying gratitude for the water and the fact that I have the luxury of that shower.  Another favorite exercise is the Hawaiian prayer Ho’oponopono – 4 simple sentences said for ourselves for self-forgiveness or for someone we need to offer some forgiveness or healing to.  “I love you.” “I am sorry.” “Please forgive me.” “Thank you.”  This prayer is the most powerful one I have come across and when I say it in the shower to myself or out loud, it feels magnified by the healing effect of the water.
  3. Waiting in line in a store Driving/commuting to and from work – Being stuck in traffic – These can be stressful times or these can be powerful times. The choice is ours.  We can be so programmed to think waiting in line or traffic is possibly the most annoying thing ever and totally going to ruin our day. Or we can notice that we are being given this time where we can be totally present and take advantage of all the gifts the present moment brings us.  If you are in line, you can close your eyes and think of things or a person for which you are grateful.  You could also smile and strike up a conversation with someone in line – easing their tension as well.  In traffic, you could blast a favorite song and sing along at the top of your lungs if you like.  During your commute or being stuck in traffic is also a wonderful time to set intentions. How do you want the rest of your day to go when you get to your destination? Aren’t you so lucky you get this time to yourself where you can just simply “be” and put your mind wherever you want it?  Stressing about traffic or waiting in line will not move the traffic or line along any faster – in fact it will make it seem longer.  Switch your attention to something joyful and you might be so surprised at how fast you are beginning to move! Even if you are riding a train or a bus – you can take this time to go inward instead of being distracted by the noise around you and set intentions for how it will be when you arrive at your destination.
  4. Cooking/preparing food or Doing laundry/chores – Making a meal can really begin to feel like a chore.  Add to that if you are cooking every day for a family and you may even feel resentful that you have to do this task every single day.  When we are preparing food, we are in fact putting our energy into it.  This is an important time to watch where our minds are. Being grateful you have the food to cook/prepare is a wonderful place to put your mind. Feeling the love you have for those special ones you are preparing it for in fact adds that love to the cooking.  Giving yourself gratitude that you have the means, the ability, and the freedom to cook and imagining how good the food will taste when it is prepared is also a powerful way to switch up the energy.  The same is true when you are doing laundry or cleaning.  So many times we can have these thoughts like, “I don’t want to be doing this” or “this again??”  Try shifting your energy to joy for the fine clothes you have or the convenient kitchen you have available for you to clean.  Think of all the good times you have had in your home and how much it means for you to have a home to keep clean.  If you want – blast some of your favorite music as you do these chores to make the tasks even more pleasurable!
  5. Before you go to sleep at night This time and in the morning are the most powerful as we are in the half awake/half asleep state and our subconscious is even more tuned in. Yet most people have habits of going over what went wrong that day or what they are dreading the next day.  This will not only cause trouble sleeping, and possible bad dreams, but also makes for a pretty disempowered way to wake up in the morning.  Instead, you can think of something you did in that day that you are happy about.  It need not be some big glamorous event; perhaps you called a friend that was in need; maybe you cooked dinner for a family member; you might have taken a yoga class or exercised.  Giving gratitude for ourselves is something that feels uncomfortable at first, but you will feel a huge difference if you begin to make this a regular practice. You can also take this time to pay gratitude for someone or something in your life that you love and enjoy.  Gratitude before bed is so very powerful because you are acknowledging all that is right and it sets the tone for the next day for the universe to bring you something even better!

These are all the hidden moments that you have every day, notice them! If you take even one or two of these and begin to use these tools on a regular basis, I promise you that your life will begin to change for the better.  We all do have time and it is up to us to decide how we want to use it.

16 Comments

  1. Reba Linker

    I love this post, Jenny. As I shared on Vatsala’s post as well, I’m in a bit of procrastination mode just now, and it’s funny how there seems to be a theme here of getting present and allowing the flow to happen in the best way. Thank you!

    • jennymannion

      Thank you so much for visiting, reading an commenting Reba – you are so welcome! I am glad the article helped. We all meet resistance and hit those periods of procrastination or feeling too busy to fit in the time for ourselves. Sometimes we just need a gentle reminder there are actually always those small windows of time we can put to good use to totally transform our day! Sending much love and tons of gratitude, <3

  2. Vatsala Shukla

    Hi Jenny. First time visitor from Reba’s Circle of Friends and I KNOW I will return!

    I’ve built prayer, gratitude and mindfulness into my sacred morning and nighttime rituals and it makes a world of difference to my perspective on the day’s events. Loved all your tips.

    • jennymannion

      Hi Vatsala, So nice to meet you through Reba. I really enjoyed your article today too! Morning and nighttime are such important times as those are usually times are brains are on overload. There is such power in your tools of gratitude, prayer and mindfulness and I am so glad you have made this a ritual. It sure makes life be a whole lot more in flow!! Thanks for visiting and I look forward to getting to know you even better! Wishing you a blessed day! <3

  3. Julia

    Hi Jenny,

    Loved your great tips, thank you so much.

    I too like to take time to center in my own energy first thing in the morning and last thing at night and it has made such a difference in my life.

    Going to practice being mindful stuck in traffic and doing the dishes too, thank you.

    • jennymannion

      Hi Julia, Thanks so much for visiting and commenting. I am so glad you use the morning and night time – they are such powerful time and usually times when people can find themselves in complaint or anxious-mode. Taking those times when the mind is most receptive in that half awake state is so very powerful. Chores are a beautiful time too -instead of possibly feeling resentful or being in our heads about all the to-do’s – taking a breath and being in the moment and choosing that time to be a positive one is a wonderful way to switch the energy of our day around. Thanks again -sending blessings, <3

  4. Natasha Botkin

    My post this week was my aha moment of running the rat race on survival mode and my soul shaking me awake to enough. Your ideas a nice for those moments that we may need a gentle reminder. xoxo

    • jennymannion

      Hi Natasha, I loved your post and I love those A-Ha moments. As intuitives and healers it is so important we keep that journey going – always learning, open, peeling off more and more layers to connect even deeper into living from our soul in every moment. It is a beautiful yet sometimes painful journey – I wouldn’t trade any of it! Taking these moments where we are usually in our head doing nothing but repeating old programs and choosing what we want to hear, say and put out there is life changing and not so difficult or time consuming which makes it even yummier! >3 Thank you so much for stopping by and for commenting! I just tweeted your post. Sending blessings, <3

  5. Alexis

    I love the hidden time blocks! I use them constantly in order to get all the things done I do! It’s often a question of priorities – how much do I really want to get something done? Well, if I want it bad enough, I’ll make the time…using spaces like these!

    • jennymannion

      Hi Alexis, Thanks so much for visiting. I am so happy to hear you use these blocks of time. We can truly get so much more done in flow when we pull ourselves back to the present moment as much as possible. Even a few times a day can work wonders! I am very grateful for you taking the time to comment! Sending blessings, xo

  6. Sue Kearney (@MagnoliasWest)

    What a lovely look at those times in the day when we can breathe into our essential selves and take a moment to ground and expand into the now. Complete with tips on how to use the time. As I was reading, I saw how I fill many of these moments — with one screen or another. Words with Friends at the checkout line. Watching or reading something before bed. It’s nice to remember I can just pray, love, forgive, and get grateful so many times a day.

    Blessed be.
    Will share this.

    • jennymannion

      Hi Sue, Thank you so much for visiting and commenting. 🙂 We are so programmed right now to run to the screens for our “idle time”. “Let me just check FB, check email, play a quick game” Usually after any of these we are not filled with any sense of fullness – but more numbed out. In choosing these little windows to bring ourselves to the present moment and “check in” and also use some tools like self love, gratitude, energy, etc. we can truly transform our lives. It need not take hours of meditating to start seeing real lasting change. Hours of the unconscious programming babble we are constantly speaking to ourselves are suddenly not important – as we now are focusing on what we DO want and using tools to help us manifest the life we desire instead of just taking what comes. I am so grateful the article offered some gentle reminders. Sending blessings, <3

  7. Tamuria

    Jenny, these are great tips. I always try to start my day with gratitude and positive thoughts and it makes so much difference to the day when I do. I love the visualisation of the shower water washing away all the negativity. It’s so easy to forget those little windows of time that can be spent nurturing our mind and spirit.

    • jennymannion

      Thanks so much for visiting and commenting Tamuria! I am so glad the shower visualization resonated. I love that time every day to be present and set intentions… when I used to be in my head about a million places instead of enjoying just how good the water feels! It is so easy to get into our habits and forget these windows we all have and it makes such a difference when we do take those few minutes a few times a day. So happy you begin the day with gratitude and positive thoughts! Sending blessings, <3

  8. Virginia Colin

    These reminders about being mindful in what could be wasted or misused periods are very helpful.

    • jennymannion

      Thank you Virginia for visiting and commenting. I am so happy you found these reminders helpful. We get so trapped in our patterns and it is so nice when we do acknowledge these little moments of time and get present – it truly can transform our day! Sending Blessings, <3