“When you arise in the morning
think of what a precious privilege it is
to be alive, to breathe, to think,

to enjoy, to love.”

Marcus Aurelius

Many of you who have read my blog before know already that our reality is shaped by our perception. We form our life with our thoughts, expectations, opinions, values and beliefs.

We create habits – consciously and subconsciously – and they reinforce our perception of the world - our reality. Naturally, some of our beliefs and habits are empowering and some are limiting.

However, I do not want to dive into this topic too deeply, today. Just a short reminder of how every single one of us can co-create our reality and therefore our life. Every highly successful person will have some sort of rituals build into their day to strengthen empowering beliefs and habits. This is exactly we can do with a morning routine.

Today I am going to give you 7 simple strategies to give you a great and peaceful start into the day enhancing our stress resilience and energy levels.

Read the list below, try them out and play around. See what makes sense for you and how you can incorporate some or all strategies into your morning routine.

1.     Do everything you can the night before.

Our morning strategies start already the night before.

a)    Plan your outfit and place everything ready so you only have to get dressed in the morning

b)    Prepare your breakfast (including snacks for you and the kids to take with you) as far as possible.

c)     Pack your purse ready and leave it by the door.

d)    Last but not least: Write a to-do list for the next day as realistic as possible. By doing so your brain notices everything, as taken care off and can relax. Additionally the list will keep you focused and it feels great to tick it off next evening.

Alright, let’s continue with the actual “morning” rituals. No worries, you will still get 7 of those, meaning you got one – actually four – bonus point/s today. How about that? :-)

2.     Use a gentle way to wake up

Many of us belief we need the loudest, most irritating and persistent alarm tone to jerk us out of sleep. Sure, they most probably will wake you up but chances that you wake up grumpy, groggy and in the mood for nothing but going back to sleep are high. Additionally, being startled out of deep sleep increases your levels of cortisol and therewith our stress level.

Try something new for a change and get yourself one of those alarm clocks soothing you out of sleep gently by increasing light before they start playing soft natural sounds like birds. They are called “dawn-simulation alarm clock”, “light therapy alarm clock”, “natural light alarm clock”, or “natural sunrise alarm clock”; just enter one of the names into your search engine and you will find several offers.

According to research those alarm clocks not only let you wake up gentle and in a good mood but also enhance physical and cognitive performance.

3.     Breathing and stretching

Have you ever observed a cat waking up? They do not jump up a second after waking up. They yawn a lot, stretch at great length … and … yawn a lot again. In other words they take their time to get going.

This is exactly what you should do as well – ease your way into the new day.

a)    Start with deep belly breathing. Deep breathing is our build-in stress reliever, it sends a calming signal to our brain which forwards it to our body. Hence, we not only fill our lungs with air, which has several positive effects on our health, it also calms our mind and body. Breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose into your belly and out through your mouth.

b)    Do some gentle stretching to get your blood flowing, increase your energy levels, and reduce any muscle tension.

You can also combine those two by doing e.g. some QiGong or Yoga.

Just give yourself some peaceful me-time to learn to feel your real self again.

4.     NO technology in the morning

By all means avoid your cell phone and other forms of technology for the first hour and/or until you are ready with your other morning rituals; or until you are ready to leave the house. There is almost never anything so important that you have to check your phone and/or computer first thing in the morning.

Give your mind a technology-delay and therewith some relaxation time. You will start your daily life hustle and bustle early enough – no worries it is waiting for you out there ;-)

5.     Uplifting music

Music has a great impact on our emotions as we all know from the movies. Hence, listen to some uplifting music while getting ready.

This will make you feel good and gets you going. It also gives you a more positive outlook into your day.

Lemon and turmeric is a great detox package. Lemons and turmeric are strong antioxidants that help your body fight free radicals, also known as carcinogens. Lemon and turmeric strengthen your immune system. They rejuvenate your skin, hydrating it, reducing wrinkles, keeping it elastic.

Turmeric is well known for its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory powers. It flushes toxins out of your body and regulates your metabolism.

Mix the juice of half a lemon with some warm water, not hot, and ½ teaspoon turmeric. Best drink it after brushing your teeth and with a straw to protect your teeth from the acidity. You could also have a sip of water after drinking the lemon mixture and wash your mouth with it. Wait 20 minutes before having breakfast

7.     Journaling / free-flow writing

Use this time until breakfast for some journaling or free-flow writing. This form of writing is a powerful start into the day.

Get yourself a nice booklet/diary (I have got one with butterflies on it ;-) ) and a pen in your favourite colour (mine is turquoise) and allow your mind to go wild for 10 minutes every day.

Just write down everything that comes into your mind, e.g. what you are grateful for, what went well the day before, what you are looking forward to that day, but also what worries you, drives you nuts, makes you angry. Write down everything you want to do and achieve in your life, places you want to see, what you dream about, etc.

As I said, write down literally everything that pops up during your writing time. Do NOT judge or label it, FORGET grammar and spelling. Do NOT mind any margins Just write, write aaaaaaannnnd write.

This morning ritual will help you to calm your mind, get more clarity in life and find solutions where needed.

8.     Breakfast

Now, it is time for a proper breakfast. As we all know it is the most important meal of the day.

The right breakfast choice – I am NOT talking about a Latte and a cupcake – will help to kick start your metabolism, balance your blood sugar levels and enhance your stress resilience.

Make sure your breakfast is full of protein, fruit and maybe some green or herbal tea.

Go and take a childlike approach. Just try out some new things in your life and wait what the outcome is. Of course change takes time and to create a healthy morning routine will take some time as well. Be patient with yourself, starting with one or two new additions to your morning or letting go of limiting behaviours is not always easy. If you have a setback do not give up. Give yourself a rest that day and just continue the next day.

How do you start your day? Is there something working really well for you to have a peaceful start? How do you fuel your energy levels and enhance your stress resilience?

By all means, share your experiences and knowledge with us in the section “comments” at the bottom of this side.

Until we will chat again I wish you many peaceful mornings and stress-free days.

Just be well,

Sibylle

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