Miracle Morning for Self-care

Do you ever feel like morning’s are a source of major stress for you? Do you feel like your mental health suffers from feeling a lack of control about life in general? Or do you feel the effects of poor mental health but think I am too busy for self-care?

If you said yes to any of these then this post is definitely for you!  I’m sharing with you my adaption of the miracle morning because it has had such a huge positive impact on my life, the lives of my family and I know it can help you to.

A few years ago I read the Miracle Morning, by Hal Elrod.  I thought it was a great read but the narrative running through my mind was, ‘I’m not a morning person’, ‘I could never get up early’, ‘this is for successful multi-million pound business people, not me, not a mother, not a student, not a counsellor’.

Except something about the book continued to call me, it sat on my shelf like a little reminder of something that might be good, but feels too hard.  Eventually I read it again, still not for me, so back on the shelf it went.

Finally, last year, I was reflecting on our family mornings, how chaotic they were and how much we were all suffering from this.  Our mornings were spent rushing around, trying to get everything done at the last minute, shouting at everyone to eat their breakfast and just get dressed.  They involved, tears, stress, anxiety, and frustration.  When everyone would FINALLY get out the house and I would get to work the guilt would settle in, and I would feel so terrible for not creating the space that I knew my children need to set them up properly for their day!

Sound familiar?

In my head I think I knew that a healthy morning routine was the missing ‘thing’ in my life.  I knew deep down that if I could crack morning’s I would unlock a million more good things.

So it did it, I dusted off my old tatty copy and read it for the 3rd time, and I have no idea why, miracles of miracles, but something clicked and I thought, right, I can do this and I accepted the 30 day challenge.

What I learned from the Miracle Morning 30 day challenge?

I learned that I can actually get up a bit earlier! (This means I do have to go to bed a bit earlier, but it is ok! I am not my best at 11pm anyway!)

I wouldn’t call myself a morning person, but I have learned that I am certainly a lot more productive in the 1st half of my day than I am in the evening time.

Let’s just get this out there, I will never be an alarm goes off at 5:30am, jump out of bed, pumped and ready to go kind of girl.

However, I have learned that I am a girl that really values a slow start, time to get into the right head space and intentionally get my day started.  I am the kind of person that likes to craft as much of my day as possible, not to be a total control freak, but in an effort to remove the things that create stress, so that the energy of life has enough space to flow through.

I have learned that by doing this for myself, my family have reaped the rewards.  Halfway thought my challenge, my children saw how good it was making me feel, so they started setting Alexa alarms and getting themselves up at 6:30, just to see what was so good about it! Now, I get up at 5:30am and they get up at 6:30am to join me, in drinking water, journaling, meditating, praying, and 10 minutes of stretching or exercise.  Every. Single. Morning.

For one of the 1st times in my life, I feel free….and guess what? So do my children!

I am not hear to plug the miracle morning, although I would always recommend the book! I am here to tell you about 4 things you can add to your routine that will add benefit to your life.

Start the night before

This has been so life changing for me! It sounds obvious now, but it wasn’t always.  It starts with identifying the things that take the most time and cause stress.  If it can be done ahead of time, then move it on over!  Even better, if it can be done on the weekend, then be your future friend and do it then.

So now, my morning routine starts the night before when I make my green juice, prepare everyone’s lunches, pick out my clothes (iron if needed), and pack my bags including work case, handbag and gym bag. This means that when I go to sleep all these things are done, the kitchen is tidy and I wake up knowing that all those jobs are already done.  I also have the children prepare their own bags the night before, which also encourages them to take responsibility for their own things but allows them to do it at their own pace.

Set your intentions

This means think about then next day, what you need to do and what you would like to do and make a list.

I always spend 10 minutes looking at my diary, my clients, meetings and appointments.  Also, looking at what the children have on, where they need to be and what they need to have with them.  Finally, I think about what I would really like to do like going to the gym, then I make sure to schedule that in as well.  Then I make a list in my bullet journal that looks something like this,..

• R violin
• L swim
• gym
• Akeso clients
• Clinic reports
• dentist

Doing this really opens up a lot of head space for me in the morning, I know where I’m going, what is getting done and don’t have to work it out when I am half asleep.

I also set my alarm and say a little affirmation to myself, ‘I am going to get up at 5:30am, because I feel so much better when I do!’  Just saying this to myself sets me up to follow through the next day.

Practice Gratitude

This has such a positive affect on mental health and I encourage my clients who are feeling depressed or stuck to do this daily.

I keep a 6 minute diary, which I find so helpful for this practice! In the morning I write 3 things that I am grateful for, an affirmation for the day and then how I am going to make today great.  At the end of the day, I write 3 great things that happened, 1 kind thing that I have done, and 3 things that made the day great.

If even that feels like too much, then write 1 thing you are grateful for…it might just be the crackin’ cup of coffee you had in the morning, or it might be I managed to get out of bed today.  It is all enough and hopefully it encourages you to look back and think, ‘YES, I did that’.

Mind, body and spirit

Now this might be something you do throughout the day and that is perfectly ok.  I just chose to do this in the morning because it ensures I get it done.

• Mind – pick something that stimulates your mind and do it for 10 minutes.  I pick up a book and make sure that I read for at least 10 minutes a day.  It could be a self help book, a blog, an article, or your chosen spiritual text.
• Body – move your body for at least 10 minutes.  Most of the time I do yoga, it is a lovely slow way to start my day and it is so healing for my body.  Recently, I’ve started doing 7 minute workouts and it is actually quite fun and such a laugh if I do it with the kids in the morning.  It’s usually the last thing we do right before breakfast.
• Spirit – Meditate, pray or practice mindfulness for 10 minutes.  I feel like a spiritual practice is an essential aspect of good mental health.  You can use language of religious traditions to do this, or you can try to connect deeply with your own inner power or the earth, it is all ok! Just try to sit in silence.  (Note, this HARD takes a lot of PRACTICE, I started out with 2 minutes and moved up from there)

 

I sincerely hope that reading this helps you see that you an create the life of your dreams, and a routine that is perfectly suited to your own individual needs.  I am so passionate about helping others reach their best potential, in whatever form that looks like for you!  I’m not telling you that the secret of happiness is getting up at 5:30am, but I am trying to show you that we can create time for the important things in life but that might mean looking outside the box.

I only shared my routine with you to use as a source of inspiration.  As a working mother, who also suffers from anxiety these are my practices that help me maintain steadiness and balance in a life that seems to be moving so fast.

Any questions you have please feel free to ask in the comments or send me a message!

Grace and peace xx