S is for Scribe because W for Writing or J for Journaling just doesn't work with the SAVERS acronym.
Spending ten minutes a day journaling has a lot of benefits to the author. Early in the morning the journaling process can help you set aside mental garbage that can negatively impact your day. The journal is for your eyes only. This is a perfectly okay place to dump your frustration about friends, family, co-workers, work or anything else that is bothering you. It is a place to be honest with yourself about your thoughts and feelings. Keep your journal safe so that your privacy isn't violated and your secret thoughts are kept safe. Your journal writing helps keep your brain and mind free from clutter.
I've always known that keeping a journal is a good, healthy practice. That knowledge was confirmed in Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. Ms. Cameron suggests writing a minimum of three pages a day, as close to waking up as possible. Ideally, the work is done longhand. This has a benefit in itself - scribing longhand is a physical endeavor and it ties motor skills to memory. On another post I mentioned that this was one of the primary ways I studied. I listened, wrote, then read what I wrote.
Some people may not have the time in the morning to write three longhand pages, but you can write for ten minutes. See how far you get. I recommend you get a notebook of some sort that can be standardized by it's size. Spiral notebooks are good but I really like the marbleized composition notebooks that are mainly seen in black but if you are shopping in the fall for school supplies you can find them in yellow, blue, green and red. I like them because they aren't super big, and they are stitched, so the pages stay together. They also stack nicely, or you can put them vertically in a file or bookshelf (remember to keep them safe and private). They have a semi hard cover and so they keep their shape well.
If you are not able to write in a composition book
or notebook for some reason, there is a website, www.750words.comhttp://750words.com/ where you can open an account for about $5. a month and put your thoughts down on "paper" there. The average type-written page yields anywhere from 220 to about 250 words, and the idea is to write at least 750 words or the equivalent of approximately three pages.
The next letter in the SAVERS acronym is R. R represents reading. This isn't just any reading. The reading done in the morning is meant to be short and inspirational. Something that will motivate you to be your best during the day.
Something like a devotion or a one page reading from AA literature or Sarah Ban Breathnach's, Simple Abundance.
A page or two from a religious text - something to inspire you to go forth into your day with a good attitude.
The reading should ideally be between five and ten minutes long. Just long enough to engage your thoughts and set your attitude on a good path.
E is for exercise, and the way to get more exercise into your life is by eating an elephant. How do you do that? One bite at a time.
Yep, exercise, is a dirty word that a lot of people don't like to hear. Few of us like to get hot and sweaty and we know it's even worse in the summer.
Exercise is an important factor in getting your day off to a good start. Moving around purposely gets the blood flowing through your body to your limbs. It wakes your mind. If you can do this for at least ten minutes a day, you are off to a good start. Moving helps regulate and improve a host of things in your body: blood sugar, strengthening bones, toning your body and can aid in weight loss.
In the SAVERS acronym V is for visualization. For my next step of dangerous living I am going to take visualization seriously.
In the past I had trouble with this concept. I don't see pictures in my mind, rather I see words. I have no idea if anyone else is like this. I theorize there are people like me because I am pretty sure this is related to the modality of learning that one primarily uses. My modality is a mixed modality - I learn best by hearing and writing, then seeing what I wrote. Sound is engaged through listening, and writing involves kinesthetic learning and then I see/read what I wrote.
The best way to visualize is to engage the sense of sight. For me, no other way can even come close to working. I can't think, or remember in my mind a picture. So, there is, for me only one way around visualization. Create a vision board, or notebook - some collection of visual materials that you can look at every morning.
Actually, the question should be, "Are you familiar with SAVERS?"
SAVERS is an acronym that author Hal Elrod created to help him start his day off right. In his book, The Miracle Morning - The Not-so Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform You Life Before 8AM, Hal spells out what SAVERS is.
This six letter word can help you start your day off right, with the proper attitude. I've seen it provide order and consistency to my mornings - when I do it. Following the SAVERS way takes about an hour. There are six practices to spend ten minutes on every morning.
S - Silence
A - Affirmation(s)
V - Visualization
E - Exercise
R - Reading
S - Scribing (writing)
Sometime in your 50's, you begin to take a much closer look at retirement. The magical number thrown about by society, 65, looms close.
Most of us weren't fortunate enough to have retired in our 40's and to be honest an astonishingly large number of Americans (36%) have very little in the way of retirement funds - "The average 50 year old has $42,797 saved." Maybe it's because we were too busy raising families, or too busy going on expensive vacations, or maybe we've just been working to pay off tremendous amounts of debt. Most of us haven't planned all that well.
