Mornings. The dawn of a new day. Each one a new beginning, the worries and regrets of yesterday softened and faded by sleep. All is fresh and new, a clean slate. It's on the edge of darkness and light when images from our dreams are remembered, when we are most attuned to the quieter voices within.
Spiritually, dawn is known as the most powerful period of the day, a time of huge energy and potential. Creatively, many find the mornings to be the most potent. "Think in the morning, act in the noon, read in the evening and sleep at night." How could you maximise your morning routine to make it a ritual?
The body's natural rhythm
Physically, many experts believe that the wee hours of the morning until around 10am is the body's peak detoxification time and they recommend practices to aid in the elimination of toxins. This is when your living mojo naturally wants to reset and refresh.
In practical terms, while we generally can't control what goes on in the middle of the day once on the treadmill of work, we can usually control how we begin the day. This is where we get to choose how our mojo shows up.
My own morning journey
For me, I'm a late riser. It's always been this way, for as long as I can remember. Getting chronic fatigue (Lyme disease and mold toxicity related) didn't exactly help the cause. I can be known to sleep 12 hours straight if I'm left to my own devices, just ask my poor husband!
During the healing process, however, I realised the importance of having a morning routine to start my day. Not just any routine, but one that genuinely connects me with my living mojo and sets me up to live out loud.
One of my friends regularly runs 10km before breakfast, while another cooks the evening meal while singing her favourite tunes. I started my current morning routine more out of necessity than to make a real difference to my day.
Yet what I found was a morning ritual that I'm now addicted to and I couldn't imagine my life without. In fact, it's crucial to the outcome of my day and how my mojo flows.
What my morning practice looks like
My practice is in bed, as I'm usually too tired to get out of it! I pull up the blinds to let the morning sun in.
Step 1: I start with a guided meditation practice or yoga nidra, sometimes I just follow my breath, which is a beautiful grounding practice. This is where I reconnect with my inner wisdom and living mojo.
Step 2: I then follow this by listing everything in my life that I'm grateful for in my journal. Sometimes worries about the day will pop up and I will journal about this too. It's very therapeutic and helps me focus on what's truly worth my energy.
Step 3: I then end it by getting out of bed and doing a 5 minute energy routine with the gorgeous Donna Eden. This gives me an immediate and significant energy boost and gets my mojo moving!
Sometimes I unroll my yoga mat, waking up my body with a half hour of stretches and 'salute to the sun's'. As the months get warmer and I get more energetic I incorporate a swim. The ocean always cleanses and revitalises me, connecting me back to that natural living mojo we all have.
What works for other people
In doing some research into how successful people start their day I was interested to know that Barack Obama does a weights and cardio workout at 6.45 every morning and doesn't get into the office until 9am.
Anna Wintour, the infamous editor-in-chief of Vogue, plays an hour of tennis and has her hair styled into her signature bob before turning up to work.
Self-help writer and motivational speaker Tony Robbins advises people to follow his "hour of power" routine of motivational sayings and visualisation. The Dalai Lama, one of the busiest and happiest people on the planet, models well the benefits of a contemplative morning routine with his 3.30am wake-up, followed by three hours of meditation and religious rituals broken up by a light breakfast in between sittings.
Mahatma Gandhi, with a schedule not dissimilar, was famously quoted for saying, "I have so much to do today, I will need to take twice as long to meditate."
Finding your own mojo-filled routine
Google "morning routines" and you'll be advised to do everything from tongue cleaning (I do that too sometimes!) to cleaning the house.
As one friend said, "If I did everything I wanted to do in the morning, it would take me all day."
You need to find a morning routine that suits you, meeting your needs while also being flexible enough to adapt to your likely varied schedule. Kids, unexpected meetings, all of it. The key is finding what genuinely connects you with your living mojo and helps you show up as your authentic self.
Look at what ways might best nourish your mind, body and spirit, knowing you need to take care of all those aspects of yourself in order to set yourself up well for the day.
Elements that make a difference
Have some quiet time. Just spend five or 10 minutes getting in touch with the awareness beyond your mind and body, getting in touch with the love and peace within you. This is where your living mojo lives.
Include some movement. Yoga, stretching, walk, playing with the kids, swim at the beach. Movement awakens your body's natural energy and gets your mojo flowing.
Set an intention for the day ahead. I usually make two intentions: one which gives me clarity about what is my number-one priority to achieve in the day and also one about how I want to go about my day. This is about choosing how you want to live out loud.
The process is just as important as the end goal. I find this incredibly powerful. It reminds me that I have a huge amount of choice over how I feel moment to moment.
If I notice my mind isn't serving me, I just keep coming back to that intention.
My morning routine fills me with peace and relaxation that's crucial to sustain me through the day, and helps me make healthier choices and deal with problems at work or home more effectively.
What new morning ritual will you start today to get your mojo in full flight, living out loud?
