Good Stuffs to read daily: 7 Morning Rituals to Start Your Day Right

You're reading 7 Morning Rituals to Start Your Day Right, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Most of our mornings start with a mad rush to be on time. But these out of control mornings lead to out of control days and, ultimately, a stressful life.

The way out is to include a few self-care rituals in your morning routine. You’ll have to wake up just 10–30 minutes earlier each day. In return, you would get a host of benefits including a better mood and reduced anxiety.

Start your day right with this schedule of 7 awesome morning rituals.

Mondays are for Meditation

You’ve probably done this one before—We’ll be watching our breath as a form of meditation. It’s one of the oldest forms of meditation.

Duration: 15 minutes

Benefits: Improves your concentration and attention span.

Technique: Sit on your bed or a chair. Keep your back straight and close your eyes. Start to take slow and deep breaths. Don’t breathe from your chest. Instead, draw your breath from your belly.

Lightly concentrate on the rhythm of your breathing. Slowly become one with your breath.

Tuesdays are for Positive Psychology

The human mind is obsessed with everything that is wrong with us and our situation. As we focus on the negatives, we forget our many victories and strengths. Positive psychology fixes this.

Duration: 15 minutes

Benefits: Stimulates an attitude of optimism and gratitude.

Technique: When was the last time you patted yourself on the back? We’re now going to think about all the things you did right.

Here are a few questions to help jog your memory. What are 10 small wins you had last week? What are 10 things you are grateful for? What are 10 things in your life that make you happy?

Wednesdays are for Mindful Observation

Our minds can be our prisons—they keep worrying about the past and fearing the future. Mindfulness will bring your mind to the now.

Duration: 10 minutes

Benefits: Focuses your mind on the present and away from excessive worrying.

Technique: Pick an object. Perhaps a flower from your garden, a tree through your window or something interesting on your desk.

Imagine seeing it for the first time and really take in everything—the colours, the texture, the play of light. Try not to analyze or label what you see. Just watch.

Thursdays are for Reading

We are the sum of our influences. Sadly most of these influences aren’t exactly high quality—Netflix, social media and advertisements. But you can rely on books to fuel the next stage of your growth.

Duration: 30 minutes

Benefits: Inspires lifelong learning and development.

Technique: Pick a book that will help you achieve your goals. Perhaps you want to learn how to quit smoking or you’d like to overcome your shyness. Books can even teach you skills that will help your career.

The internet is a great place to discover such life-changing books. Another way to find them is to simply ask a person you admire for recommendations.

Fridays are for Visualization

Sometimes our goals seem so impossible that we lose hope. That’s where visualization can help because seeing is believing.

Duration: 10 minutes

Benefits: Boosts your confidence and belief in your life goals.

Technique: Make sure you are free from distractions. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Now imagine your desired outcome as though it has already happened.

Vividly experience your success in your mind—see, touch and hear your success. Fill your body with all those happy emotions. Try not to think about the how part of it.

Saturdays are for Mindful Breakfasts

In our fast-paced society, we rarely enjoy our meals. Most of the time we eat mindlessly while muti-tasking. A mindful breakfast will reconnect you to your food.

Duration: 20 minutes

Benefits: Encourages healthy eating and protects you from binging.

Technique: Have your usual breakfast but have it slowly and without distractions. Chew your food thoroughly and deliberately.

Admire how your breakfast looks, smell the aromas and enjoy the subtle flavours. When you are done, notice how the meal makes you feel.

Sundays are for Letting Go

We keep suppressing and escaping painful experiences from our past. We don’t do the one thing that we need to—Let go. It’s time to shed the emotional baggage of our lives.

Duration: 20 minutes

Benefits: A feeling of lightness and peace.

Technique: After sitting down comfortably, take 10 deep and calming breaths. Then start to focus on what you are trying to let go of. Simply be with the emotions and let yourself experience them fully. Don’t engage your rational mind. (We don’t want to be labelling or judging these emotions.)

Finally, take 10 more deep breaths. As you breathe out imagine the emotions leaving your body. Are you feeling a bit lighter?

Over to You…

Congratulations! You have just introduced some world-class rituals into your life. And now the sky is the limit.

Use this schedule of 7 morning rituals as a stepping stone to a truly wholesome and fulfilling life.

Pritam shares practical and positive ideas for our complicated lives. Although life hasn’t always been easy, he likes finding solutions. If you are passionate about living a better life, then check out: Atypical Thought.

You've read 7 Morning Rituals to Start Your Day Right, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you've enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.