Miracle Morning

Happy Monday Friends! Awesome to be home today on a snowy Monday, three day weekend. On deck today are all the chores I didn't do yet, like laundry, more meal prep for the week, planning out some things for school tomorrow, and getting paperwrok in line for my taxes tomorrow night. BUUUTTT, that stuff isn't fun, so instead I'm listening to Ariana Grande and blogging :-) Today I'm going to share a routine that is all about self care and putting yourself first. If you want to earn some of those self-care reward stickers, read on!

Today, like all my other days, I got up and started with Miracle Morning. This is a habit I've been working on since January and it's making such a difference in my life. It gets my mind set straight before any of the stressors of life enter. Let me tell you what it involves, and then tell you what I'm finding.

Six steps, order then as you wish, but remember "SAVERS" as an acronym to get all the benefits.

Silence
I'm talking meditation, prayer, breathing. Just be. Work on calming the mind and your thoughts so you can learn to be more fully present. I use the Calm app for this which has awesome, daily 10 minute meditations. If you're a teacher you can get a free account, just go here. No matter how you choose to do so, find some quiet silence to begin your day.

Affirmations
Tell yourself some encouraging words to live out your life's purpose. Think in terms of gratitude! Every day, I write down five things I'm thankful for as a way to affirm the good things that have already come into my life. When you get in the habit of looking for things you are thankful for, you start to see more and more of that as you go about your day.

Vision
To start with this, you need to get your goals down. They can be yearly goals, or goals for a 3-5 year plan, or even 10 years. Some people make vision boards as such a way to visualize them. Once you know your goals, you will write them every morning in present tense. Mine start out like this:

10 dreams I made happen (this is a la Rachel Hollis and her Start Today Journal, currently sold out, but pop to that link to get your name on the list!) Okay so in my journal, this Vision part looks like this:

10 dreams I made happen 
1. I have impeccable health, in mind, body, and spirit.
2. I have $10K in savings.

and they go on like that, all 10, written every day. By hand writing them, you spend a little bit of time on each, and if you have a vision board, have that close so you can visualize. Law of Attraction. It's the thing!

Exercise
Not a whole production, either. Just five minutes to get your blood flowing. I set my timer for 5 min and do the following, mostly yoga:

Sun A flow a few times
High Plank
Down Dog
Sleeping Pigeon
Pushups
Supine Twist
Happy Baby

No matter what you choose, just get five minutes of movement in to get your day going. While you're doing that, you can work on calming the mind. If you have a hard time with that, focus on deep  breathing.

Reading
Read some cool stuff to fill up your mind with positivity. I love The Book of Awakening for this. It's a day book with short passages each day to inspire you. Sometimes they inspire you to let stuff go. Sometimes they inspire you to reconsider some limiting beliefs. Sometimes they reaffirm a belief you hold. Sometimes it's poetry, sometimes its a quote, sometimes it pushes your thinking. No matter what, it's good stuff to begin a day and get you thinking.

Scribbling
Scribbling, a synonym for Writing so the "SAVERS" acronym works. Get to some writing. Sometimes you don't even know what ideas of yours are lurking beneath the surface because you need to take time to write, and in doing so, things come out unexpectedly that really illuminate where you are in life.

So that's it!

Like I mentioned earlier, I've been practicing this for about six weeks. I wake up at 5:00 and get to this first thing. My routine is as follows:

1. Write five things I'm thankful for (Affirmations)
2. Write the 10 dreams I made happen (Visualizing)
3. Read a bit
4. Write a bit
5. Exercise flow
6. Meditate

If I have to wash my hair, I usually do the exercise part first, hop in the shower, and then let my hair air dry a bit while I work though the rest.

If I'm running late, I do the meditation in the evening.

Sometimes I miss a day, or sometimes I miss the meditation.

I can tell you that my days are way better when I have this practice happening. I am in a happier mood, I see all the good in things, I am much more calm and collected in my moments of anxiety throughout my day. I've learned to slow down in those stressful moments - significantly. This practice will really make a difference for you if you can get up and get though the early-morning grind.

I have a little something for you! The little cheat-cheat picture at left is available here for you to download and print in case you'd like to have a reference point to get started.

Do you already practice Miracle Morning? The person who taught me is Faith, you should totally follow her if you're on Instagram! Thank you, Faith, for the inspiration and great habits you bring into my life!

And, connect with me on Instagram, too, if you're not already! I'd love to have you tag me in some awesome routines like this that set up some awesome self care! Or, leave a comment and let's hear what you're up to!