Why You Need A Morning Ritual

I’ve been waking up at 4 a.m. for a few months. But, it’s ok, I want to.

For a lot of folks, those two sentences are at odds with each other. While a 4 a.m. wake-up isn’t essential, it certainly makes for a better (read: longer) morning ritual. And regardless of when, everyone should consider having a morning ritual.

What My Mornings Used To Look Like

Previously, my mornings started with four alarms: “Wake up” “Seriously, you need to get up now.” “Are you in the shower?” “Ok, now you are late.” I’d snooze through the first two alarms. Easily. Thanks to sleep inertia, I’d start the morning groggy but I’d also be disappointed with myself for not getting up earlier. And I was stressed. What was I going to wear? What was I going to have for lunch? Run. Scurry. Panic.

Then we threw a kid in the mix.

The Inspiration

Thankfully, I recently heard an NPR article (or maybe it was a TED talk?). Unfortunately, I didn’t have the foresight to bookmark it. The reporter opened with how Maya Angelou, regardless of if she was traveling and staying in a hotel or at her home, would wake up every morning at four in the morning to write. He listed other creative thinkers and well-respected businesspeople who enjoyed getting an early start on the day.

And then he tried it. He woke up and found that it was a difficult task at first, but the stillness of the morning was invigorating and his creative juices were flowing.

I had to try it too.

Measuring Success Because My Type A Self Won’t Be Denied

The first couple of days I would spring out of bed. The anticipation of four in the morning made it difficult to sleep. It was a similar sensation to when I have a plane to catch. Doesn’t matter if it’s a short one-hour flight — the night prior is filled with tossing and turning because I’m so worried that I’ll oversleep.

Being the bullet journal junkie that I am, I actually have some data. I started in July and was successful 45% of the time. August: 54%. September: 40%. But there’s a catch with September. I’ve only woken up 12 times (so far this month since as of this writing it is September 29) at 4 a.m. but I have enjoyed my morning ritual 22 times this month. And so, if I change my metric of success to being that I got up and had a morning ritual, September isn’t too shabby at a 73% success rate. Woot woot!

So, dear Toto, allow me to pull back the curtains and share what makes up my new morning routine.

Morning Ritual Timeline:

4:00 – Alarm goes off. I open one eye to search for the phone. Think about skipping the whole deal. Snooze the alarm.
4:15 – The alarm goes again and I turn on a light. No more hopping out of bed for this gal. The motion can be described as a drag-my-feet-across-the-carpet-in-which-I-make-enough-static-electricity-I-could-taze-someone motion as I walk into the bathroom. Then it’s downstairs to do other essential things. Important things like coffee.
4:30 – Free write.
5:15 – Alarm goes off. This was my normal wake-up alarm. It now serves as a reminder to transition.
5:20 – Yoga for 10 minutes.
5:30 – Meditation for 10 minutes.
5:40 – Read for 5 minutes.

Morning ritual completed. Healthy habits established.

On the days that I don’t wake up at 4 a.m. I still make time to free write, do yoga, meditate, and read. However, the amount of time to write is greatly reduced. So it would behoove me to move my butt out of bed at that early hour.

The Elements Of Littlest Martha’s Morning Ritual

Free Write

Beautiful fountain pens are encouraged. Baby rabbit statue that your parents saved for you as a child to serve as your paperweight: bonus.

There was a time that I would be terrified to write on a blank sheet of paper. The fear of writing something “not good” prevented me from writing anything at all. Now I crave the weight of the fountain pen. I get excited when the ink bleeds all over the paper and onto my fingers. I especially love it when it gets lodged under my fingernails. It’s the tattoo of a writer.

Prior to my 4 a.m. morning ritual, my writing was very mean. To myself. I’d wait for some muse to come and would often find anger and disappointment at myself for not “being good enough.” (I’m noticing a theme here.)

However, I now flip through the pages of my free write journal and find poetry and prose on whatever is taking space in my mind that morning.

It’s a theory but I’m going with it: perhaps at this early hour the ego, my critical self, is still sleeping and not able to dish out the criticisms.

True or not, now when I’m looking for material to turn into a short story or poem I flip through my blue moleskin journal and have several months of material to draw upon.

Yoga

This is what happens if you leave the yoga mat unattended. You get squatters.

I sit for 9 to 10 hours a day. And now we know that “sitting is the new smoking” so yoga is my smoke break. I have a series of poses that I have committed to memory and will cycle through those for 10 minutes.

Thanks to the Insight Timer app I have presets that I use every morning. Once the timer is on it activates a Do Not Disturb setting so no email alerts or texts can come through.

If you’re interested in starting your day with some yoga, check out these sun salutations.

Meditation

I am such a fangirl these days for meditation. However, it couldn’t have been more than a year go when I was introduced to meditation and I said: “Yeah, thanks but not for me. I lack the discipline.”

Again the Insight Timer app came in handy here. When I was brand new to meditation I would enjoy browsing through the guided meditation options. All so lovely. Morning affirmation meditations, Metta meditations (“Metta” is the pali word for lovingkindness), meditations to help you fall asleep, music and much more.

For my morning ritual, I will leverage the presets and meditate for 10 minutes. The thoughts would come rapid-fire like a tennis ball launcher on steroids (and they still do), but before my inclination was to try and chase them down. Exhausting.

As I’ve learned from Tara Brach, the mind excretes thoughts in the same way the body excretes enzymes. So, now I sit on the cushion and acknowledge the thoughts as they go whizzing by and return to the breath. It’s taking some practice but with each meditation, I find the experience is becoming more and more restorative and freeing.

Read

One of the books I actually finished reading. And it was pretty darn good. Blog post fodder right here.

My younger self was always reading. Car ride? Reading. On the beach? Reading. On the soccer field (provided I wasn’t playing)? Reading. The appetite to read hasn’t left me but I am not walking around with a book anymore since there are adult things I have to do now.

Enter the Insight Timer app. The third preset in my morning ritual is to read for 5 minutes. Unlike the other presets (as you can customize all presets) this one has no music, only the gong to signal when done.

This portion of my morning ritual has shown the most tangible results. Reading for 5 minutes a day has been really helpful. When I find the material is slow I know I can just read it for a few moments, but when it’s good I find myself sneaking a few more pages … or chapters.

The ultimate goal here is to read a book a month. Younger self, you’d be happy to learn that I’m on my way to finishing my third book.

An Extra Bonus To An Early Wake Up

By this time the sunrise is peeking through the windows. Experiencing a soft sunrise warm up the sky and light up the room you’ve been sitting in is nothing short of magical. And it’s the perfect opportunity to give thanks.

For me, I use that chance to give thanks for the people in my life, the blessings in each day, that I get to see another day, and for my morning ritual. It’s also at this time that I’ll recite my mantra or the day’s intention.

Your morning ritual doesn’t have to start at 4 in the morning, but I hope that you make enough time for yourself to do the things that bring you joy, peace, and inspire your creativity.

With gratitude,

Fifth of July and Feeling Grateful

Watch out now! Here comes a rambling post, but there will be some goodies for you here too.

Focusing On The Positive

I think most of us feel independent after the 5th of July, like the Eddie From Ohio song (especially if you happen to live in the United States), however today I feel grateful. The opposite of how I usually feel when I come to this blog and realize that it’s been a month since I last wrote something.  Oof! But, hey, it’s OK.

Can we all agree that there is enough negativity in this world? So let’s focus on the positive things in our life and show some gratitude as it is much more nourishing.  This exercise can be a little difficult when you’re in the thick of it and the stress of everyday life is just raining down.  I feel you, brother/sister.

But let’s try this together:

1. Give yourself permission to take a deep breath. And by “deep breath” we’re talking about filling up your lungs and diaphragm so much so that you feel your shoulders lift up.
2. Slowly exhale and allow the air to leave your lungs first and then your diaphragm.
3. Take as many deep breaths as you need.
4. Remind yourself that each breath is a gift and so are you.  Go further and, silently, tell yourself that you are grateful for you.

If that is too hokey for you, no worries, try this one on for size. Start a running list (either write it down or think of them) of the things you are grateful in your life.  It can be anything from serious things to silly things.

Littlest Martha’s List Of Things She’s Grateful For:

• Myself: my mind, body and spirit.
• My health: that I am strong, I can see, hear and walk.
• My husband: the person I am most myself with.
• My family: near or far but always in my heart.
• My dogs: their unconditional love and never ending shedding.
• My friends: the new ones that you can share life’s stories and the old ones where you can begin where you left off.
• My home: a safe place to be ourselves and enjoy our mementos from past adventures.
• Where I live: the beauty of the desert with her vast sky and bright colors, if you know where to look.
• The country I live in: the freedoms I can enjoy here that might otherwise be denied to me.
• My job: not just the security that I can provide for myself and my family but that I enjoy the work I do.
• Yoga: the lessons in breathing and loving myself (a big inspiration for this blog post).
• Acupuncture: the reminder to return to balance.
• Dancing: the joy I feel when I move my body to the music.
• My creativity: for never shutting out the importance of creating something; anything.
• Vegetables: for their variety, flavor, nutrients and keeping me satisfied.
• Flash fiction:  a medium I didn’t know existed until recently and enabled me to publish my first story, Calaveras On The Coffee Table.

 

What are you grateful for?

Doing What You Like First

Eat your dinner first and then you can have dessert. Clean your room and then you can play. I’m not sure if this behavior of doing what is out of obligation before you can reward yourself with something you want to do is still strong with you but I fight with this one. All. The. Time.

Today was a prime example. There are chores that I want to get done every weekend and I’ve become quite efficient at completing within two hours, but I can go down the rabbit hole of cleaning and if I don’t catch myself (like setting a timer) I will be organizing the pantry or garage (which are much larger projects).  I’ve noticed that that these obligatory tasks, feel great when done, are distractions from the things I really want to do.

So, if you’re like me, try doing the things you like first. Play before you work, especially if you’re at risk of never making time for play. Play time may look different for adults (for me it’s writing this blog post), but play time is certainly not just for children.

 

Saving The Best For Last

I am grateful for you, dear reader. Maybe you don’t post comments (and that’s alright), but I’m glad that you’ve found something on this blog that you enjoyed, read and shared.

Thank you, or as they say after each yoga class, Namaste.