5-Minute Morning Rituals to Cultivate Mindfulness
I’ve been a morning person for as long as I can remember. Perhaps it started when I worked as a bread baker and started work by 5:00 in the morning. My bread baking years turned into kid rearing years and now waking up before dawn is a force of habit. And I love it! There is something so good about the dark stillness of the morning; a day that stretches before me filled with endless possibilities.
“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”
What a beautiful intention to set each morning.
Choosing gratitude and compassion each moment doesn’t just happen. It takes intentionality and practice. And one of the best ways to foster intentionality is through morning rituals. Morning rituals are activities that allow you to help you wake up well and set your intentions right. They can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 1 hour. You can do one ritual or ten. Once you work it into your daily routine, your morning ritual will become as natural as breathing. And as life giving, too!
HOW TO CREATE A MORNING ROUTINE
I have two young children so I understand how hard it can be to create space for a morning routine. If you live like most people in North America, mornings are already crammed full as we just try and make it out the door on time. We wake up from the sound of an alarm making the transition from sleep to awake – and our first conscious thoughts – unnatural and jarring.
So how do we make time for MORE when we have so little time already?
Make it a priority.
The truth is, many of us have plenty of time in our day. Our busyness is a result of how we prioritize. But think about it. Isn’t everything we do ultimately to make us happier?
Working harder to get that promotion
Keeping our social calendar filled up
Running/volunteering in organizations for school, church, and community
Getting kids involved in extracurricular activities to set them up for success*
*A recent study showed that when activities shut down due to Covid, kids’ happiness level went up!
Not that these things aren’t good. They are! But unless we are first creating the time to take care of ourselves, we will always feel like we’re in the rat race. What if, instead of running around trying to achieve happiness, we simply chose happiness. Yes! You can do that. Happiness is a choice you make by creating and prioritizing daily habits that foster mindfulness.
To start, I suggest one simple change. Go to sleep 30 minutes earlier. Turn off the TV, put away your phone, book, or the work you’ve taken home from the office, and make it a priority to go to bed earlier. Then adjust your mornings to wake up 30 minutes early. Rather than determining the time you wake up by working backward from when you leave your house, set your alarm to create space in the morning for yourself.
It will change your day and it will change your life.
Edit: I recently met someone who starts their shift at 5:30a. He wakes up at 4:00a every morning to fit yoga and stretching into his routine because it improves his whole day!
7 MORNING RITUALS THAT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR DAY
1. MEDIATATE
We spend most of our lives with our minds focused on the past or future. This is tragic considering that the only real life is in the here and now. And yet, with our busy schedules that lead to stress and anxiety, we spend our days distracted from the moment and completely missing the whole point of living. To make matters worse, when we do have a moment to ourselves, smartphones and social media have found a way to infiltrate even those few sacred moments.
Mediation is about getting those moments back. It’s a way to anchor us in the here and now, a mindset we will take with us for the rest of the day. Indeed, a morning meditation can set the tone for your entire day. It can help you to be more focused, content, and optimistic. Mediation allows you to tune into your breath and body, giving those parts value while quieting your constantly chattering mind. Beyond that, meditation has been known to improve anxiety, increase happiness, and improve health. Try meditation for 5 minutes a day. There are many guided meditation apps such as 10 Percent or Headspace that make mediation easy and rewarding even for complete novices.
2. JOURNAL
Journaling is a powerful tool to start your day. Like meditation, journaling allows you to quiet your mind and set your intentions. If you’re familiar with The Artist’s Way or The Book of Freedom, Dr. Susan Gregg’s guide to self enlightenment, you have heard the term morning pages. The idea behind this is to write three pages every morning, no more no less. Write whatever comes to your mind without overthinking. With this free form of writing, your inner self will become free to express herself – her needs, desires, and inspired visions in a way that will open up so many paths towards enlightenment.
Morning pages aren’t realistic for everyone and I find that a quick gratitude check in is what I need to lead each day with compassion and positivity. I recommend picking up a gratitude journal and starting each day by jotting down 5 things for which you are grateful. These could be as simple as a healthy body and a warm house or bigger things in your life like a new friendship or a promotion at work. No matter your circumstances, there is always something to be grateful for. I do recommend journaling by hand, as the practice of handwriting allows these ideas to sink in deeper.
3. MOVEMENT
Starting the day with movement is one of the most powerful habits to encourage mindfulness. After a night’s sleep, our bodies need activity to get the blood flowing and our joints loose. Movement encourages positive and healthy energy through our entire body getting you ready for the day ahead. Simple morning movement has been linked to good cognitive health, mobility, better performance, and improved quality of life. And it has also been shown that people who start with morning movement tend to eat more nutritiously all day long simply because they started the day with a health-first perspective.
I recommend beginning the day with a simple routine yoga routine. Yoga Download is my go-to yoga app. It has routines for all types of practices and skill levels and, best of all, you can create your own yoga routines that work just for you. If yoga isn’t your thing, try a 5-minute fitness routine or even a simple morning walk. Over time, your body will crave your morning movement routine and it will become easy to set your alarm just a few minutes earlier.
4. SILENCE
I am a single mother of two school aged kids and silence during the day can be hard to come by. That is why my morning silence routine is non-negotiable. Regardless of the other routines I maintain, I always ensure that I am up before my kids. I tiptoe around the kitchen quietly making a Chai Latte and, with my soothing hot beverage, I sit on my couch which faces my living room window. From there, I take a few deep breaths to silence my brain and focus on my senses.
I notice the taste of the creamy tea, the sound of the heater filling up the house with warm air, the view of the sky turning from black to blue. This is a no phone, no screens, not even a book zone. The goal is to take a moment to turn off the endless chatter of the mind and start the day by giving your body the lead. When we lead with our body, we honor our instincts and value our senses in a way that counters the stresses and anxieties of our mind.
5. POSTIVE AFFIRMATIONS
What we say to ourselves matters! When we fill our heads with self doubt or negative thoughts, doubt and negativity are what we put out into the world. There is no way around it; what we put into ourselves, is what comes out. I once heard the analogy that if we bought a can of red paint, we would never expect it to be blue when we opened it. And yet, we can speak so harshly to ourselves and expect to treat others with warmth and kindness. It simply doesn’t work that way. If we fill ourselves with negative thoughts, we can never expect to be a positive force in the world.
What we tell ourselves matters not just because YOU matter (and you do; you deserve all the love in the world!) but also because putting love into the world is the single most important thing we can do to make a difference. Love is infectious. It spreads like wildfire with a single spark of pure human compassion.
It may feel awkward, but I recommend standing in front of the mirror for 1-2 minutes each morning. Look deep into your eyes and say something positive. It could be as simple as, “I love you. I am enough.” or “I am in charge of how I feel, and today I am choosing happiness”. You may not believe it at first but if you keep doing it, you will come to know it beyond doubt. For some ideas, print out my Daily Affirmations Cheat Sheet or pick up a pack of affirmation cards to read to yourself every morning.
6. EAT MINDFULLY
You know what they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And yet so often, we grab a granola bar on our way out the door or skip breakfast entirely, fueling up on coffee instead. Not only is this terrible for our bodies but it is setting the stage for a rushed and hurried day. We perform our best when we eat a healthy, well balanced breakfast that is consumed patiently and mindfully.
That means (1) Take your time as you prepare your food. My go-to breakfast is a tofu scramble. I choose to be present for the process of chopping my vegetables, sautéing them until they are sweet and tender, and spicing them with care and gratitude. (2) Take your time to enjoy your food. Eating is a purely physical activity and yet we typically eat so mindlessly we couldn’t even tell you what it tasted like. Turn off distractions like the TV, your phone, even the newspaper and savor each bite. Be grateful for all the people who were involved in making this meal possible – the farmers, factory and grocery store workers, and you. Be thankful for the way it nourishes and energizes your body.
7. SPREAD COMPASSION
Let the first words out of your mouth be words of compassion. Because of the rushed and hurried nature of most mornings, we end up being short and curt with the people we love most. A tense conversation with our kids or partners can negatively affect the rest of your day. How often do we walk away from a conversation with a loved one and wish we had spoken differently?
Try starting your day with radical compassion. Show active love for your family with your words and actions. Spend a little extra time giving your kids some attention or making breakfast for everyone in your household. If you live alone spread compassion by calling or texting a friend who may need some encouragement. The simple act of sending encouragement will fill you with good vibes for hours! When we are intentional with those first words we say, your day is set up with positivity and love.
FINDING THE BEST MORNING ROUTINE FOR YOU
Morning is the foundation of every day. How we think, act, and speak in the morning sets us up for the day ahead. Taking a few minutes each morning to set intentions for your day may be the best 5 minutes you spend.
Finding the morning routine that works for you is key. While the above offer some ideas, only you know what’s best for you. For some additonal ideas, pick up a book on the topic (I recommend Good Morning Good Life) or a morning habit tracker to get you started on your practice. Since I’ve started my own morning routine, I am happier, more present, and filled with gratitude for each day. 20 minutes each morning will change your morning, and in turn, change your life.
