Morning Routine
Photo by Devin Avery on Unsplash
How are you setting the tone for your day?
This week I got back to my morning routine. The routine I have established over the last few years usually takes less than 30 minutes and sets my day off on the right foot. It involves a combination of writing, reading, and meditating, AND was the first thing to go during the weeks leading up to our move.
For many years my morning routine was to hit the ground running, have coffee, check emails, DO things that needed to be done around the house or for my family. In the winter of 2017 I found that my habit of starting the day by checking the daily news cycle, email and social media left me feeling agitated and somehow anxious. I decided to start reading books instead because I love to read, and wasn’t doing as much as I aspired to, so I stayed off the computer and my phone and began to read a book for 15-20 minutes every morning. It gave me a feeling of accomplishment and enjoyment, and started the day on a more positive note.
In December, 2018 I read and worked through The Artist's Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron. The author relies heavily on what she calls Morning Pages - writing about anything and everything so that you fill up three full pages every morning. I cannot say that I did three pages every morning, but I often did, and I think more importantly, I started writing every day. This habit has served me very well, particularly through difficult days and challenging stretches of time.
I have also become someone who meditates in the morning using the Headspace app (5-10 minutes/day). Five years ago I would have dismissed meditation as too hard, too weird, too woo woo. I am here to tell you that it has really helped me. How? I feel calmer most of the time; I am able to STAY calmer in the face of frustrating situations, and I am better at paying attention to what is running through my mind, which is almost never is helpful in the moment.
Maybe I avoided my morning routine during the move to avoid some of the hard feelings about making such a big change. Maybe it was that good habits can fly out the window fairly easily. Maybe it was that I felt like I had so much to do that I told myself that there was no time for the morning routine.
Whatever it was (and it was probably the first), I feel better being back in my routine. The days I stick with my morning routine feel less hurried, like a good start to a day, like a centering and a grounding. And unless I do it first thing, I will not do it. Not that it could not happen, it just doesn’t. As with most things worth doing, conscious intention is required.
This week I would encourage you to look at whether or not your morning routine is serving you. What does the first 15-30 minutes look like? Is there something you would like to STOP doing? Replace it with something you would like to START doing. Start there - with 5 minutes. Make it as flexible as you need to and go for consistency, not perfection. Pay attention to how that small, new morning routine leaves you feeling in the moment, and for the rest of the day. Take note of any changes - big or small - in the way you feel. As always…make a change by taking one small step.
