19 Ways to Start Your Day on the Right Foot
Bzzzz… Bzzzz…
The annoying sound of an alarm clock pulls you out of your dream. You open your eyes, make an enormous mental effort and take one hand out of the covers and hit “snooze” to happily drift back to sleep. A few moments later you hear the same familiar sound. Have 15 minutes already passed? You calculate that you can afford another 15 minutes of lolling about and hit snooze again.
By the time you drag yourself out of bed you have just enough time left to take a quick shower, get dressed, gulp down orange juice and grab something “eatable” on your way to the door. You spend the rest of the day feeling somehow annoyed and frustrated, because it seems that all you are doing is trying to catch up with your busy schedule! Does it sound familiar?
If yes, than the morning is probably not your favorite time of the day. Just like it was not for me. Although, I have learned that it does not have to be this way!
Here is how to make your mornings enjoyable and start your day on the right foot:
1. End the previous day right. Never go to bed in a bad mood. Settle any arguments, let go of frustration and make a conscious effort to relax your whole body. Calm down your racing mind. Stop thinking about work or going over all the stuff that needs to be done. Night time is meant for rest so make the most of it.
2. Get enough sleep. Being a night person myself I know how tempting it may be to stay up late chatting with your friends or just watching your favorite movie at home. It is fun, but you need to be smart about it. If you are robbing yourself of two extra hours of sleep, you are doing yourself a great disservice. 7 hours of sleep is an absolute must for most people in order to feel refreshed and energized the next day.
3. Do not close your blinds all the way. Our body has a built-in biological clock that is synchronized with natural light. When we find ourselves in darkness, our brain starts to produce “the hormone of darkness” – melatonin that signals to our body that it is time to sleep. Melatonin production is inhibited by light and this is how our body knows that it is time to get up. If you sleep in complete darkness, you will wake up in the morning feeling light-headed and tired.
4. Give yourself time to revel in the moment. Do not jump out of bed immediately. Instead give yourself 5-10 minutes to remember your dreams, to wiggle your toes, and to stretch your sleepy body.
5. Smile to yourself. Even if it is raining outside. Even if you do not feel like smiling. Even if your spouse is sweetly sleeping when you have to get up. Smile to yourself. It will set the tone for the whole day and make you feel better.
6. Welcome the new day. The best way to start your day on the right note is to think of something pleasant. Invent one fun thing that you will do today, think of a little reward that you will give yourself.
7. Take a warm shower. Water is a great way to brush off the last fog of sleep and cleanse your body and mind. Make sure that the water temperature is not very hot, because if the water is too hot it has the opposite effect on our body – by putting us back to sleep.
8. Clean your tongue. You might want to skip that tip if you are eating or have just eaten… Everyone knows that it is important to brush our teeth, but few are aware that it is just as important to clean our tongue in the morning as well. As it turns out, 80% of the bacteria, that causes bad breath and is responsible for producing toxins, is accumulated on our tongue. But this is not all… If you do not regularly eliminate the layer of debris that forms on top of the tongue your taste buds get blocked and you can not enjoy the real taste of food. Which, by the way, leads to overeating and weight gain!
9. Drink a glass of warm water with a drop of lemon juice in it. It will help to flush toxins out of your body and stimulate your metabolism.
10. Listen to good music. Nothing lifts our spirits faster than a good song. You can program your stereo to play your favorite song instead of waking up to the squeaky sound of your alarm clock. Or you can listen to music while taking a shower or getting dressed.
11. Stimulate your emotions. Research has shown that smell influences people’s mood, triggers past memories and even affects work performance. Make it a ritual to awake your senses and lift your spirit with the pleasant smell of incented candles, flowers, or freshly brewed coffee.
12. Work it out! Exercising in the morning is great for three reasons: 1) It increases blood flow to your muscles and boosts your energy levels. 2) It triggers the release of endorphins or “feel good hormones”. 3) You do not give yourself enough time to come up with a plausible excuse of why you can not do it.
13. Find some ME – time. Meditate, read a book, pray, take a stroll in the park, sit on the balcony and breathe in fresh air. It is the only time when you can be alone with your thoughts or enjoy some peace and quiet. Take advantage of it!
14. Give yourself a “pep-talk”. Motivate yourself by reading a good quote or a funny joke, repeat positive affirmations or your goal statement or use a 30-second mood improvement tool.
15. Take 5 minutes to slow down. I have noticed that the better we get at multi-tasking the more we suck at mono-tasking. We are always running somewhere, trying to juggle 10 things at once. Until we give ourselves time to stop and regain our pace, we will not start living consciously. Therefore, dedicate 5 minutes of your time to observation. Look at the clouds moving across the sky, pay attention to the sensation of the wind on your skin, or observe your children playing. At first is will be hard, because our mind is used to skipping from one activity to another. But it gets easier with practice.
16. Wake the rest of your family up. When you feel absolutely ready to face the new day, wake up the rest of your family. Try cuddling instead of yelling “It’s time to get up!” 
17. Avoid ‘outfit emergencies’. Being a woman I am well aware of the “I have nothing to wear” problem and the necessity of changing outfits 3 times before finding the right one. Most men do not seem to have this difficulty, however, the “Dry cleaning” method (when you have to find in a pile of used shirts, one that is less dirty) takes time too. The bottom line is getting dressed turns into a stressful ordeal, when you have to find something to wear at the last minute. Therefore, prepare your whole outfit the day before.
18. Have yourself a merry little breakfast. There is a good reason why nutritionists and dieticians consider breakfast the most important meal of the day. A healthy balanced meal in the morning normalizes your blood sugar and gives you sustained energy to handle mental and physical stress. A balanced breakfast does not mean that you should balance a muffin with a cup of coffee. Fruits and yogurt is a much better choice.
Finally… send hugs and kisses on your way out. Taking time to hug and kiss your family members, pet your dog on the head and say a proper good buy is crucial. It shows people that you love and care about them (something that we often take for granted and forget to demonstrate with our actions). Besides it just feels good!
You might be thinking, “That’s great, but where do I find time to do all this?” Good point. The only solution I have found is to wake up an hour earlier and to go to bed an hour earlier. It may take some getting used to at first, but it is absolutely worth it, because you get tons of energy and positivity in exchange.
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Tags: create morning rituals, feel energized ideas, make mornings enjoyable, morning ritual, start day great
