Create a Positive & Intentional Morning Routine
Sometimes it feels like that stubborn fat is not planning to go anywhere anytime soon. It just won’t budge no matter how hard you’re trying.
That was my life for a long time.
My goal was to be lean, ideally skinny, but lean was the main aim of the game.
But my actions were doing little to teach my body how to burn fat. With a history of years of dieting, my body had adapted to store fat. I had activated this mechanism. My constant barage of yo yo diets, namely low calorie and low fat, had taught my body to store fat. The body performed in starvation mode for much of my dieting life, and as any good body should, it stored fat to keep me alive.
My life of low calorie and low fat dieting had actually caused my body to store fat rather than burn fat. Totally the opposite of what I wanted.
A morning routine is an essential start to the day and it can have a huge impact on how the rest of your day goes, but if you are like me, it may not have been something you could easily adopt, if you know what I mean.
For years I had a pretty pitiful morning routine. It involved pressing snooze about ten times, telling my hubby that I knew what I was doing, and running to the train station to get to work on time.
That morning routine was 10 years ago. But I clearly remember the feeling of panic and anxiety I felt having my morning on full speed, being late and just always being behind.
It was awful.
Today my morning routine is the most constant part of my life. Primarily because with kids, the morning is one of the only parts of the day that I can find time for me to actually be alone and think. The rest of the day just goes with work and school, but my morning routine is precious. In fact it is life changing.
If you have been thinking about it or are just curious about the benefits of creating a positive, intentional morning routine, then this article is for you.
And if this is all new to you, I would recommend you grabbing a pen and paper and writing down what your perfect morning would look like. So you have a clear focus on where you want to go. Then start to implement a few principles to that morning routine.
There are no thick and fast rules to create your morning routine. After all, you are the only one who can dictate how you want your morning to look like.
After some trial and error and a bit of tweaking, you will find the perfect morning routine for you. That said, if you want a bit of inspiration, these are really good pillars to implement and fast track your way to a killer morning routine.
The most important bit of advice I can give you is to decide what you want from your day. What do you want to achieve? This is the most significant part of creating any morning routine. Your morning routine is yours, so make sure it works for you and is going to put you in the state that you want. What are your specific goals for the day?
Ask yourself a few important questions:
- What do you want to achieve today? How do you want to be feeling at 5pm when the day is coming to a close?
- What feelings do you want to keep at bay?
- What kind of state do you want your morning routine to give you?
Productive, calming or creative?
Once you have decided what you want from your morning routine, you can start building a morning routine around a few simple steps that are pretty much non-negotiable:
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THINK
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HYDRATE
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MOVE
I like to add an affirmation to these principles, this helps me to stay on track, but it is totally up to you. Having an affirmation such as I am strong or I am capable when going through my morning routine stops my mind from wandering or being distracted by negativity.
WHAT DO I MEAN BY THINKING?
Basically meditation.But please don’t run away yet.
When I mention meditation many of my clients jump to the image of a cross-legged monk wearing pyjamas and chanting. However, that is not what I mean, unless that is your thing, of course.
Meditation is simply concentrating on something for a period of time.
That’s it.
Many of us become intimidated by meditating, but there’s really no need to overcomplicate it.
Think of it as a workout for your mind. Unlike the gym where you are working your muscles, in meditation you are working to slow your mind down. And just like going to the gym consistently is necessary to maintain strong muscles, so is meditation for your brain. If you want a strong, healthy and clutter-free mind, training it is not an option. And meditation is the best way to do that.
There are lots of different ways to meditate. You can experiment to find what is a good fit for you. But if you are starting out, don’t overcomplicate things. Start small. Five minutes in your morning when the house is still asleep is great. If you are new to meditating then grab a free five minute meditation from Youtube, download a free meditation app or just focus on one thing for 5 minutes.
Focusing on your breath is a great place to start. Just concentrate on the air going in and out of your body. Take deep breaths, filling up your lungs, then expel the air, ensuring you exhale every last bit of stale air from the bottom of your lungs.
If meditating is a bit too woo woo for you, then you could try making journalling part of your morning routine. This could be a way to help you vent, and eliminate any limiting beliefs you may have. Get them down on paper and out of your head so you have zero reason to think about them throughout your day.
Another great use of journalling is to write down what you want out of life, that is your goals.
Again, a bit woo woo, but if done properly you can propel your mood from ok to great just by writing down what you want and feel. Sometimes getting our thoughts out of our heads is all it takes to feel a lot better. It can make a world of a difference.
HYDRATE FOR A FRESH START
Unless you have been up most of the night feeding a baby and hydrating, most of us have starved our body of water for several hours during sleep.
This is fine. However, when we do eventually wake up, we need to replace the water we have lost during our sleep through metabolism, breathing and sweat. Replacing this water is essential to restart our system. Water is an essential component of every process in our body, so in order to kick start it to its highest performance you must give it what it requires to function.
Further, the several hours of lying horizontal cause a large accumulation of bugs along our tracts, particularly. Particles in the air are inhaled and lay dormant along our tracts until they are forced along to be excreted by fluid. The best fluid for this of course is a large glass of water. This gush of water, much like a hose pipe, will displace the bugs that have been sat for the night. Causing a natural detoxification, all just with a drink of water.
Unfortunately many of us start our day with a coffee and little else. I love coffee but having it as your very first drink is only prolonging the delay to starting your body’s performance
MOVE OUT THE SLUDGE
You have a couple of systems in your body where things get stored. Your blood, which moves nutrients, hormones, enzymes, etc. from a to b, and your lymphatic system.
Unlike your circulatory system, which has a pump, i.e. your heart, to move fluid around the body, your lymphatic system relies purely on mechanical energy.
So in order for you to move the lymphatic fluid around the body to help it be eliminated, i.e. lymphatic rinse, you have to physically shift the fluid.
There is no better way of doing this than to move or have a good massage. And whilst a massage at 7am in the morning would be wonderful, let’s get real. It probably ain’t gonna happen.
So we’re stuck with the moving, but that’s okay.
By stretching your body you will begin to shift stagnant lymphatic fluid that has been sat in your body. This fluid contains a mix of substances, mainly by-products and toxins from your cells, and stretching your body helps move it around and eventually eliminate it.
As you move you will feel an energy shift, you will feel in your body the linked meridians that begin to work together. Perhaps a tingle there or an energy rush here.
If this is new to you and sounds a bit woo woo and out of your comfort zone, give it a try. See how your body feels when you pull and contort it.
As with anything, start small, set yourself a habit of doing it every morning, at least more mornings than not, and see how you feel after 10 minutes of detoxing your body through movement.
OK, SO WHAT NEXT?
These are just three simple steps that I recommend nobody skip in their morning routine.
After you decide what you want your morning to look like and what you want to accomplish, you can start adding in other activities like planning for the day, reading, drawing, getting in a full workout, taking time to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee while you put a face mask on, or even carving out half an hour to learn something new like a skill.
And remember, take it slow and have it represent your own individual needs. Don’t look at other people’s morning routines and feel guilty when you see them cramming in ten different things. Do what feels best for you and what aligns with your goals for the day, week, month, year.
It will become a habit in no time, and by the time it does you’re already going to start feeling like a whole different person. Happier, healthier, more grounded, more relaxed, more in tune with your own feelings and thoughts. If that’s not reason enough, I don’t know what is.
Let me know in the comments what your dream morning routine would look like or what has worked for you if you already have one implemented.
Wishing you lots of morning happiness!
Yours in wellness
SABRINA SULOVSKY
Wellness Coach
Sabrina focusses on positive lifestyle changes for health and confidence.
‘Health powers the quality of your life. So when you’re health suffers, so does everything else’
Website: sabinasulovsky.com
Instagram: @Sabrina
