What's your morning ritual? Here's mine.

Morning rituals. Meditation. Exercise. Journaling. Stretching. Snoozing the alarm.

What’s the best way to start the day?

In my recent conversations, I’ve found the concept of a “morning ritual” coming up a lot. I’m not sure if it’s just my natural inclination to talk about mental health (and attracting similar folks and conversation topics) or if it’s something that more people are actually looking into and practicing. Guess I could check Google search stats for that, but I shan’t right now.

What I really wanted to do today was to share my own morning ritual that I’ve been practicing for about ~5 months now. I’m doing this partially to help anyone out there that’s contemplating how to build their own ritual (hey, copying is the best way to start! …then iterate if it’s not quite right for you), and partially to keep myself accountable in case I break my ritual for whatever reason (usually this happens when I get myself too busy + my mental health isn’t in the best state).

So here we go:

Sabrina’s Morning Ritual

Heads up: It may be TMI for some, but nothing particularly offensive. Just being human.

1. I wake up between 7 - 8am everyday (max. # of snoozes = 2 x 9 mins).

2. Roll out, make my bed, draw the curtains. Hello sunshine!

3. Take a trip to the bathroom, brush my teeth, and settle back in to my meditation spot (this is either my bed or a comfy spot by the window).

4. I set a timer for 12 minutes, and meditate for the duration, sitting upright wherever I am.

5. If for some reason I feel tight/uncomfortable in my body, I start with some stretches with my eyes closed (usually ~ 30 seconds, and I normally stretch my arms, extend my lower back in child’s pose, and/or rotate my neck)

6. As I meditate, I take a few deep breaths to ease myself in, and to get my body relaxed. The most important part for me is to consciously relax my jaw, forehead, shoulders, and neck muscles. I hold a lot of tension in these body parts. And then I simply watch the thoughts that come and go - until eventually they start slowing down, or stop altogether.

7. Once the 12 minutes is up, I lay on my back or find a comfy seat to move to my next activity: the “two-minute morning” journal! This system was created by Neil Pasricha, and you can read about it here.

8. How I journal: I spend 2 to 5 minutes journaling (on Evernote), where I fill in my answers to these three prompts:

   • Today, I will let go of…

   • Today, I am grateful for…

   • Today, I will focus on…

9. Then I’m off to start the day!

Altogether, the entire process takes 14 - 17 minutes. And it’s seriously changed my life.

I’ve been able to live more freely (from letting go), feel happier (through practicing gratitude), be more present (by identifying what I’ll focus on for the day), and experience greater calm and clarity (thanks to the both meditation & journaling).

I hope this helps you in some way. Here’s to better mornings and better days!