Morning Ritual: For Witches or For Me?
Ah, the infamous morning ritual. Everyone is getting totally hyped about this morning routine business and everywhere you turn someone has the perfect formula. Do this, think that, place your hand on your head and rub your stomach while drinking lemon water in downward dog.
I’ll be totally real: I read half of the Miracle Morning before getting so pissed off I closed the book and totally rebelled. Who do you think you are to tell me what to do in the morning, then tell me if I miss a day I just told the universe I’m not interested in my future because I’m a lazy bitch? That escalated quickly.
I digress.
There is something to that book, though…and eventually I picked it up, opened my mind, powered through the BS, and finished reading it. There’s some pretty decent stuff in that book if you take a step back and get some fresh perspective.
Everyone is a snowflake
Yup. You’re a snowflake. I’m a snowflake. We are all snowflakes: beautiful, unique, cold as ice. Just kidding. But, you are definitely unique and that means maybe your routine doesn’t work for me and my morning routine excites you about as much as salmon for breakfast.
Chose for yourself what works and what doesn’t. Here’s your guide: if it doesn’t make you want to jump out of bed like it’s Christmas morning, don’t do it.
Pick your battles
Establishing a morning routine can be hard. Your mean girl isn’t going to like the self improvement and your alarm is going to get thrown across the room – bye Felicia. That’s kinda the point. You’ve got to stick to it. Good habits are hard to build, but you can create bad ones easily. Sleeping in and saying fuck it to your future – bad habit. Getting up and starting your day with a bang – good habit. (Not literally, you don’t need your neighbors hating you and refusing to do the Christmas potluck this year).
Contridictory? Hhmmmmm – girl, you just told me to not do something I don’t enjoy then you say I’m not going to enjoy it but do it anyways?! Yes. This is where you have to tune into your inner guide. Think about what will better your life and help you achieve your goals. Do you want to incorporate meditation and visualization? A lot of people recommend doing that before you get out of bed. If I tried to meditate before I got out of bed…well, there goes all my time for my routine, hope I hit snooze not stop. So, I meditate on the bath mat before I hop in the shower instead even if I’m still half asleep while I do it. Do what works for you.
Rule of thumb
When you chose to create a morning routine, you need to allow for flexibility and experimentation. Did I try to meditate in bed? Hell yea. Did I try to do an exact hour of the miracle morning by focusing on each category for exactly 10 minutes? Mhmm. I couldn’t calm down enough to meditate, my mind was like a two year old throwing a rebellious temper tantrum. I had to take the concepts and adapt it to my schedule and personality. I read before bed instead of in the morning. I’m always adjusting and trying new ideas that I learn about. If it doesn’t feel right or aligned, I file the idea away and try something different.
There are no rules! Throw out the expectations and tailor make your morning.
But…like…what am I supposed to do?
You’ve decided to throw the rule book out – yay! Now what?
Let’s build your morning! Here are some ideas to maximize your morning. None are required and you definitely don’t have to go all chubby-kid-in-a-buffet and pile everything on the plate.
Read a few pages of something inspirational
Meditate
Visualize your future self
Write in a gratitude journal
Plan a map of the day
Set your daily goals
Look in the mirror and recite affirmations
Journal your thoughts or things on your mind
Get dressed up in something that makes you feel like a boss
Leave the social media notifications alone
*insert maniacal cackle laugh here*
*adjusts hat*
Are you ready? Are you willing to commit to doing something every single day? If you miss a day, that’s ok. We’re human and we need to be flexible. However, picture this. Close your eyes and imagine your color emanating from your heart space. That color stretches and expands until it fills your entire body. The days you skip your color gets a little duller. So, make an effort to stick to your routine – whatever it is, for your colors’ sake.
