Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Slice of Life: My Miracle Mornings




     While scrolling the internet to get ideas for setting up my bullet journal, I came across this post from Kara at Boho Berry and was very intrigued by her description of a morning routine that seemed to be the kind of routine I had been thinking about. Being the reader that I am, I immediately bought a copy of The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and read it in one weekend. I had already started getting up earlier to give myself more time to read and think in the morning. I had already been thinking that I wanted to try to do some exercise in the morning--nothing too strenuous, just enough to know that I had gotten in some activity before starting my day. This book was exactly the book I needed at exactly the time I needed it.

   In the book, Elrod came up with an acronym for the parts of the routine. He calls the elements the Life S.A.V.E.R.S. (silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, scribing). I have now been working on developing my routine for a month. Each morning I do some combination of all of these things, rising at 5am to do so. This is the way my morning works:

First, I get up and let the dog out. While she is out, I make coffee and stretch a little bit. Then, I let her in and feed her. Once the dog is taken care of, I can start my morning rituals (if I don't take care of her first, she will let me know that this is not right).

Silence--This has been my favorite part of the morning routine and something I had not anticipated loving so much. Every morning, I start my day with meditation. Since this practice was really new to me, I sought a resource that would help me with guided meditations. I downloaded the app Meditation Studio by Gaiam, Inc. This has been an excellent way to introduce myself to the practice of meditation. I have been surprised by how much this practice has really helped me center myself. I also have had some realizations about some resentments that I thought I had let go of, but it turns out they are still hiding in there. That has been eye-opening and has informed some of my goal setting lately.

Affirmations--This is hard for me. It feels sort of silly. Every time I do it, I picture Stuart Smiley looking into his mirror on Saturday Night Live. I know it is supposed to be a powerful practice, but it is hard to do without feeling silly. I don't spend as much time doing this as suggested in the book, but I do make sure to say some positive affirmations to myself each morning.

Visualization--This is also a shorter segment of my morning. I do spend a couple minutes taking the time to visualize the things I want to see happen in my life. I am aware of the ideas of vision boards and the idea that things come to you if you see them happening. I agree that positive energy helps bring you positivity, but I am a little skeptical of the law of attraction claims. Therefore, this part of my morning right now is also relatively short.

Exercise--I had been wanting to add some exercise to my morning routine. Some mornings, this means getting on the spin bike and working out for 20-30 minutes. Some mornings, I put on a yoga video and do 10-20 minutes of Yoga, some mornings this is just a few squats, some push-ups, and a plank. The good thing is that it is always some movement.

Reading--What was enlightening and refreshing for me about this part of the morning was the focus on reading self-help and motivational books. I already had been reading most mornings. Now, I read books that will help me in some way. It was a great way to add books I already wanted to read and to give them a place and a time. I love waking up my brain every morning to the possibilities that are out there for me.

Scribing (aka writing)--This part of the morning routine is awesome for me because I struggled to place a priority on making time for writing every day. Now that it is part of my morning routine, I at least do some journaling each day. I want to get to the point where I have a daily word count in mind and work to complete that each morning. Right now, I am content to establish the routine of writing each morning in some form or another.

This routine has really changed the way I feel in the mornings. I arrive at school with my brain fully awake and engaged. I have already had my coffee and done some movement. I have been awake for a couple hours. I am ready to face my day.

What is your morning routine? Have you found something that works for you in a way that this one works for me? I would love to hear from you in the comments!




5 comments:

  1. What an amazingly productive way to start the day. For me if I get to write a letter into the day, and then get to my breakfast prep I'm feeling great. So much to consider after reading your morning routine. WOW!
    Digital Bonnie

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  2. I have always been a morning person. I get up early and read, write and generally follow that routine, except for the exercise part. I don;t think walking a basset hound counts as exercise. It is a cross between a meditative walk and high alert, looking for icky things she can find on the ground.

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  3. This routine sounds heavenly, honestly. It sounds like such a peaceful, yet productive way to start the day. I'm still working on getting up ON TIME to even get to work, so I'm a long way from here.

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