Improve Your Morning Mood
Set the Tone for A Calmer, Less Frazzled & Happier Day.
Even if you don’t consider yourself one of those perky people who bounce out of bed at the break of dawn but are more likely to hit the snooze button and roll over, a morning routine will help you set the tone for the day and stay focused and motivated. It all begins with creating a consistent routine.
“Focused, productive successful mornings generate focused, productive, successful days – which inevitably create a successful life.” Hal Elrod, The Miracle Morning.
Back away from your phone.
As difficult as it may seem, shut your laptop, turn off the TV, put away the iPad at least 30 minutes before you go to bed; and don’t open any of them when you first wake up. If your mind is still buzzing of an evening or if you wake in the night, literally download your loudest thoughts or to-do list into your Reminders or Notes to read tomorrow.
Tune in to positive events in your life by writing down Three Good Things that happened today. Essentially, this involves looking back on your day as you sit on your bed or a nearby chair with your eyes closed. Find three positive things that happened, even the small highlights that made you smile or feel happy to get you started, and write them down (e.g., “my partner made the coffee today”). The purpose is to focus our minds on the positive, reflect on each event for 20 seconds and ask yourself why you remembered it. The process helps us learn to let go of the negative bias before we go to sleep. Try doing this each night for one week and then weekly for six weeks.
Take an extra 10 minutes.
Pratice gentle waking to help your mind and body prepare for the day ahead. Try this 10 minute practice each morning: roll onto your back and get comfortable then begin to tune in to the present. Feel the touch of your sheets, notice the air temperature as you breath in and out, listen to the sounds of morning near you and further away, recognise any tensions in your body and allow them to relax. Then set your intention for the day; one or two positive things you would like to focus.
You might like to place your hands on your heart and, breathing normally, count each breath in and out up to 10; starting with 1 as you breath in and 2 and you breath out. Complete three slow repititions of watching and feeling your breath and each time your mind wanders, gently draw it back to your counting.
Research has found “skill in breath counting was associated with more meta-awareness, less mind wandering, better mood…”
Frontiers in Psychology https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01202
Make your bed.
Making your bed in the morning kick-starts your feelings of accomplishment giving you a sense of pride, getting the body moving, and creating calmness or relaxation. So, air the sheets, fluff up the doona, and throw or arrange the pillows to reward yourself with a cosy and tidy bed to come home to each evening.
In his best-selling book The Power Of Habit, Charles Duhigg explains, “Making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity, a greater sense of well-being, and stronger skills at sticking with a budget. It’s not that a family meal or a tidy bed causes better grades or less frivolous spending. But somehow those initial shifts start chain reactions that help other good habits take hold.”
