I was recently asked to share my morning self-care routine, and I secretly gasped a little inside. Do I make something up? Do I pretend to pose as a morning person who has it all together and has any extra minutes to do anything but drag myself out of bed and go straight to whatever I have to get up for? I think that anyone who knows me would have to call me out or at least laugh, and I’d be forever trying to recover from being a poser.
I’m decidedly not a morning person. And I’ve also become okay with it. One thing about getting a little older, I think, is becoming more and more okay with who I am. I love my last stolen minutes in bed, and over time I realize that I’ve grown to spend them doing some important internal work.
Morning can be really vulnerable for our inner world, you may have noticed. When we wake up, and are just coming out of sleep, we tend to focus on the most negative aspects of life pretty automatically. I think this may be because our subconscious has been working through dream material without help from the rest of our brain to put things in perspective, rationalize, and all the other useful things we do to balance our inner dialogue.
Being able to catch these first automatic thoughts and respond with gratitude, counter with affirmations and positive thoughts, some intentions for the day, and thoughts that are more balanced and less black and white, can do wonders for the day you’re about to have, and can give those minutes that might seem like doing nothing or like lack of motivation, some purpose.
The intentions we set, our thoughts and emotions, attitude, expectations and outlook all serve to create the energy we carry with us, and ultimately what we draw towards us. Be mindful of the power of your mindset and how you start your day.
So whether you include this practice with a run, full work out, and an hour of journaling (good for you!), or like me, you take longer to get started, spend a few minutes calibrating into a balanced mode for the day. It will do you a lot of good.
Note! There are some mornings when we get up and enjoy the morning intentionally, like this rainy morning walk on West Cliff just before the last Atmospheric River rain event this rainy rainy winter. We actually have a morning each week when we ‘do morning’.
Mornings are beautiful and I enjoy them when I’m up for it. I’m just not naturally programmed that way. Changing up your routine, and doing what you don’t naturally do can actually be good for your art and soul! I think it’s good to change it up as you’re able to, and see what you discover. 😊
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