For the past several years there has been a heavy interest and curiosity in morning routines. Especially those of successful people. After having my own morning practice, I’ve realised that it isn’t about what you do, but more so ‘how’ you do it.
Through my own experience I’ve found that my daily routine has great benefits such as calming my mind, strengthening my mindset and helping to keep anxiety at bay. I’ve noticed a radical shift in myself. When I can’t do all of my desired morning routine tasks, I always at least do my meditation (a minimum of 15 minutes). I used to find that I had to force myself to meditate, but now it is a natural necessity for me to start my day. I will always make time for it, just as I make time to brush my teeth or have a shower. I’ve been meditating every day for the past three years and it’s been amazing!
If you’re ready to carve out your own morning routine, I would suggest that you give yourself freedom to try out a lot of activities and see what sits well with you. I do suggest though that you stick to it for at least 21 days to see if you would like to maintain a particular habit. Just like I said above, meditating was a chore, but then it became a welcomed daily activity.
If you start your day right, it leads to having a more productive and focused day. When I say productive, I don’t just mean that you’re ‘on the grind’ wearing yourself down. I mean that you’re able to be more focused and present with each task that you chose to spend your day doing, because your mind is more relaxed.
Stress produces inflammation in our body and turns our body against us. If you want to reduce your stress, having a morning routine is a preventative rather than a cure. It will make you more energised and excited for life, happier, give you a sense of accomplishment and allow you to create some space to connect with your inner self.
This alone plays an important role in your personal development.
Here are some practical steps to creating your morning routine:
- Do it first thing as soon as you wake up. This will allow your brain to have fewer thoughts. So when I say first thing, I do not mean – after you’ve checked your emails, after you’ve checked Facebook and after you’ve scrolled through Instagram. I mean get up, possibly pee if you need to and get straight to it! This will allow less room for you to negotiate yourself out of it
- Stay focused. No need to create a 2 hour morning routine. Just start off with something small as 15 minutes where you dedicate your time to something. You chose what you want to do. I have provided some suggestions below (however the world is your oyster on this! Get creative and tap into what you are truly called to do that will help benefit your soul) I go through a lot of these techniques in my healing online program.
- Meditate
- Breathwork
- Pray
- Wisdom journal writing
- Dream journal writing
- Gratitude journal writing
- Oracle cards
- Dance
- Yoga
- Visualisations
- Affirmations
- Chanting
- Read
- Listen to a positive podcast
- Listen to a positive Youtube clip
- Exercise
- Stay present. Whatever you chose to do, make sure you remain present on the task. Don’t get distracted to check your phone or to start planning for your day ahead. Don’t cheat yourself of this precious time.
Start your day by putting yourself first. This will help rewire your brain into knowing that you come first before anything else. Stop giving your power away to other useless distractions that do not serve you. If you give yourself these 15 minutes, it will start progressing to more and more time that you serve yourself, your purpose and create the energy you need to live a fulfilling life.
The next time you decide to start a morning routine, just remember that you are choosing to change your life.