A Simple Guide To Starting Your Day – 8 Steps To Empowering Yourself
You wake up, your feet hit the ground. You have that feeling again. You hardly slept a wink. Not another day???…. How do I cope with the world today, pretending my world is great?
Imagine the next time you find yourself in a stressful situation, instead of allowing the feelings to overcome you, you find the positive and tame in the negative feelings that would normally trigger the bodies stress response. Imagine feeling relaxed, imagine feeling in control, imagine being stress free.
You begin by creating yourself a morning routine. It is the only thing that worked for me. Having a routine when I first woke, made me feel more organised and productive. This feeling alone helped reduce my stress and anxiety. I found I had more energy, my relationships started to improve. This was having a ripple effect into all the areas of my life. I was finally feeling I had some control.
The idea is to start your day positively, in a structured way and on an intentional note. You can do this by starting your day with a routine of 8 steps, these are the steps I took.
Wake up early: NO more rushing around. NO more being late. Give yourself plenty of time to wake, spend some time focusing on you. It was the Dalai Lama, who said,
“Everyday, think as you wake up, ‘today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’ “
Stretch the body: Something simple like rotating the ankles and wrists. Stretching before getting out of bed can help wake up the body and improve your circulation. It can also turn on the parasympathetic system, the ‘rest and digest’ system. This puts us in a more relaxed state when we get out of bed and helps set the tone for the day.
Make your Bed: That right, that’s what I said!! It may be the only thing that gets done some days. That is ok. If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task in your day. You will feel a small sense of pride, and it which will give you encouragement. Making your bed helps us remember its the small things in life.
Meditate: Everyone can do it. If you have never done it or struggle with you mind being quiet, start of with a few minutes at a time. Take the time to silent that mind and be with yourself. By incorporating a morning meditation into your routine, you can develop strong anchors for your day. Some of our days can be full of uncertainties and unpredictable times. In our busy and stressful lifestyles, take a few moments when you first wake up to set a direction for your day with a morning meditation routine. This can prove to be a life-changing practice for you.
Set your Intention for the Day: Think about how you want to feel. Think about how you want your day to go, and set that intention. By setting a daily intention you provide yourself with a roadmap for how to live out each day. Intentions give us a purpose, they gives us inspiration and motivation us to achieve our purpose. The practice of setting daily intentions can be done during your meditation practice. A practice that can change your life.
Take a cold shower: You heard me. It sounds crazy but it works!! According to the Wim Hof Method, this imposes a small amount of stress on the body that helps the body get used to moderate states of stress. This in turn helps us out when we are faced with a stressful situation and how we respond. Cold showers also increase our state of alertness, stimulating deeper breathing that increases the body’s oxygen levels – decreasing the body’s CO2 levels. This increasing our ability to concentrate and stay focused.
Do at least one thing a day: That makes you feel stressed and anxious, something that you have been putting off…… something you have been pushing aside.
DO NOT: Check your socials or emails, you need to stay away form this for at least the first hour of your day….. WHY, you ask? Because immediately you are allowing external stimuli to penetrate your mind, emails, messages, notifications about other peoples lives. This external stimuli is pulling you away from being able to start your day in a calm and productive manner. All these demands upon you first thing, cause us stress and anxiety.
According to Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi, “immediately turning to your phone when you wake up can start your day off in a way that is more likely to increase stress and leave you feeling overwhelmed.”
It also causes your thoughts and time to be hijacked away from your own agenda, as your focus is on everyone and everything else. So instead of you being organised and productive, with your time and focusing on what it is that you need – you are busy reacting to other peoples stuff, and giving them your time.
If you start your day distracted and not focused, it is how the rests of your day will go.
“The way we do anything is the way we do everything” –
Zen Buddhism Quote
So I hope this has been helpful to you. Do not strive for perfection, do it your way. Be uniquely you.
Time to take control and get empowered
Below I have a 5 minute Focus, Clarity and Being In the Moment Meditation for you.
Just click on the Youtube link
I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you for reading my blog.
Love and Light
Jodie Seamons Taking-Perspective