5 Morning Mindfulness Practices to Help You Have an Awesome Day
How often do you feel energized, grounded, and excited for the day when you finish your morning routine?
And what is your morning routine?
Are you one of those people who sleep as late as possible, pound some coffee and a processed breakfast, and then rush to get into work on time?
Or do you leave yourself a cushion of time so you can ease into your day, through some combination of self-care activities?
I have made a conscious effort to give myself time before the family wakes up to spend on my morning routine.In recent years I’ve leaned towards it more as I know the way I spend my morning sets the tone for the rest of my day.
Admittedly, it’s easier on some days than others. When things are going well, and I feel good about myself and my life, it’s not too hard to do things that are good for me, even if I only have a few minutes.
But it’s when we’re not feeling our best that we need self-care the most.
For me, the most important choice is to practice mindfulness.
Mindfulness is essentially non-judgmental present moment awareness. It’s simply being where you are. Grounding yourself in your body and choosing to let thoughts naturally pass instead of getting caught up in them.
It’s a great practice any time of day, but particularly in the morning,
There are limitless ways to practice mindfulness, but here are some of my favorites:
1. Mindful check-in
Take a few minutes to really checkin with yourself.
Check in mentally...
How are you actually feeling?
Are you anxioys about things coming ahead of you or regrets from yesterday? (maybe you could work through these thoughts by journaling?)
check in to see how your body feels, where is your sension and needs some extra love today.
Lastly ask yourself what do I really need? Make sure you take care of what you truly need.
2. Mindful morning mantra/ intention for the day
Because I want my son to feel excited about his days, and to know that he’s a valuable human being, I’ve recently gotten into the habit of telling him, right after he wakes up, “Welcome to the day, the day is lucky to have you!”
Setting your intention for the day.
Setting an intention is activating a part of your receptivity. If you were to go out in the day, and not have set any intention of how you want the day to go, then you're getting on a bike with no direction. If you know that you want to get somewhere, setting an intention is going to help you get there.
Choose 1 of the 15 intentions for the day;
1. I accept myself as enough
2. I won’t be afraid to try difficult things.
3. I intend to do my best today to achieve my goals
4. I will believe I am beautiful and accept my flaws.
5. I will drink enough water today.
6. . I intend to do something fun today.
7. I will look for the positive side in negative situations.
8. I intend to be grateful for three things today.
9. I will forgive those who wrong me so that I may be at peace.
10. I will control what I can control.
11. I will develop a healthy relationship with money.
12. I intend to bring abundance and love into my life.
13. I will face all my challenges today with a calm mind and conviction.
14. I intend to embrace who I am.
15. I will do my best to lead by example.
3. Mindful shower
As you wash your body with soap, imagine you’re also clearing the remaining negative energy from your body. As you lather each part of your body, visualize this area filling with positive energy. You will probably feel a little buzz in each area as you focus on it because your mind actually sends energy. This also keeps your mind from going outside to what you’re planning for the day or things that happened in the past. It will replace worry with something that feeds you in a positive way and creates a positive pattern of thinking.
4. Mindful breakfast
orning, when we have a lot to do, and perhaps get into quickly, it’s easy to scarf down our food without even really tasting it. And it always occurs to me how silly this is. It’s not like savoring our food takes much time. It literally adds seconds to the experience—a few extra minutes at most
Choose to eat without multitasking—no phone or TV on in the background. And give yourself permission to just enjoy eating.
You could also imagine this is the last time you will ever get to eat this particular meal. I find that always mindful eating far easier!
5. Mindful Listening/learning
Time is the biggest excuse we give out when we are talking about limitations. If you are like me and don't have a lot of time to yourself to be able to read a book. Start listening to your favourite book on Audible or listen to your favourite podcast while driving. I find this to be one of my favourite moments in my day as I enjoy learning and reflecting throughout the audio. As my son watches the Wiggles in the back seat I am left in my own mind and thoughts with what I enjoy listening too. Self help books for me seems to always clearance my soul and realign me towards where I want to be.
Let’s face it: Every day is different, and some mornings are harder than others.
We can’t control that our lives are always in flux, and that we won’t always wake up feeling happy or positive. But we can choose to do something every morning that enables us to be and do our best with what is, whatever it is.
And it all starts with mindfulness. Coming home to our body. Giving ourselves permission to simply be. And then, when we feel a strong sense of stability within us, going out into the world to do. Whatever it is we do. Ready to find the joy in our day and knowing we can handle whatever’s coming.