Early Riser

Morning Routine/Ritual

TheCreativePassageTeam

After many different permutations and combinations I feel I have somewhat reached to an optimum morning routine which is becoming our morning ritual now. My personal theory to differentiate between routine and ritual is when a routine becomes permanent like a habit I call it a ritual.


Here is what my morning routine looks like:

Wake up at 5:00 AM

You need to keep alarm clock at least 5 steps to 6 steps away from your bed, so when alarm goes off you need to walk that distance to close it. CAUTION: If you keep alarm clock at your arm’s length from bed then there is 99.9% possibility that you might go to bed even after closing the alarm, this will surely happen during disturbed sleep days as you won’t be in senses when you close the alarm, and in no second you will go back to your comfy bed without being aware of your action. I have seen many people doing this mistake time and again, so do watch for it if you want to have successful morning ritual.

Stretches

Stretches help to get out of the initial sleep inertia, you will feel fully  awake after them.

I do below three stretches:

  • Puppy Pose stretch
  • Cat cow stretch
  • Forward bend stretch

You can google above three stretches.

CAUTION: Don’t spend more than 2 – 3 minutes total for all the three stretches.

Out of the bed room

Move out of out bedroom.

CLOTHING – Change night clothes to wear gym/jogging/walking clothes

Rinse your Face

Rinse your eyes and face with water, COLD if possible, but NOT WARM for sure. I normally put cold water in my hairs too, I know it sound bit crazy but try it yourself for few days to gauge the benefits.

Ear PLugs On

Put ear plugs on and listen to some positive affirmations, I can listen to them while my phone is still on Airplane mode as of last night.

TIP: You should record or download positive affirmation on your phone so you could listen to them while the phone is still on airplane mode.

Drink Water

Drink a glass or two of warm water, affirmations should run continuously while you are drinking water.

Track Wake Up Time

Note down your wake up time in the journal so you can track you sleep, consider this step optional. For me personally, this step is must as in addition to noting down my wake up time I write 2-3 lines about good/positive things that happened a day before irrespective how crappy my day was, I always find something good/positive to write about. I wrap up this activity under 5 minutes.

Remove ear plugs

Take off your ear plugs now as we will do few more stretches before we finally head for a walk.

Stretches

Do some more stretches like:

  • Downward facing dog stretch
  • Cobra pose stretch

Gratitude

Give gratitude or appreciate the works/efforts of at least 2-3 people that you interacted with yesterday. You can give gratitude to your parents, wife, kids, friends or so. 

You can refer below Template:

“I am grateful for ___________, because ________________”

 

Spend around good 2-3 minutes here.

 

NOTE: Some studies have found that those who are habitually grateful are happier than those who are not

Morning Walk

Put your shoes & ear plugs on and out for 10-15 minutes’ walk irrespective of what the weather is like. I have done walks during heavy downpour,  beast of snowfall, no exception there. I make sure to keep an umbrella close to exit door of my house a night before, this is part of my evening ritual.

NOTE: I have tried many other activities like jogging, going to gym first thing in the morning and many more  but with time I learnt that the morning routine should be as simple as it could be so you feel excited to do it than giving it an extra thought like oh damn jogging etc. If you’re comfortable doing jogging every morning 7 days a week then that’s great, but I have tried jogging also but somewhat the ease, joy & happiness I feel while walking is incomparable. I can’t wait to go outside, this has given an extra momentum to my morning routine. Now even if its Saturday or Sunday I am out for walk at around 5:30 am in the morning.

More Stretches

Once back from walk do some more stretches, followed by 5 pushups, and a pull up or two in case you have pull up bar at home. Just keep it as simple as you could initially.

If 5 pushups are too much initially then start with one gradually move to 5. Just listen to your body and accordingly make adjustments.

Meditation

Finally do 10 minutes of meditation. Nothing fancy, keep it pretty simple. Sit at quiet place and try to concentrate on your breath.

TIP: Inhale through nose and exhale through mouth, with this practice I can bring my attention back to my breath when millions of thoughts are going through my head.

Regular practice of meditation will bring more clarity in your life. Do it for 10-15 days to see it’s benefits.

 

Guess what? Once I am done with all the steps above it earns me a morning cup of tea or coffee. My morning tea/coffee is very valuable so I have to earn it 🙂 . Keep in mind both tea and coffee dehydrate your body, avoid them as first thing in the morning when you wake up, better to drink fresh water instead.


One more thing, in order to have successful morning routine you need to have super successful/disciplined evening routine else after few days/weeks you will fall off of your morning routine. I will write about my evening routine in another post.


That’s pretty much, I hope this routine will help you to cultivate a strong and disciplined morning routine.


Don’t forget to leave a comment/feedback or any suggestion 🙂 

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