How do you start your day?
Are you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, feeling excited and optimistic?
Or do you drag yourself from bed with weariness and dread?
Despite our personal challenges, we can choose how we start our days.
I say “choose”, because we can be intentional in how we begin each day. Although I have children and a job with long hours and a long commute, I can choose to get up early or later, rush or take my time, make time for exercise or lie in bed, eat a good breakfast or hurry out the door.
After a while it becomes a habit. And like anything else, we can either have good habits or bad habits. And how we start our mornings can have a huge impact on the rest of our day.
A Better Way to Start Your Day – How to Start Your Day with a Positive Attitude
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle
You can, with some thought and planning, reset your habits for waking up each day.
But it’s not just what we do in the mornings, it’s the thoughts and emotions we experience that will produce profound changes in our day. Especially when life is challenging, changing what we choose to think about as we get started each day can help us find more optimism and resilience.
Changing your morning mindset – Starting your day with more positive emotions and energy
Even before you get out of bed, start with noticing your thoughts – are they positive or negative? Are your first thoughts of the day consumed with worry, stress, complaining, or other negative emotions?
Start getting into the habit of asking yourself these questions when you wake up:
- What can I be excited about today? (If you are unable to find excitement, how about something to feel grateful for?)
- What, or who might cause me stress today? How can I respond in a positive way, from my higher self? (Visualize yourself responding to stress in a calm, positive way)
- Who can I surprise today with a thank you or a moment of appreciation?
- What emotions do I want to feel today? (Joyful, focused, carefree, determined, compassionate, happy, peaceful…)
Instead of jumping out of bed the second the alarm goes off (and turning to the outside world), or hitting snooze 5 times so that you have no time for yourself in the morning, build in some quiet time before starting your day.
Even if you don’t have a lot of time or energy, there are a few simple things you can use to create a positive morning routine. Just 5 minutes of one or more of these activities can change your entire day.
To create a more positive morning routine, try some of these:
- Light stretching (even in bed!)
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Journalling
- Affirmations
It’s amazing how changing just the first few minutes can impact your whole day.
My challenge for you – Pay attention to how you start your day – your thoughts and your actions. Can you make it better? Make your plan to change and Get Started!
I would love to hear from you – What is your favorite way to start the day?
With affection,~ Michelle
Start Your Day with Joy – Morning Affirmations
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Boy I could write a blog post on this one,m 🙂 but I will keep it short. We normally have some kind of daily thought for the day/ meditation for the day book sitting on my night stand.. One of us will read that out loud…I am usually the first one up, so I bring us both coffee in bed…15 to 30 minutes of unhurried conversation, then it’s time to hit the ground…breakfast, animal chores then off to work. Undergirding all of this is more coffee.. I have usually slammed down 1/ to 3/4 pot of coffee (black / no sugar) before I leave for work. I am an early bird. usually in bed by 8..so by the time 5 rolls around I am chomping @ the bit.
That sounds like a lovely way to start the day! Where do find inspiration for your daily thought/meditation for the day – bible, other books? I can’t do coffee anymore – it makes my heart do weird things. But I enjoy my teas, and sometimes the roasted dandelion root (and dandy blend) that a friend told me about… (that would be you!) I prefer getting up early, although less so in the winter when it is cold and dark. And an early bedtime is a must for me too.
Wife found our latest book @ a consignment store…By Chuck Swindol it’s called Wisdom for the Way/ Wise words for busy people Here’s a link on Amazon $.10 plus shipping used hardcover //www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0849995183/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1537220587&sr=1-1-catcorr
I really like this one.
He is a prolific author, I’ve read several of his other books over the years (Dropping your guard, (one of my all time favorites on living an unguarded life/ probably shaped me as a person as much as anything I’ve ever read.) and a host of other ones. We used to listen to him on the radio back in the late 1980’s… wicked sense of humor..rides a Harley and pastored a church. My kind of guy.