What is a Healthy Morning Routine (When You Crave Personal Growth)?
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Creating a dazzling Second Act means that you want to start doing some new things to achieve better results. Let your new beginning start by asking yourself, “What is a healthy morning routine?”
First and foremost, begin with a new resolve to keep your commitments to yourself. It is the heart of self-care and the foundation of all easy self-care tips.
Winning your day begins the night before. Nix the habit of using your cell phone as an alarm clock and put your phone in an entirely different room than where you sleep.
Sleeping with your phone by your bedside is a very bad idea because cell phones give off blue light. Why is blue light a problem? It affects our ability to produce melatonin-a hormone that promotes sleep- and results in a disrupted circadian rhythm.
You Snooze, You Lose!
Ditch the phone by the bed and buy a Natural Light Alarm Clock to take control of your sleep patterns. Make your first promise be to avoid the snooze button and hit the ground running each morning.
It turns out that hitting the snooze button is really bad for your health. According to Reena Mehra, M.D., M.S., Director of Sleep Disorders Research at the Cleveland Clinic, when we snooze we lose because we are decreasing the amount of REM or dream sleep that we get. This is the most restorative kind of sleep that makes us feel well rested.
Perk Yourself up with Lemon Water
Begin the day with a glass of lemon water. Drinking lemon water on an empty stomach is a tried and true way to rehydrate and detoxify your body first thing in the morning.
If you put the lemon in warm water you have the added benefit of helping to maintain your pH balance. The vitamin C is an excellent way to boost your immune system, as well.
How to Write Morning Pages
Do you have a handle on the thoughts inside your head? Especially the scary ones?
Most of us have no real idea what kind of chatter is going on in our mind. The problem with this is that our thoughts shape our reality.
Becoming mindful of the thoughts in your head can be life changing. We’ve all heard of journaling, but how to write Morning Pages, as explained in The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is a bit of a different concept.
It’s important to complete your Morning Pages in the first forty-five minutes after you wake up. This is because your truest thoughts happen first thing when you wake up. The Morning Pages Primer advises you to write three pages of stream of consciousness writing each morning.
On your Morning Pages, don’t worry about grammar, spelling, or even coherent thoughts. Just write. Let whatever is in your mind pour out on the page.
You are likely to be surprised by what is going on inside your head. Consider it a bit of a brain dump. If you are having a bit of trouble getting started, begin with a list of what you are grateful for or even a list of daily affirmations.
Asking yourself questions is also another helpful tip. Perhaps, you want to know how to cope when your child moves out so you craft this question-What are some strategies I can use to cope with this transition? The mere act of asking gets your brain focused on finding solutions, rather than marinating in heartbreak.
For instance, if you are experiencing grown children who ignore their parents, you might “take it to the page” and brainstorm solutions for this challenge.
Becoming more mindful of our thoughts and feelings provides the added benefit of heading off problems before they even occur. Maybe you did not know that you had such strong feelings about certain topics. This allows you to identify areas you need to address in your life.
Faithfully following through on the habit of Morning Pages reintroduces us to ourselves. Although empty nesters miss their kids, sometimes I think what we are really missing is ourselves. We remember who we used to be B.C. (before children) and we know she’s in there somewhere, but we haven’t had a sighting of her in a really long time.
Morning Pages allow you to get a glimpse of your old self, but also start to create a vision of who you might become in your next chapter.
Move It or Lose It!
You just knew I was going to tell you to begin your day with at least thirty minutes of exercise each day and you are right! Mornings are the best time to workout because your body burns more fat and, therefore, is less likely to gain weight.
The importance of movement cannot be overstated, but you might find that you are looking for something that addresses your entire well-being.
If you are feeling a little overwhelmed by your new morning routine, pop in a yoga DVD and get yourself stretching first thing in the morning. If you need something a bit gentler, check out this yoga for over-50 selection.
What is Meditation Good For?
After moving your body, it is time to focus your mind. Meditation is the key practice for some of the world’s most productive, happiest, and most successful people.
What is meditation good for? Meditation is the teaching of how to activate the relaxation response and overcome the stress response. When we know how to do this we have the tools to regulate our mental and emotional well-being.
Getting still enough to hear your thoughts can feel like taking a bath for your brain. It’s as if you are clearing out all the clutter, the dark thoughts, and the extraneous wonderings to get to the heart of who you are and what you really want.
Have you ever noticed that many women aren’t certain how to transform the mind? Experiencing this kind of aha moment requires that you get still and quiet enough to hear your inner voice.
In just 10-20 minutes per day, meditating can take you there. An app like Calm or Insight Timer can be helpful, but an easy starting place for beginners is to get some Meditation Stress Less Cards. These cards simplify the process and provide meditation exercises in bite-size pieces.
Also, you will find meditation much more enjoyable and comfortable if you have a meditation cushion and meditation mat.
These will help you attain the proper posture and relaxed state which are both key elements of finding your bliss in a meditative state.
Make Your Bed
The final part of your morning routine is to start your day accomplishing something. The simple act of making your bed gets you into a productive state so that you can begin to tackle the top three items on your calendar for today. It’s a mental thing that propels you into action and jumpstarts your morning.
Benefits of My Morning Routine
The benefits of my morning routine are numerous and yours will be, too. How will you ever make the time to do this stuff? The most surprising part is that spending a couple of hours investing in extreme self-care each morning pays huge dividends.
What are those dividends, you ask? You get your time back via increased productivity and focus throughout your day. Many find that they can now get more done in less hours per day.
You will also gain a crystal clear vision of the life you want to create for your Second Act. Don’t be surprised if, once you get still and set aside time to think, you realize that you might not want what you thought you did.
The sense of calm and emotional regulation received from getting in tune with your thoughts cannot be overstated. Those with the ability to self-regulate emotionally rarely feel depression or anxiety.
A clearer, calmer you will most likely eat more mindfully and exercise regularly which is the key to physical and emotional health.
If your body is fit, your mind is focused, and your emotions are in check, there is nothing to stop you from building the dazzling Second Act you’ve imagined in your wildest dreams.
The key idea here is that your new morning routine will lead to a more productive you.
What is a New Healthy Morning Routine?
To recap, Act 2 will be different then your first act and this requires some new habits. If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always had. Consider embracing the following as you experience what is a new healthy morning routine:
- No Snoozing
- Lemon Water
- Morning Pages
- Move for 30 minutes
- Meditate
- Make the Bed
As you create a plan for your Second Act, you might be searching for a new life’s purpose. Snag a FREE copy of the How to Identify Your Purpose workbook below. Your future is calling!
