Five Morning Rituals to Set the Day for Success
How you start your day is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your mindset. You know those days where everything just seems to go wrong from the time your feet hit the floor. It seems that everything is happening arbitrarily.
What if you really did have more control over your day than you realize?
Here are five morning rituals that when done consistently will actually create a new habit and change your mindset.
Make your bed
Maybe our moms were onto something when they reminded us, daily, to make our beds. Perhaps it wasn’t just a drive for cleanliness. Research shows that this one little ritual can make a substantial difference. Naval Admiral William McRaven who acted as head of the Joint Special Operations Command during the Osama bin Laden raid and wrote the book Make Your Bed: The Little Things that Can Change says:
“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce that little things matter in life.”
So don’t do it for Mom. Do it for your mindset.
1. Drink water with lemon
There are so many benefits to lemon juice. Most of us know lemons as a rich source of vitamin C but lemons also have high levels of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium etc. which helps improve your immune system, support digestive health, jumpstart your liver to help flush out toxins, acts as an antibacterial, is a powerful detoxifying agent, supports your skin’s health, increases your metabolic weight, and that’s only a partial list.
So, instead of reaching for that pot of coffee or sugar loaded juice, pour yourself a glass of lemon water. Your body will thank you.
2. Meditate
This can be intimidating for some people. When we think of meditation, we often think of the arduous task of quieting our busy minds or visualize Tibetan monks in secluded mountaintops practicing hours of silent meditation. Amazingly, research shows that we only need a few minutes a day of meditation to dramatically change our brain health and overall wellbeing. This is more about setting your intention for the day. What you think about, you bring about so create an intention for how you would like your day to go. You can also add a few affirmations about how you want to show up. For example, I am calm. I am kind. I am loving.
It’s not about perfection. It’s about practice.
3. Practice Gratitude
To save time, this can be included in your meditation ritual. Our thoughts and feelings have an energetic vibration and gratitude is said to be the highest. Spend a few moments during your meditation to think about what you are grateful for. This can be hard when you feel like your world is falling apart but we can always find something when we dig deep. Similar to building up your endurance by exercising regularly, the more we practice gratitude and meditation, it allows our brain to actually create and strengthen these positive neural pathways which leads to increased happiness and a greater sense of wellbeing.
4. Move your body for five minutes
If you haven’t moved your body in a while, this can feel overwhelming but the kind of movement I’m talking about requires minutes, not hours, and you don’t even need to leave the house. There are so many on-line videos that can support this part of your routine. The most important thing is consistency. So, grab a yoga mat, do some sit ups, pushups (I do the ones on my knees. I’m still working up to the GI Jane version), planks, downward dogs. Whatever your fitness level is right now does not matter. PIck something you can do safely and do it every morning for five minutes.
In just a few minutes these powerful morning rituals truly can change how you face the rest of the day. If adding all them add once feels overwhelming. The most important thing is to be gentle with yourself and do something because we know that doing a little bit often, over time, makes a huge difference.
