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Each and every single one of us has a morning “ritual”. By ritual I mean a series of actions we do from the moment we open our eyes until we leave our homes.
These days, our smartphones are almost an extension of our bodies. Everywhere we go we take our phones with us, even to the toilet. We can do most of our job related tasks on our phones and we can even play some advanced games on them. Our cellphones are not anymore a way to connect with other people exclusively in the form of an SMS or voice call. Nowadays, our multipurpose devices allow us more than ever to connect with people differently. But sometimes it seems that we are letting these tools to turn into our masters, don’t you think?
In my case, since I use my smartphone also as an alarm clock, about a year ago my morning ritual , was more or less like this:
- Open my eyes
- Turn off the alarm
- Turn on the phone’s communications
- Start checking all my messages from different applications (WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook, etc).
- Get off my bed
- Check my emails and news related to my duties while walking towards the bathroom
- Wash my face while I keep doing the above, and of course try to reply to whatever I need to reply
- Do breakfast
- Feed Kompa (our dog)
- Walk Kompa out and bring him back home
- Brush my teeth
- Head to the office
Does my previous ritual seem familiar to you? If yes, then you most likely have gone through the same sensation of feeling completely overwhelmed and stressed already shortly after you just woke up.
If your routine has nothing to do with the above, congratulations! Nevertheless, stay put as you might find something useful on my new routine. Or even better you could suggest different things to improve it.
My current morning ritual is more or less like this:
- Open my eyes
- Turn off the alarm
- Breathe calmly and mindfully while I perform a body check
- In my head I say “Thank you” (for waking up, for being alive, healthy, loved and for all the blessings I have)
- Kiss my fiancée, say “bonjour” to her and hug her
- Breathe once more to do at least the following yoga stretches still in my bed (lying spinal twist to both sides, cobra or upward dog, cat stretch and child’s pose)
- Leave my bed and say hello to Kompa (our dog)
- Head to the bathroom to calmly wash my face
- Prepare breakfast (or help with the preparations)
- Feed Kompa, take him out and bring him back home….
I no longer switch on the communications on my phone immediately after waking up as I realized it was one of the worst things I could do because it bombarded me with tons of information. I wasn’t even allowing myself to concentrate firstly on my relation with my own self (with my body, my mind/soul).
By breathing calmly and mindfully while performing a body check I am doing exactly what I was neglecting with my previous routine: I connect with myself (it’s a short meditation, yes meditation is about breathing and connecting to yourself).
Think about it, how can you actually have meaningful, loving, interpersonal relations if you neglect your own body. How can you interact with others in a compassionate and kind fashion if you do not do it with yourself first? How can you be calm if the first thing you do in the morning is jump to the ever-flowing ocean of information?
By saying “thank you” even if it is just a simple thank you, I am starting my day with gratitude. With time you will start to thank for many things and not only when you wake up.
If you have a partner and you incorporate a morning kiss/hug to your routine you will see how this will contribute to the other person’s well-being and to strengthen the relation between both of you. If your partner is still asleep you can skip the hug but don’t dare to leave your bed without a kiss! If you do not have a partner then spend some more time on yourself.
By stretching I am helping my body to wake up slowly and kindly. Your body also needs time, and believe me, it will thank you for it! The stretches I mentioned take no longer than 2 minutes and focus on your spine. They are really soft but refreshing at the same time. Feel free to modify the exercises according to your own needs. Listen to your body, it will tell you what it needs.
Until that point (the number 6 on my second list) I have spent (or rather say invested) not more than 5 minutes of my morning every single day.
I allow myself to disable the Airplane mode on my phone until I have stretched and left my bed already as I am now ready to take on my day with a positive, calm and assertive energy. Nevertheless I push myself to turn the phone on as late as possible, that way I enjoy myself, and the people or beings around me (like my dog) a bit more and fully conscious and focused on them.
Since I started implementing this ritual, my life has greatly improved in all aspects! So, if you find yourself feeling drained early in the morning, take some inspiration from this article, your body might be telling you that your morning routine is not empowering you.
Do you have any tips or suggestions on how to begin our day with the “right foot”? Please share them with us, there is a Comments (“Please share your thoughts”) field at the bottom of each article.
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4 Comments
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i am not bright enough to have a Shmart phone
I have the same sticker on my iPad and Mac:)) Gracias!
Thank you both for your comments 😀 please keep in touch <3