Snooze button. Waking up with thoughts racing about the day's to-do list. Snooze button again. Lying in bed feeling like you don't want to get up and face the over-scheduled day. Remembering the person who frustrated you last week, realizing you have no time for breakfast because you've already hit that snooze button twice, and... Let's take a breath.
One of the most important parts of your day, if not the most important, are the very moments you wake up in the morning. This is when the tone and course for the day ahead are set. The way you start your morning -- everything from your first thoughts to what you consume to the way you get ready -- has big-time influence your happiness, success and energy overall. And here's great news: Simply making some small shifts to the way you approach your mornings can empower your days and lead to radical positive changes in your life.
By making some positive changes to my own mornings a few years ago, I was able to create much more balance, energy and happiness in my own life, and I'm loving it! I truly believe this is one of the keys to a higher-quality life overall, which is why I'm so passionate about spreading the word.
It all starts with your thoughts. As you're waking up each morning, those first few thoughts that float through your cloudy mind are some of your most powerful, and they have the influence to set the tone for your entire day. With practice, you can to train your mind to make your first thoughts of the day positive, inspiring, high-quality ones.
Even if those first few minutes are not necessarily negative, and may even seem neutral, the idea is to step it up to a happier, more optimistic level. For the next few weeks, make a conscious, deliberate effort when you wake to shift your thoughts to anything that brings you joy, inspires you or brings you peace. After the first month or so, you'll find that waking up in a much more positive place will become natural, and so will better days.
Seven shifts you can make to create a positive morning mindset:
In addition to your morning thoughts having a huge impact, your practices and experiences in the morning have a major influence on the quality of your whole day. Take a look at other positive ways you can make over your mornings. Try setting your alarm a few minutes earlier, and be sure to avoid the snooze button. Even just an extra 15 minutes in the morning is huge. Take a couple of minutes to sit in stillness or step outside and breathe in some fresh air. Take time to eat something super healthy (a must), connect with loved ones, and to just plain slow down.
Go through the spaces where you spend time in the morning and bliss them up. Clear clutter. Add a few items that make you feel good and inspire you when you see them.
Not only will all this action and reaching for higher thoughts make your mornings drastically more pleasant, it will also create a flow of reminders that you're taken care of, that you're making yourself a priority, and that you're worth all that is good and beautiful in life. That's the way to clear the path for a great days.
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Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.: 'There Is No Way to Happiness; Happiness Is the Way'
Any advice? Its ridiculous but I have no idea what to do.
Unfortunately, by the end of the day the morning boost has pretty much fizzled out due to dealing with the stress generated by running herd on a 4-year-old and a 9-year-old who is at that "acting like a teenager" stage. However, at least it helps me start the day off right.
Not that the suggestions are bad ones, but even just engaging in "a couple of minutes of stillness" requires caffeine so I don't fall back asleep, going to the bathroom so I'm not distracted by that particular need, turning on the heaters so I'm not distracted by being cold, eating breakfast so that I'm not distracted by being hungry, feeding the dog so I'm not distracted by HIM being hungry...and by that point it's a miracle if it's not so late that I'm distracted by the time.
I do keep water by the bed, but its for the after effects of the alcohol, and Stephen King counts as positive reading material, right?
Many thanks to it for it being very helpful to me---it reminds me of many good things as well as a good start for them and a new beginning thereafter, at least I hope.
One day, the first day as a father many years ago, I stopped to contemplate a morning in such a way that I was never able to wake to my sleep again.
I bought a good bed. Splurged on good bedding .. I prefer flannel year round with light weight to heavy weigh quilts and good pillows. Soft colored walls, dark curtains, low lighting. Quiet and serene. When I enter my bedroom and bed, my body and mind know it's time to sleep and dream and rest my soul. Reading, TV, journaling, eating, drinking, etc. go on elsewhere in the house.
I can honestly say that I can wake up with a smile on my face and take my time getting out of bed to start the day. Took me many years to get to this point.
If you are married or with a partner and their sleeping habits or noises (breathing or snoring or moving) interrupt your sleep, then think about getting your own bed for sleeping .. can still have romance in a 'shared' bed .. you just retire to your own space.
In reality, humans, willingly or unwillingly, are taken into an often much interconnected and sometimes even interacted world that some of them find themselves comfortable in, while others do not. I find here your serene soft bedroom exactly my great sweet fantasy.
I do leg and arm exercises while lying in bed. It will help you when you are sick, because you can get up easier if your arms and legs are not weak at least that is what the nurse said.
I drink a glass of green tea in the morning then after my nap. I can't sleep if I drink tea before naptime and before bedtime.
I am going to try your way this week. I want to finish my office organizing and I spend a lot of time in there. I would love to make a showing and amaze my husband. I hope I can stay off of the computer.
For you to expect us to be happy before coffee is unrealistic, though:-)