3 Intentional Ways to Start the Day

How I start the day impacts the rest of my day. If I wake up late and I’m scrambling to get out the door in time, I will probably carry that energy into the rest of my day, feeling rushed and hectic and like there just isn’t enough time to get everything done. However, if I wake up with ample time, I will likely feel more relaxed, more grounded, and prepared to take on the day.

My morning routine is so important to me. It’s one of my favorite parts of my day. Although, I’m really not a morning person and I do really enjoy the days when I get to sleep in, I’ve found that starting the day by really grounding into myself is much more efficient than an extra hour of sleep.

My morning routine varies slightly each day, but there are a couple of integral parts of my routine that are nonnegotiable in my morning.

And those include:

Gratitude journaling

I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal for the past six months and I truly believe it has positively impacted my mindset. Each morning, I journal about one thing I’m grateful for. I like to keep it relatively simply and journal about just one thing. What do I feel most grateful for today? A couple of examples from my journal include…. “Today I’m grateful for the morning sunshine.” and “Today I’m grateful for my able-body.” and “Today I’m grateful for the opportunity to expand through travel.” and “This morning I’m grateful for my yoga practice.”

I could really go on and on about everything I’m grateful for because there’s truly so much to be grateful for.

I read something once that said “gratitude promotes abundance.” We can’t have an abundance of anything until we’re grateful for the things that we do already have.

I highly recommend keeping a gratitude journal. Even if you decide to write in it at night, it’s worthwhile to think of one thing each day that you’re grateful for.

Meditating

Meditating is something I have very recently introduced into my morning routine. I’ve done it sporadically before, but decided to be intentional about it and make it a part of my morning routine about a month ago.

Meditating can be really intimidating and even a little scary when you first try it. The mind loves to wonder. All day, while we’re awake the mind is constantly bouncing from one thought to the next, one idea to another, from thought to thought. The act of meditating is meant to still the mind. I’ll be the first to admit that meditation isn’t easy. It’s honestly really hard. I like to compare it to long distance running. Seriously! Think about it. We don’t wake up one morning and decide we’re going to run a marathon. That’d be insane. We start small. We start with a mile. We stretch (hopefully) before and after. We hydrate. We slowly build up and add more miles as the days pass by.

And I believe that’s how meditation works. You don’t sit down and start meditating and all of a sudden your mind is clear and peace is coursing through your veins. I wish it worked like that, but it doesn’t. It’s a practice.

A yoga teacher of mine once said that it’s impossible to actually quiet the mind, what we really have to do is FOCUS the mind. Focus on the breath. Focus on the rise and fall of your belly. Focus on the rhythm on your heart. Focus on the birds chipping as background noise. Thoughts will arise, they always do. Acknowledge them and remind yourself that they probably aren’t that relevant right now. Let them pass by. Don’t judge yourself. The mind is doing what it is designed to do.

Because meditating can be so intimidating, I recommend doing guided meditations while first starting out. YouTube has ample free resources. Browse around and find something that works for you until you feel confident sitting in the silence and guiding yourself through a meditation.

And remember meditation is a practice. You’re not going to be perfect right when you try it out. The key is coming back to it each and every day, working to get just a little bit better at focusing your mind on stillness.

Drinking water

This is probably the easiest thing to implement into a morning routine, but it’s still important. Starting the morning hydrating is so good for your organs, your skin, your digestion system, and your overall health. I like to drink at least one glass first thing in the morning, while my coffee is brewing, and before I have anything else on my stomach.

Once I started prioritizing drinking water on a empty stomach first thing in the morning, I noticed huge improvements in my skin and this alone was enough for me to integrate it into my morning routine.

It’s also a good idea to get this water down early so if you don’t drink a ton during the day, you at least started the day hydrated.

As I said, I’m really not a huge morning person, I love my sleep, but the morning matters. How we start our days really impacts everything that follows in the day.

One of my favorite songs right now is “Morning Matters” by Yazmin Lacey. The lyrics are:

After rest I know what I need
Such a truth that only I see
I got those who know and love me
Clarity is in my bedroom
Blessings greater than my problems
Bad-mind people, I don’t want them
Morning matters to me

Take some time in the mornings to yourself. Leave your phone in another room and start the day by connecting to yourself and your intention. Once you prioritize morning intentions, you’ll watch your life begin to change.