How we launch our soul ships every day is so key to living your best life ever! Grabbing a cup of coffee or 2 or 3 to just get started? What if you took that time to build a rock/solid foundation from which to launch your ship everyday? Ok, go ahead and have that cup of Joe! Instead of diving into mail, social media, messages, why not do something nurturing for beautiful you! For example, this morning after doing my morning reading (yes, with coffee!), my husband turned on the news just to see the weather. OMG! I couldn’t help but watch the local horrifying news even for a few moments. In less than 30 seconds, my trajectory went from happy-day attitude (the sunrise was painted a gorgeous lavender and melon!), to running to my yoga/meditation room to clean up my mind mess after being triggered/meltdown-time by seeing something that was oppressive violence at the start of my day. I’m sticking to my weather app on my iPhone! We can co-create how we want to launch our ship each and every day. Every day of our lives is a New Beginning!
This is what has worked for me from my direct experience. How we begin our day is so important for our overall health (physical, mental, psychological, emotional and spiritual bodies). There are 4 essential ingredients to my morning routine. Four legs to hold you up and launch from every morning! This is your launching pad for the day — even a Rock Star like you needs to ground their day before taking off! Every day is different. Do what resonates for you. Maybe you choose one, two, three, or all four. Whatever makes your boat float, so to speak! You may want to start doing them for 1 minute each, and add on as you get more used to this extremely beneficial habit. You are the Captain of your ship, and in charge of your attitude and trajectory for your day.
Number One: Read something inspirational that gets you in the mode of Faith in yourself. For me, it could be a book about my favorite passions/interest, especially scripture from any sacred texts. These could really set you up if meditation is in your morning routine. Or just a super short essay from a daily reading that lifts your Spirit up! I like to start with some quiet reading. Studies have shown that one half hour after waking, you remember what you read much more easily.
Number Two: Movement, Exercise, Yoga, Dance, Dance, Dance! What if you started with just one song that really gets you moving to the music. For me, it’s Yoga. What if you started your day just doing one sun salutation, and learning to integrate movement, (any!) throughout the day. It gets the brain pumping and the heart, and every cell in your body! Imagine how good you will feel once you just do that. You start your day with a real sense of accomplishment. This is a positive forward-moving action. Then give yourself some self-validation for your day — ” I made time for myself. I made space for myself to start out the day Feeling GOOD!” When we give ourselves pats on the back consistently, we don’t need the external validation of others. You can never count on when that is going to happen, can you? Instead, we feel good about ourselves for taking care of ourselves which leads to self-respect and ultimately building that love muscle for ourselves. That is all important to extend that heartbeat of love to others.
Number Three: Meditate to put your mind compass in the right direction! Meditate calms you like nothing else with practice. Just 5 minutes a day could be a life changing shift for you. You become the observer behind all the thought streams with practice. You see how your mind works, and in time learning to detach from thoughts that never served you. You are training your mind to be your servant — not the other way around! Never use meditation to criticize yourself. How many times have I heard people say they just can’t stay focused. That’s the whole practice. You are not going to stay focused! Never judge yourself when your mind chimed in to distract you off your mantra, breathing, or object. The whole point of meditation is to build up your self-compassion and come back to center gently and kindly. Ultimately, meditation can be the main tool for you to become master of your own mind. Our minds are our servants; they aren’t very good at making good decisions for us ever! The Higher Self/Inner Authority/Intuition, after applying logic and reason needs to make the most beneficial decision with a Heart and Mind united.
Number Four: Journal your thoughts and do a daily brain garbage disposal dump onto the page and write, even if it’s just for a minute! It is amazing to me how just writing things OUT can dissolve and process any feelings that were caused from the habitual stinking thinking our conditioning/programming has done to our innocent minds! Journalling can be a wonderful way to release a stressful day right before you go to sleep at night also. I am guaranteed a good night’s sleep when I do this (That’s another blog!). When the brain dump especially needs to be released, I will send those pages down the garbage disposal after burning them in my sink. Say a thank you prayer to Mother Earth for taking this from you and using it for compost for transformation and transmutation.
So now you have four steps every morning to honor yourself and this Beautiful LIfe!
Only create a morning routine that resonates with Beautiful You! That way you engrain this healthy habit into everyday and even look forward to it. I do! Always remember, everything is subject to change. Mix the routine up if you intuitively feel like you could use a change. Add something new for a while. You may want to skip a practice and replace it with something else for a time. Stay consistent, and you will reap huge dividends!
Additional ideas for your Self-Empowerment Morning Routine
Pull a tarot or an oracle card for Spiritual Guidance. My favorite right now is Gabrielle Bernstein’s SPIRIT JUNKIE affirmation cards. Brief, simple, and straight to the point wisdom messages. OR use a simple three card oracle/tarot spread: What do I need to know today? ||| What do I need to do today? ||| What can I expect today?
Sing a favorite song or hum while you make your nourishing breakfast. It will bring your mood up immediately! Ok, make some happy sounds!
If you’re into Astrology like me, check out where the transits are activating your natal chart. I’m pretty sure transiting Mars had a lot to do with my meltdown this morning! ha ha
Write your favorite affirmations out — at least three times each and say them out loud to the Universe. Three is a magic number!
I have noticed when I don’t take the time for myself in the morning, things seem to go downhill fast. Oh, that’s right, I didn’t check in with my compass this morning. Even if you spent 1 minute of time for each touchstone in the morning, you are on a trajectory of a HOMERUN! This could be your BEST DAY EVER! The order in which you do these, what you do to nurture your very Soul is up to you. You are co-creating — manifesting your reality with these nourishing nurturing self-care routines and practices. This is a message to your mind, body, emotional and spiritual body that you respect yourself enough to give yourself the care that you truly deserve to thrive.