7 Essentials to Sparkle Up Your Morning

Do you notice that when your morning starts off peaceful and serene (versus rushed and frantic), your whole day flows so much better?  I do.  And it’s not by accident.

How we go about the first hour of waking influences our entire day.

While you need to find what works for you, there are 7 common essentials I’ve seen produce wonderful results for me and my clients. The good thing is you don’t need an hour each morning – 20 or 30 minutes will go a long way.

Here are 7 Essentials to Sparkle Up Your Morning:

1. Wake Up Peacefully

How you wake up sets the tone for your day. Do you wake up naturally? Do you wake up to your favourite music? Or do you wake up to a blaring alarm? If a body can rise on its own accord, it can greet the morning already in the flow of life. This is ideal and feels delicious. This means training yourself to get to bed earlier and ensuring you are getting 7 to 8 or more hours of sleep each night. If you have trouble going to sleep or staying asleep, talk to me. I have a wonder homeopathic product that gifts my clients with amazing sleeps!

2. Intend a Fabulous Day

Before you even roll out of bed, decide what kind of day it’s going to be. Play the day’s events in your mind and imagine fabulous outcomes. Then watch as the Universe rearranges itself to deliver awesomeness to you. Your life is guided by the clarity and power of your intention. Begin your day imagining that intention is a done deal.

3. Journal to Release

Now before you say you don’t journal, hear me out. Think of journaling as tapping into the conversation playing in your head and all you are doing is taking notes. They can be cryptic or long-form. They don’t need to make sense. Imagine that as you write, you free. These words and thoughts are no longer stored in your body. You release and cleanse as you write. Even 5 or 10 minutes of journaling can make a big difference in releasing your chatter and creating space for new thoughts. Feel free to discard what you write.

4. Connect to your Big Why

Each day is a building block in your life. What are you building? Do you know? More of ‘same old, same old’ or something that sparkles? When I work with clients, we build a picture of their ideal life – complete with where they live, how they spend their time, what makes them happiest, and who is around them. It’s not enough to just picture it, but rather to spend a few moments each morning feeling your way into it. Recently I composed an audio visualization for a client that she can listen to daily to connect with her ideal life. Each morning, she leans in and embraces it more and more so that she can almost taste it – it’s that real.

5. Get the Body Flowing

After hours of sleep, the morning is time to rise and shine. Let your body guide you to the movement it wants. Is it slow soothing stretches, a walk in nature or a kick-butt routine? Even just 10 or 15 minutes to get the blood flowing, heart pumping, joints loosened and breath bringing oxygen to every cell is worth it. Or you can shift your sleep schedule to be up an hour earlier and enjoy an amazing workout in the morning before the rest of the world gets up.

6. Power Up Your Day with Breakfast

Breakfast is just that… breaking your fast. It’s essential. It’s what kick-starts your metabolism and provides nutrients for your body and brain function. Tosca Reno suggests that 25% of your daily calories come from your breakfast. And studies show that people who eat breakfast are much less likely to snack later in the day, helping to keep the weight off. So no skipping this important meal! It’s your rocket fuel for the day. Go for a complex carb (like oatmeal) or protein (like greek yogurt, an egg or a fruit smoothie with protein powder).

7. Replenish with Water

Our bodies are over 60% water, so our job every day is to replenish at least what we’ve excreted, which can be 6 to 9 cups of liquid. In fact, we excrete the equivalent of a cup from breathing alone. First thing in the morning, try a glass of water with a slice or two of lemon. It is a refreshing detox for the liver.

PICK ONE OR TWO AND EXPERIMENT

If you are new to establishing a sparkling morning routine, pick one or two of these elements to do consistently for at least 14 days. Then consider going to bed 30 minutes earlier so you can add more elements. See this as an experiment, not a prescription. Find out what works. Maybe instead of journaling, you discover that reading something inspirational better sets the tone for your day.  Perfect – do that!

A NOTE TO NIGHT OWLS

You don’t need to be a morning person to develop a morning routine that supports you. Night owls will have a different routine than someone who rises at 5 am. But the same principles apply. Just avoid rolling out of bed and right into your day without directing your thought and actions toward the qualities you want. Create your day in the first hour and you’ll be set for the rest of it to flow.

Keep sparkling!

Paula