Elevate

Hello everybody, I'm in my early 30's and I've been opening myself up to more personal development this year. I will be using this thread as my journey journal. There are many things I want to work on, but I will need to -depending on the nature of the goal- take it one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time, and one year at a time. Some goals I have in mind: -improve my nutrition and make a permanent change to my diet away from unhealthy foods. -understand happiness and work on my lifestyle in a way that will allow me to experience happiness more truly. I'm on day 50 of a gratitude journal. -Read 100 personal development/self help/autobiographical, etc books over the next 8 years. I realized I stopped learning new things after I graduated college, so I am committed to the intake of more high quality knowledge for an extended period, like my personal higher learning program. -learn more about healthy relationships and apply my learnings to cultivate a healthier, more happy relationship with my GF -overcome my 16 year addiction with cigarettes. Actually I have already quit, so this goal is more about my need to make sure i never pick up the habit ever again. -overcome my 10 year addiction with marijuana. -Deepen my understanding of meditation and my mind and consciousness. I started daily meditation by myself about two months ago and hope to meditate every day for an entire year. I also plan to participate in some group meditation classes and eventually attend a silent meditation retreat. -start an exercise habit. i'm already in decent shape but i want my health to be better, and discipline myself to adopt this healthier lifestyle. -master my psychology and emotions. work on my emotional responses, thought patterns, understanding of ego, mindfulness, self honesty -work on my daily/weekly/monthly routines to make sure i stay on track -alignment to my values More to come.

i've been smoking weed since i was 17. started off recreationally with friends but it became a personal habit. after college, i enjoyed smoking by myself, to relax. i started smoking before doing my everyday routines, and started always wanting to get high before doing those activities. i really believed it helped me many times too, helped me get "in my zone". i was a very functional smoker. i graduated college with two degrees and found great jobs whenever i wanted. a lot of my friends smoke, and i live in california where is is very accepted, so there was not many things holding me back from continuing this lifestyle. the last 5 years i got my medical marijuana card and the habit had become pretty much daily. sometimes i smoked before work. smoking during my lunch break. everyday i came home from work, it was almost a natural instinct to reach for my weed jar. like it became impossible to resist because i associated it with everything i did. earlier this year, i began to desire growth. i had a vision of my future self i wanted to be, and i saw it didnt include marijuana. i didnt want to rely on it anymore. i didnt want it to be the first thing my mind went to when i had a moment alone. the vision i had of myself , the better version of my self, the version i wanted to be, that guy didnt smoke weed anymore. so i knew, its time to cut down. i started cutting down to maybe 3 weekdays and 1 weekend each week, and slowly cut down from there. i thought i needed to ease myself into it. but the more i thought about personal development, the more i realized i dont even want to smoke, even if i physically craved it. i already jumped over the mental hurdle. i got a pair of scissors and cut my medical marijuana card up, so i can't buy it so easily anymore. i haven't smoked in a week and i'm feeling better already.

If you want to add yoga to your morning routine, it is generally recommended not to do it after you eat or on a full stomach. So in your case, it would be better to do yoga before breakfast.