Do You Have a Morning Ritual?

Do You Have a Morning Ritual?
 Do you have a morning ritual? Do you know what a morning ritual is? You probably have heard the “buzz” about this phenomenon over the past few years but still may be wondering what all the “buzz” is about and more importantly is it warranted? 

Basically, the premise of the morning ritual is the act of creating a routine so you have sovereign power over your own mindset instead of letting the outside world control you. 

It is now well documented that how you start your day sets the tone for your well-being for the rest of day. Admiral William H. McRaven wrote a book on the simple act of making your bed each morning can lead to meeting challenges with discipline, determination and a positive attitude, all of which can help an individual have a meaningful life. People like Tony Robbins, Oprah, Tim Ferriss, Richard Branson, Jessica Alba and others all share their morning rituals on their social media and in their books. But regular people are creating a morning ritual in their daily life as well because they see the value in having one.

But what exactly is a morning ritual? Although they vary in routines and details, morning rituals have become standard practice in high functioning, achievement oriented, innovators and leaders in all walks of life. One chooses deliberate and intentional actions rather than reacting to whatever comes our way in the morning. (Many practitioners of a morning ritual set their phones to “airplane” mode before going to bed and keep it that way until after the morning ritual is completed.) 

Several people have written books on creating a morning ritual, but one book I would surely recommend is best-seller Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life by Hal Elrod. Hal developed a daily routine that he practiced before 8 am that saved his life twice. He broke his down his routine into an acronym called S-A-V-E-R-S: silence, affirmations, visualizations, exercise, reading and scribing. He says that if you do these at other times in the day other than morning, you miss out on all the benefits throughout the rest of the day.

Hal Elrod has some great suggestions. But you can create your own morning ritual that specifically resonates with you.Here are some suggested morning rituals: 

• Making your bed
• Doing a Meditation
• Reciting of 3 gratitudes
• Reciting Affirmations
• Having a Prayerful moment
• Journaling
• Doing yoga
• Exercising
• Taking a Cold shower
• Singing
• Setting goals and action steps for the day
• Delaying looking at emails, texts and social media

So what would you like to start your day as your morning ritual? Even one small step could probably lead to a better day.

(You can check out my morning ritual here.)