Your Perfect Day Plan

What if you were able to unlock the secret to making every day work for you? What if you knew the best time to eat and sleep, to exercise and to chill out, when to do your most demanding work, the ideal time to let go of the past, when you're most likely to come up with good ideas, and all the other things that would make life easier?

The great news is that the map for your perfect day already exists. Over thousands of years Chinese sages have not only discovered how our organs work, but how each of them impacts on our emotions and spirit. So, if an organ isn't functioning as it should be, it not only affects your physical wellbeing but how you relate to yourself and others on an emotional level. And, because mind, body and spirit are linked, it also has an impact on your spirit.

This ancient health plan really works and it is simple to follow. For two hours each day, each organ has its time in the sun. Once you understand the basics you will know the best time to do certain things and avoid others depending on which organ's time it is. You will know how to nurture yourself through your lifestyle so that you get a head-start not only every day but also on life.

In the Perfect Day Plan each organ has an area of influence. For example, on a physical level your kidneys are connected with your sex drive, so if you are losing interest in sex and then having issues with your partner it could be a kidney issue rather than a relationship issue. The Perfect Day Plan helps you understand why you are feeling or reacting the way you are and what you need to do to sort out your imbalances. It really helps to know that when you are feeling anxious, experiencing panic attacks, chronic fatigue or depression that certain organs are in need of attention.

The Perfect Day Plan is not about rigidly sticking to a system and obsessing about what to do every two hours — there are many situations or circumstances beyond our control. But the great thing is once we get enough perfect days under our belts we start to feel good — really good — and the way we should feel. Then, when we deviate from the cycle, we immediately understand why we don't feel right the next day and we know how to correct it.

Being able to self-correct means you don't have to go to a doctor with a host of seemingly inexplicable symptoms of 'not feeling right', of tiredness, depression and exhaustion that will invite antidepressants or other medications.

In a few simple steps this straightforward plan teaches you how to nourish each organ. And when you do this you discover that it impacts on all your other organs, until everything is in balance. By capturing the momentum each two-hour period offers, the Perfect Day Plan helps you make the most of each day. So instead of feeling as if everything is hard work, you are able to be the energised, motivated upbeat person you'd like to be.

We want to be awake to ourselves and make the most of every opportunity. So, let's get into a 24-hour cycle and see exactly what we need to do to achieve all we were destined to.

Getting Some Blance

7 am to 9 am

WELCOME TO EARTH

The chi cycle is continuous, it doesn't really start or finish anywhere, but I'm going to kick off with 7 am to 9 am because there is one simple thing that you can do in these two hours that will make immediate positive changes in your life.

It is also a good place to begin because in Chinese medicine 7 am is the time of the earth element. All our organs are associated with one of the five elements — water, wood, fire, earth and metal — and each has different qualities. The earth element is all about being grounded and solid.

You could think of yourself at this time each morning as being welcomed to earth. It's an opportunity to get in touch with your body before you launch into emails, phone calls, work and other exciting activities that take us out of our bodies and into our heads.

DELAY THE HIT

Between 7 and 9 am our energy is in our stomach and the most important thing to do is have breakfast. Lots of people stumble out of bed and head straight for a cup of coffee or tea, but this speeds us up and launches us into the day without giving ourselves the chance to enjoy a bit of quality time in the earth element.

I am not saying give up your morning coffee, only delay it. Living in harmony with the Perfect Day Plan is all about shifting things. If you are a first-up coffee or tea drinker, try and hold off until after breakfast. These drinks interfere with your appetite and, as we are about to find out, you don't want anything doing this.

A TASTE FOR LIFE

In traditional Chinese medicine our taste for life comes from our stomach, so by eating the right breakfast with the right attitude we will naturally want to sample everything life has to offer. We will be adventurous, lively, engaged and balanced people — everyone will want to be our friend.

Our taste for life comes from our stomach, so by eating the right breakfast with the right attitude we will naturally want to sample everything life has to offer. We will be adventurous, lively, engaged and balanced.

Eating breakfast is essential to our health and happiness but somewhere along the way it dropped off our 'to do' list. The majority of my clients say 'I don't eat breakfast', as if it's optional or irrelevant. It isn't. We all have to eat breakfast, it's a necessity. If we skip breakfast and other meals it reduces our taste for life. It also contributes to the inability to get out of bed in the morning, and to weak limbs, loose stools, loss of appetite and even mental confusion.

Life and Death and Breakfast

Eating a good breakfast builds stomach chi or energy. This is really important. It is said 'If there is stomach chi there is life, if there is no stomach chi there is death'. So eating a good breakfast really is a life and death matter! If you regularly skip breakfast you will deplete your stomach chi. Then your body will weaken, you won't be able to bounce back from illnesses and you will be more prone to anxiety, panic attacks, chronic fatigue and depression. Of course most people never connect these symptoms with skipping breakfast. They start feeling emotionally down and, thinking they have a chemical imbalance in the brain, head off to get antidepressants or other powerful medications. Before they know it they are living an unhappy, uncomfortable and medicated life.

Eating a good breakfast builds stomach chi or energy.

You can help avoid this simply by always eating a nice warm breakfast. The warm part is important. Fresh fruit may seem like a good healthy breakfast, but it doesn't...