Count to 5 and Reset Your Life

Living The 5 Point Day in Uncertain Times

By Lisa Puzo Strickland

For Intuition Evolution

We may be stuck at home, social distancing, stockpiling toilet paper, and drinking way too much coffee. But that doesn’t mean we have to become psychologically stuck. In fact, this time in history may be just the cosmic reset we’ve all needed to kickstart new beginnings.

Right now, the train is halted. We're globally paused. So, we've succumbed to the cessation by doing what we can and trying not to worry about the rest. Books are dusted off and read to ourselves or to our kids. Virtual meetings remind us to brush the front of our hair and ponytail the back. And long-ignored chores are finally getting tackled.

On the bright side, this pause also provides a safe station to reevaluate ourselves while we're cooped up inside with little outside distraction. We're free to drum up old memories, dismantle habitual patterns, and try on new personalities, all within a place of non-judgement from others, especially given we're admittedly all a little wacky these days. In short, it's a great time to dust off some of our own cobwebs and think about how we wish to live once things get back to full speed. All with coffee in hand.

Maybe there are old thoughts and values (and toxic passengers) that no longer serve us and need to be politely disembarked. Perhaps we welcome on board fresh approaches that will further our individual and collective journeys going forward. It’s a brave, new world out there, so it wouldn’t hurt to test drive different mindful practices that will help us maintain the calm we’ve recently rediscovered, and reignite the stifled fury within us.

Shifting gears and changing course is a lot easier than one may think. Because the physical universe has already given us the exact tools, or tenets, needed to live a phenomenal life. These tenets are seen throughout nature and are evident within every scientific discovery known to man. They have built us from the ground up, and can be tapped into on a daily basis to further define and develop who we wish to become. They are: Inspire, Fuel, Pursue, Connect, and Lift. Together, they compose The 5 Point Day.

The 5 Point Day is a point based system of living that efficiently gives value and meaning to our every thought and action throughout each day, and uses the summation of points gained as the motivational launching pad for our next day. And by equally identifying with the scorekeeper and soul-seeker within us, it’s as easy as counting to five.

The 5 Point Day is for the leader, business owner, student, graduate, home maker, parent, and anyone striving to find their best track or reach their next level. If you're looking to live life firing on all cylinders, this is your plan!

Implementing the 5 Point Day into your life takes less than a minute a day, but can dramatically alter your course and produce life-long impacts. Just find a quiet moment, preferably right before you go to bed, and ask yourself your own personalized version of these five broadly-constructed questions. For each “Yes”, give yourself a point. The goal, of course, is 5 Points a Day.

Was I Inspired today, or did I help Inspire someone else?
Did I Fuel or nourish my body, mind, or soul today, or help another do so?
Did I Pursue or produce today by working toward a goal or initiative?
Do I feel like I Connected with another, or with my own thoughts and inner wisdom?
Was I able to Lift to a new occasion by finishing a task, mastering a skill, or coming to a final conclusion? Or, did I perhaps help another Lift to their higher potential?

Now that you have a general idea of how to use the system, you're probably asking Why would I use this system? I'm kind of busy counting how many t.p. sheets I have to last 'til Monday and how many dollars I have left in my bank account. I get that.

We practice the 5 Point Day because it creates an analytical snapshot for each day, and therefore acts as a reset for the next day. It highlights what you did great and lets you praise yourself with points for it. (Self-praise is never a bad idea, even in times of not enough showers and too many biscuits.) It also pinpoints in what area you didn't earn a point, and thus need more balanced focus.

For instance, if you jumped on the Peloton and ate your greens, you've certainly earned a Fuel point. But, if you pushed last month's briefing back under the laundry pile, you've probably not gained a Pursue point. I'll expand more about each tenet throughout this blog.

Basically, this one-minute pause of asking the 5 questions and earning your points done over the course of several days or weeks, will gently retrain your mind how to think more positively and proactively. This practice, in turn, will allow more positive to come into your life and boost your ability to recognize what you need to reach your ideal self. And, hey, it's only a minute a day. Worth every second.

At first glance, the 5 Point Day may seem simplistic. But as we delve into the meaning and scientific basis of each tenet, you will see the universal power behind each one, and how very much a part of you each tenet already is, and always has been.

Inspire

To Inspire is to breathe in that which grants us life and wholeness. It’s the act of remaining open to those nudges of wonder that satisfy and enlighten. To be Inspired, or to Inspire another, can mean creating, writing, painting, marveling, reading, dreaming, discovering, awakening, loving, complimenting, thanking, admiring, or just simply being. As with all of the 5 Point Day tenets, the Inspire tenet is per your own personal interpretation, how it melds into your own life and life style.

We’re seeing Inspiration everywhere these days, from the musicians and singers entertaining from their balconies, to the homemade masks donning essential faces with splashes of color and care.

Inspiration is also very apparent in the locomotion of evolution itself. For the universe sprang from an absolute void to the elaborate magnificence we experience today, all stemming from one click of the engine. We call this initial click the Big Bang.

Similarly, Inspiration is that spark that spurs something to arise from nothing in pursuit of finding its fullest glory. It puts the coal in our engine and sends us straight to the workbench or sewing machine.

Fuel

Humans need sustenance, be it food, water, knowledge, or love. I prefer cake, but I digress. There are many things that bring us fulfillment and help us grow in our quest to be our best. And as we change, so too does that quintessential grocery list.

Your Fuel list may include spinach, water - or wine - walking 12,000 steps (or just more steps than yesterday), learning or teaching something new, coming to a realization, encouraging others, lending a hand, or joining hands in prayer.

Our world population has been very focused on many kinds of Fuels these last couple of months, as we race to feed the hungry, replenish depleted funds, and find life-giving respirators for hospitals.

In short, Fuel can be that which revs up the body, mind, and soul. Vegetables and vitamins, books and barbells, or a Tai Chi session are all Fuels. And it's as much in our nature to Fuel others as it is to Fuel ourselves, just as nature has provided Fuel for us since our inception.

Our species has always been in need of specific Fuels to both originate and survive. How handy that right here on our planet is the sun above for warmth, nutrients in the ground for nourishment, and myriad sources of fresh water for hydration.

We also need air to breathe. Without air, we're nada. In fact, a recent study by the University of Oxford cited oxygen as possibly being the main catalyst behind all complex animal life. The study purports that around 550 million years ago, as Earth’s waters began to shift from anoxic (lacking oxygen) to oxic (containing oxygen), skeletal animals began to emerge, thus launching us into a new era of evolutionary advancement. Thank you oxygen.

Sometimes we fall into the rut of re-using the same Fuels over and over again, so it may be beneficial to switch things up a bit during this Great Pause. Maybe replace the bi-weekly yoga for some stair jogging. Add Huffington Post and Forbes to your daily news plate. Or, revisit that Deepak Chopra best seller you read 15 years ago. Life thrives on variety, after all, to be shaken, not stirred.

Pursue

We’ve proven to ourselves that we don’t necessarily need to be sitting in an office space to be productive. Our ironing board desks and mismatched wardrobes seem to be working pretty well. The mail’s coming in, the calls are going out, and washing machine is going round and round. Even in stay-at-home conditions, we are still pushing ahead. We are Pursuing.

Those who have sadly lost their option to work because of sickness or layoffs, still remain in a state of Pursuit to either heal or find other employment. Our world today may feel static, but it's still grinding its gears in search of betterment. And the 5 Point Day can help each and every one of us get there.

To Pursue is to work toward a goal no matter how big or how small, to take the lead or follow good guidance, or to just finally make an attempt. It means aiding, pushing, continuing, or grabbing one of those vision board sticky notes and formulating a plan. Basically, to pursue is the act of moving forward.

Our Pursuant nature has biological roots. It's how fish sprouted legs so they could reach food sources on land. It’s how the Andeans of South America developed a higher amount of red blood cells and are now able to carry oxygen throughout their bodies more efficiently, thus avoiding hypoxia.

We Pursue in accordance to our own individual personal nature. Productivity to you may carry a very different definition to someone else. Our daughter pursues a high GPA when she studies for her midterms. Our son pursues his passion while playing golf. And I pursue pure joy by having cake for breakfast (inside voice) and toned muscles by working out (outside voice). Points can be earned many ways. The key is to not judge, but rather, to take daily strides toward your goal and encourage others to do the same.

Connect

While quarantined, we’re filling the social gaps with Insta pics of our dogs and Twitter posts about Tiger King. There's even been a surge in Facebook usage. At first, these mediums satiate, but can eventually dull the senses, leaving us feeling disenfranchised.

It’s time to Connect, or reconnect. These days, as we rule the world from our couches, even the least little bit of listening and empathy can go a long way, whether by phoning a friend or tapping into our intuitive intelligence. For to Connect is to reaffirm the link between self and others, and self and psyche. Our survival depends on Connection, as science explains.

We know that living organisms have been intrinsically Connected with each other since the dawn of time. People help people, plants provide food, and bats eat mosquitos. But it is equally essential for living organisms to remain interwoven with non-living elements, such as when worms till soil and bees spread pollen.

Because economic development has disrupted this harmonic balance of nature and its ecosystems, it's become critical for humans to get their toes back in the grass and minds wrapped around the importance of reConnecting with our Earth.

In an article written for The International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, Program Manager Chantal Van Ham warns, "The most important mission of current and future generations is to make the shift that disentangles economic development from environmental degradation, to create a future that is in harmony with nature." I bet we can all agree that so much more needs to be done to help our planetary habitat restore and heal, so it's no coincidence this blog is being published on Earth Day 2020.

If you honor nature today by taking a walk outside or tilting your face to the sun, give yourself a Connect point. If you acknowledge an intuitive whisper, knock on a neighbor's window, or strive to understand the underlying message of your teenager's words, give yourself a point. There’s no better time than the present to give yourself and your loved ones the gift of true Connection.

Lift

As weight is released, we Lift. Incomplete projects and unrealized goals act as sandbags holding us down and keeping us from our true worth. But the hours we’re currently getting back by not sitting in traffic twice a day, or in a movie theatre on the weekend, grants us the time to dive into that to-do or to-be list.

We lift when we accomplish, achieve, or finish. This can mean anything from a project to a phase of life. Lifting is arriving at a conclusion, be it a lesson learned, forgiveness found, or a talent mastered. The success of our species relies on perpetual movement and the reaching of new heights. It's been this way since Adam’s first heartbeat. Still today, with every beat, with every completion, we lift a little higher.

As with the Andeans, it’s clear that evolution remains in a state of forward motion, cyclically starting and finishing and starting again, over and over. The end of each era brings the arrival of another, marked by social and biological changes. And now, with the advent of technology, there are outside influences that don’t just play a role in human biology as the high altitudes have affected mountain dwellers, but have actually become a part of our physical bodies. For example, Parkinson’s disease sufferers can have a device surgically implanted in their brains that helps alleviate tremors. And in the near future, a singular implant will diminish the need to carry house keys, cell phones, and credit cards.

Technology and medical advancement have greatly quickened human development, a trend that cannot be reversed. Before long, the average life span will be 125-years and humans may be living on other planets. We have Lifted past the need for natural evolution alone to provide the necessary genetic alterations to our longevity and have plunged into an age where we ourselves hold more influence upon our own survival and growth than ever before in human history. Perhaps this Pause has provided a space to ask ourselves how exactly we wish to individually and collectively Lift as we chug into a new future.

It’s Your Train

Life can be phenomenal when lived in its natural harmonic state. This means learning to honor ourselves, finding value within each experience, and acknowledging where we are now in relation to where we hope to be. We can discover and rediscover that sweet spot where engines purr and resources abound. Where we cherish our bold spirits and remain bold enough to take responsibility for how we got to this point in the first place. For living optimally is in everyone’s wheelhouse, an accessible right to even those most distraught or depleted. We hold within each of us the power to refuel and reignite, and thus, rebalance.

The 5 Point Day is about coming back to our cosmic center, something for which we all strive. That’s why we unconsciously breathe in the healing properties of oxygen when stressed, and pray to a higher power when worried. But sometimes, breath and prayer are mere temporary fixes, because we are creatures of habit who steadfastly return to chaotic thoughts and scurried routines.

The 5 Point Day offers a way to pause the train long enough to assess the day's path, and when practiced daily, can become a very effective habit. The system beautifully and seamlessly meshes every component of our existence, all we are and all we do, with five key universal tenets (Inspire, Fuel, Pursue, Connect, and Lift), ones inspired by the most astonishing principles of nature and evident throughout today’s most cutting edge science.

Start Today

End your day today and every day by asking yourself the 5 tenet-based questions in such a way as to best represent your life. For instance, rather than Was I Inspired today?, perhaps you ask, Did I write today? or Was our Zoom chat motivating to my colleagues this afternoon?. The goal is to reach 5 Points per day, but if you don’t nab all 5, don’t worry. Less than 5 points is equally as powerful as a full 5 Points because it illuminates what part of your life needs more focus in the days ahead.

After a few days, you’ll see a pattern emerge, pointing to the strongest and weakest aspects of yourself and your life. This is where the launching pad comes in. By using both our strengths and weak links as starting points, we can more clearly determine where we want to go and how to get there. Once again, the 5 questions that compose the 5 Point Day are:

Was I Inspired today, or did I help Inspire someone else?
Did I Fuel or nourish my body, mind, or soul today, or help another do so?
Did I Pursue or produce today by working toward a goal or initiative?
Do I feel like I Connected with another, or with my own thoughts and inner wisdom?
Was I able to Lift to a new occasion by finishing a task, mastering a skill, or coming to a final conclusion? Or, did I perhaps help another Lift to their higher potential?

The 5 Point Day system can also be used to create questions needed in general decision making, such as, Does this relationship Inspire my soul?, Will buying this new home help Fuel my financial portfolio, or merely drain my savings?, or Can accepting that job allow me to effectively Pursue my career goals and feed my spirit?. The system is your go-to filter through which all things can be sifted.

Find your quiet moment. Add up your points. Watch life start to roll in the right direction. And enjoy the ride!
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I developed the 5 Point Day after spending years wondering why some people have proficient, abundant lives, while others do not. I had always felt very fortunate, and believed that everyone had the right to go to bed each night feeling they had completed a day well-lived. So, I set out on a quest and delved deeply into the studies of biology and physical sciences, quantum physics, and human psychology.

The 5 Point Day system confirms that because we came from nature and are an integral part of it, as explained by science, that nature and science provide key elements from which we can draw from to further boost our lives as a whole. This blog briefly introduces the five tenets of the 5 Point Day, and I will continue to share the vast amounts of science and research that supports each tenet's effectiveness and power.

I hope that, amidst this strange and difficult time in human history, you find as much value in this simple technique as I have, and are able to close your eyes each night knowing your tomorrow will be better and brighter than your today. - LPS

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Lisa Puzo Strickland is an author and speaker who partly credits her intuitive ability for a successful 25-year run in the fast-paced, ever-changing entertainment industry. She lives in Franklin, TN with her husband and 2 children. Find more at Facebook.com/IntuitionEvolution and the newly launched Facebook.com/5PointDay.