What Makes a Good Morning Routine

A sustainable morning routine has so many benefits. It provides the structural support needed to make sense of the wide open field that each day can be. Which means ready accès to ease and softness.

An effective morning routine:

• Increases happiness 
• Reduces stress
• Boosts confidence 
• Increases productivity 
• Improves sleep quality

And so much more.

Oh but the morning routine conundrum: You know you need one but which one is right for you? Googling “morning routine” brings up a ton of should’s and shouldn’t’s that make you feel inadequate.

They tell you that this is what the millionaires do and that is what the ladies should do. And oh the journaling. I’m actually a fan of journaling, I’ve witnessed the power of it directly. The practicality of journaling 3 pages daily for this busy expat mompreneur? Not very. I’m guessing it’s similar for you, too.

Oh and the morning routines that demand you walk for xx minutes and workout for xx minutes and write, and drink your water in a certain way. Ummmm, what IS all of this??? And how are you supposed to shove it all into your one precious day?

I’ve been reading about and trying out different morning routines for years! (call it a bit of an obsession)  Et voila! I finally came up with one that is short, sweet, and effective. It's realistic and therefore sustainable.

And I want to share with you an important thing I’ve learned over the years:

An effective morning routine has certain components that make it work on all your energetic levels–that means your mind, body, and soul get the fuel needed to start your day clear, connected, focused, and ready to get things done without the anxiety and false urgency.

Here’s the 6 components you need to make a life-giving morning routine:

1. Stillness. 

Being awake + not doing is an essential practice that helps you “land” in your body and develop a habit of staying connected to your body even as you move and do. In our very busy, screen-oriented lives we tend to dissociate quite easily. We move all our awareness to our mental space and that leaves us bereft of the ability to process emotions and connect with our intuition. A regular practice of stillness gets you reconnected and can be done through a brief relaxation and/or meditation.

2. Movement. 

It speaks for itself. Movement is, in and of itself, an awakening of the body. Science has proven the importance of intentional movement (aka-exercise) on physical and mental health. It boosts the serotonin, it reduces stress, it improves mood, and provides a host of other benefits. 

Now, the key to exercise is doing a style of practice and amount that meets your needs and doesn’t overwhelm you. For example, you might not have the capacity nor the drive or goal to run every morning. If this is you, pushing yourself to do this only increases the likelihood that you won’t exercise at all. 

Choose something that you like. Maybe you love to dance. If so, dancing hard to your favorite 2 songs in the morning is something you will more likely maintain and thus reap the benefits of a morning movement routine.

3. Rest. 

I know, I know–you just woke up! Why on earth would you rest again? Resting just for a few minutes after your movement practice is the icing on the cake; it's like sealing the deal. Rest has its own mental, physical and spiritual benefits much like movement does. 

Layering a short relaxation on top of your movement practice expands your capacity to receive those good things and it gets you back into the somatic experience. When the heart gets racing, we get lifted; pumped up! That leads us out of the body and into the mental and emotional states without the embodied grounding necessary to healthily process our experiences. Plus, resting a bit helps us feel all those wonderful sensations in the body too.

4. Love. 

Self-love to be exact. I really hate admitting this, but many of us are out here in this globalized world super deficient in self-love. Its just not something that we regularly practice as its not prioritized in our culture. There’s no classes on self-love, self-validation, self-awareness, or self-determination. We are taught to seek and find all of those things from external sources. 

Once you change that and go inwardly to find wisdom, love, awareness of values, and intention, the game is changed forever! And for the better! You start living life from your own perspective, dallying in your own gifts and their external expressions. Okay, that’s a whole other article, but the point is…that it starts with cultivating a self-love practice. 

You can say I love you in the mirror each morning or something else, just as long as it is a direct statement of love. You may find it bizarre at first but you’ll develop your self-love muscle which means you’ll grow a greater capacity to accept and share love with others unconditionally.

5. Reflection. 

Shoving down yesterday’s experiences and covering them up with perpetual future-seeking robs us of our present. It blinds us to the fact that we have choice, that we can decide any moment to turn things around. 

Taking the time to reflect on and process the immediate past means we cultivate wisdom. We learn. We gain perspective. We gain discernment. We pivot towards a brighter future because of it. Journaling is often highly recommended because of this but you can also talk to a loved one, share in a community, record a voice note, or do a direct voice transcription (if you cringe at the thought of hearing your recorded voice).

6. Intention.

You’ll have your list of things to do. We all do each day. Setting an intention is completely different from that. This is the moment you consciously decide the quality of your day. You decide, for example, to call in patience, or cultivate meaningful connection or prioritize listening to your body. Get the picture? It’s less “I’m going to clean the house,” and more “I’m going to feel into spaciousness.” When you come back to your intention over and over throughout the day (I have a method for that!) it’s easier for your thoughts and actions to align to it. 

Ok your turn! Time to make it happen. You don’t have to spend hours on this; just a few minutes each and you’ll have a sustainable and effective morning ritual. One last component to mention here is commitment. When you dedicate yourself to establishing a routine, you are showing up for yourself and your nervous system 100%.