Getting a Great Start to your Day!

How do you start your day? Finding routines that spark positivity and optimism can really set the tone for our day.  I recently watched a video blog on a site called Sixtyandme.com: How Changing My Morning Routine Changed my Life! http://sixtyandme.com/how-changing-my-morning-routine-changed-my-life/

The suggestions were:

1. Don’t Press the Snooze Button!  Get up as soon as your alarm goes off. Welcome your day with open arms, rather than putting it on hold.  Pressing that snooze button may subconsciously indicate that you are hesitant about getting up and getting your day started.
2. Make your bed! This simple ritual, signals the end of the night, and the beginning of a new day; putting your brain in order, and tidying up those dreamy cobwebs!
3. Take a few minutes with your coffee, tea, or hot water and lemon, to write what you are grateful for. Acknowledging those things in our life for which we are grateful can help to develop a positive outlook, and remind us that while we may have difficulties, there are things in our life that are good.
4. Write affirmations: positive affirmations.  I have three that I say, and now write down every day:
   1. I am strong.
   2. I am healthy.
   3. I am wise.

Come up with your own.  How do you want to see yourself?  Which of your characteristics are important to you?  Maybe you are persistent – you never give up.  Maybe you have a terrific sense of humour that carries you through your life in those difficult moments.  If you’re not sure what your character strengths are, have a look at the VIA Institute’s Character Strengths Analysis, http://www.viacharacter.org/www/Character-Strengths.  You can take their Character Strengths Analysis for free! After each affirmation, you may want to  include how that affirmation relates to your day ahead or your life, right now.

5.  Keep a ‘Worry’ list.  Every day, write down the things that are worrying you. Writing them down, gets them out of your head and onto paper were you can see them more objectively, and not carry them with you – draining your energy.  This was suggested as a morning activity, but I think, if you are short on time, this is a perfect evening activity too, which could lead to a more restful sleep.

6.  And finally – take some time to meditate.  Meditation can be a great way to start or to end your day.  It helps you to stabilize and bring clarity to your mind. Through meditation we start to understand our mind, how it thinks, what it thinks, and that our mind will engage us in a nonstop, never ending loop of activity, that is often of very little benefit.

7.  I would only add one more item to that list – move! Find the time to do the warm up suggested in my last blog, Warming it up, and then meditate.  Moving with your breath first, will help you to find focus, as you meditate.

How long will all this take, you ask? Well, depending on how many times you press the snooze button now, you may not have to set your alarm any earlier!  You just get up when that alarm goes off.  If you are not that much of a ‘snoozer’, you may need an extra 15 to 20 minutes.  Alternatively, do some of these things in the evening before going to bed. Make your ‘Grateful’ and your ‘Worry’ lists at night, just before bed, and do the lion’s share of your meditation in the evening, with just a few minutes to centre yourself after you move in the morning!

If you give it a try, let me know how it goes!  How do you start your day? Leave your comments below!