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Hi beautiful,
Morning routines have become a hot topic and common "must" on the self care checklist. Fantastic! We've all heard about the benefits of a routine such as greater productivity and self efficiency. Crucial! BUT... I'd like to go deeper, I believe a morning routine is the cornerstone to loving yourself. Yup, loving YOU.
How?
It's your first opportunity to be kind to yourself. It's your first opportunity to set the energetic tone for how momentum and action play out throughout your entire day. It's basically, your first chance to tell the universe how important you are, what you deserve and what you are open to receive... cough cough, love. It's your first chance to give yourself love and receive love.
So in my world, morning routines are NOT about adding ANOTHER thing to your list. Nope. Morning routine is about GIVING TO YOURSELF FIRST.
Let's get honest for a second, how do you begin your day?
- Do you hit snooze 4 times?
- Jump out of bed, moving so fast, you're already in the bathroom before you're fully awake?
- Are you exhausted and sleepy, even after you wake up?
While I am partial to hitting the snooze button... it's the morning's that I don't hit snooze, and put on music immediately, and leave my phone on airplane mode that I'm finding that I'm more productive, more present, more pro-active on giving to myself throughout the day (aka loving myself). Equally, I find that I'm taking curveballs and people's reactions less personally and this self-prioritisation is having a positive domino effect in my relationships, my decision making and my creative work. Why? I'm more anchored in myself and because that anchor is there, I can return to it with greater and greater ease throughout the day. Also, as I mentioned earlier, I set in motion, the momentum of self importance.
I'm really not interested in speaking to "morning routine" in the context of the importance of stretching your body, putting on a face mask, eating a nourishing breakfast and drinking water with freshly squeezed lemon. Of course these are important, and the commonplace of self care BUT let's go a little deeper and set an even stronger foundation for increased productivity, presence and positive experiences... and most importantly LOVE.
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| Here are my 3 core fundamentals in establishing a morning routine:
1. It's about you GIVING to you
2. Your morning routine begins the NIGHT before
3. You set the tone of the day with your awakening THOUGHTS
1. It's about you giving to you
Beautiful, this is your life. Why would you not create the best experience for yourself? On two mornings this week I had a bath and they have been my most productive, most creative, most decisive days of the week. This morning, I was resisting the bath... all the reasons why there wasn't enough time, I wouldn't be able to relax, it would take too much time... here's the thing. As soon as I committed to the bath (committed to giving to myself FIRST) and started running the water, time expanded. My morning rendez-vous asked could I meet them an hour later, so then i got to my journalling and meditating and breakfast after bath, zero rush, fully anchored.
What do you do for YOU in the morning? JUST FOR YOU?
How can you GIVE TO YOURSELF FIRST in the morning?
2. Your morning routine begins the next before
There is absolutely no point in conceiving any more (we've all thought about improving) morning routine thoughts, if you are not going to set up some loving disciplines in the evening. How about... - going to bed 1 hour earlier?
- taking a night time tea into bed and listening to music as sip slowly?
- putting your feet into a basin with baking soda? (you can add all fancy oils and salts, but baking soda is all you need to alkalise your feet and get yourself out of your head and out of your day).
- making your bed a no-phone-zone.
- listen to music, write, sew, read, stretch, meditate, breath, sip tea, listen to a podcast (put phone on airplane mode is acceptable).
Let the resistance (because there will be resistance) begin in the evening and tackle it, head on the evening. Give to yourself before you sleep.
Choose one of above to kickstart your morning routine.
3. You set the tone of the day with your awakening THOUGHTS
And really, you set the tone with your awakening thoughts, with your final thoughts THE NIGHT BEFORE. I have started a night-before-practise of reviewing the day (in my head) and thanking my conversations, tasks completed, encounters, trip ups and triumphs. Feeling gratitude for all that I learnt and experienced in the day. And I have cried 3 nights this week. I'm not pretending like life is perfect. I'm not pretending that it's all snowflake adventures and unicorn mountain men when you move to a new town where you know no one!!
And in the morning, I begin with gratitude and tell myself I love myself. This one, I admit can be tricky because I'm waking up alone and can feel very alone... but I'm taking this as an opportunity to love and give to myself even more. So before I hit the yoga mat, I put on some music and get really happy about being my sensible, crazy self!!
What is the first thing you think when you wake up?
Could you take a few moments to
- listen to a song and visualize you achieving your current #1 goal
- listen to a song and strech in bed
- repeat your current #1 affirmation
- review your agenda for the day and ask each event what's the best that can happen?
- sit up and meditate for 2 minutes
- not turn off airplane mode until you have had your cup of tea, then stretch that to until your dressed, then strech that until your out of your home?
I guess what I'm really trying to hit home here (and practise more myself) is that time for myself and with myself is sacred and it's limited, not only on a daily, hourly basis, but in this lifetime! My time in this body is limited. And so I've started to reflect on all the ways i can show up more for myself.
Showing up for myself begins with the smallest of steps. Giving to myself begins with the smallest steps. Loving myself begins with the smallest of steps. Receiving greater abundance begins with the smallest of steps.
So your homework for this weeK:
1. Update your bedtime activity
2. Upgrade your morning with GIVING TO YOURSELF
3. Elevate your day with appreciation and affirmation, last thing at night and first thing in the morning.
Are you willing?
Are you ready?
Set...
Start tonight.
Let me know how your days transform.
To supporting you,
Heidi
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