The most common morning routines include eating breakfast, checking your phone, checking social media, drinking water, reading emails, making your bed, listening to the news, and cleaning your home/cleaning. While we can agree that checking your email and social media aren’t the best mental health practices we know that it’s easy to fall into these traps especially when we’re addicted to our phones.
Last year I noticed I was checking my phone more often than I needed to and not only was I checking it but I would go from app to app, distraction to distraction without even questioning why I was doing it. It was automatic, natural, and consistent. I did it every time without fail and it wasn’t until I started being more aware of how I use my “downtime” that I realized I was literally addicted to my phone. Just being on. Not responding to messages or scrolling through social but just holding my phone in my hand. And of course, it happened during familiar opportune times like when I would be bored sitting on a park bench waiting for my kids to wrap it up or when I’m waiting in a line at the grocery store I developed the habit of checking emails and looking at what’s going on with my phone but it wasn’t serving me.
My mind was scattered. I wasn’t maximizing my most productive work hours, and my memory wasn’t the best. I would quickly forget basic facts like where I left my phone after putting it down for 2 mins.
So I started making some changes to my morning and evening routine knowing that if I didn’t make time to take care of my soul, mind, and emotions I would go further into living on autopilot and I didn’t like the results.
So since last year (literally about 1 year ago) I started waking up at 5 am and I meditate, do some powerful affirmations, and read the bible. Now I know meditation and affirmations can be buzzwords so I wanna break down exactly what that looks like for me and how I use these transformative tools to support me in my daily life and business.
Meditation:
More than 14% of adults in the US have tried meditation at least once.
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- The number of people practicing meditation has more than tripled since 2012. Since 2012 the number of children meditating has increased by more than 800%.
Global statistics show that across the world between 200 and 500 million people meditate.
So you can see that meditation is very popular and has been on the rise since 2012. When most people think of meditation they think of associate it with relaxation and stress relief. Many view it as a tool for promoting inner peace and calming the mind, and for improving physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Some associate it with spirituality and see it as a way to connect with a higher power or to gain a deeper understanding of themself. And other view meditation as a form of self-discipline and mental training, helping them develop focus, concentration, and mindfulness. Opinions vary greatly from person to person, and some people may view it skeptically or have no opinion on it at all.
There has been research that reveals meditation sharpens your focus, over the long term can increase resiliency to stress, and improve mental health. My purpose for using meditation is two-fold.
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- To deepen my understanding of a topic like when I’m reading something insightful like Psalms that talks about the joys of those who do not follow senseless advice. They are like trees planted by streams of living water! Wow! The imagery! I wanna see that, feel that, live that! So I meditate on the truth of that and allow it to speak to me. I ask God to show me more. Deepen my understanding of this so I can embody it.
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- Another reason I meditate is to practice choosing and directing my thoughts. Have you ever felt like your mind was spinning out of control hopping from idea to idea, task to task, activity to activity and you were just watching it all happen without any control over which thought would come next? I remember once sitting in my living room feeling stressed to the max over a relationship challenge I was experiencing with a boyfriend at the time and my mind would not stop racing about what the outcome of our challenge would be. At that moment I felt I had no control over my mind at all and needed to take a moment to breathe! Back then I didn’t understand the power of meditation or practice it as much as I do now but if I had it I would have been able to experience the calming, supernatural effect that meditation provides when done properly.
So What Do I Do When I’m Meditating?
I’ll give you a quick run down because we still have to chat about affirmations and why I read the good book every morning but here it is:
During my meditation, I find a truth that I don’t yet fully understand and I sit with it. I pray for understanding before I start and allow God to guide my thoughts as I meditate on what the truth means. Now, where do we go to find truth? I turn to the bible. It’s the only solid, reliable, unchanging source of truth we have in our world so I choose to trust every word in it.
I also meditate while listening to select music. Not the yoga, airy, background music we sometimes hear in a spa but deep reflective music that causes me to see another side of God or experience His creation from another perspective. It’s usually worship music that speaks to me and I love doing it. I find there’s a peace you get from worship music that you can’t find anywhere else. So I take my time, enjoy the lyrics, connect with God’s heart, and sit in meditation. It’s beautiful! There’s nothing like it.
Powerful Affirmations:
The truth is affirmations are just self-talk and people have been doing it for years. The scary thing is most of our self-talk is the cause of our mental dis-ease and lack of confidence in ourselves and this type of self-talk or affirmation is common in our society. For me, although it’s common to affirm and talk to yourself in a way that is not supportive I refuse to play at that level because I know I don’t want to eat the fruit of those words.
We often take words lightly and don’t understand that words flow from our hearts and every word carries an energetic signature. So I do my best to only think and share words that align with the truth. I don’t do this perfectly and I may never do it perfectly but the joy for me is in learning how to do this, practicing until it becomes second nature, and allowing myself to make mistakes and learn. That’s the beauty of life!
So when it comes to affirmations I don’t do the quick fix, cheap, surface-level stuff like
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- I am beautiful.
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- I am rich.
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- I am successful.
While they can provide a quick boost of confidence or motivation, they don’t address underlying causes or develop a more fulfilling and meaningful sense of self. I find it more effective to work with affirmations that speak to deeper aspects of my being and personal growth and I’ll give you a few examples of what I mean.
So my affirmations are more about shifting my perspective to align with the truth and less about getting me to feel a specific emotion. A lot of people will say affirmations should make you feel good and while feeling good feels good, life is about more than just pleasure.
Right now a few of my affirmations include:
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- Affirming the truth of who I am
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- Deepening my awareness of life and the principles that cause life to work
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- And money habits I’m working on strengthening
I listen to my affirmations and it takes about 10 mins sometimes less or more depending on what I want in the moment.
Reading The Good Book:
Oh man, the good book is endless! There are so many gems in here. I get excited when I open it up because I know even if I’ve read it a thousand times there is so much insight hidden in the words, context, perspective, and so much more! The bible is one of my favorite books in the world and if you know me I read a lot. Last year alone I probably read and listened to about 50 books could be more. I love it because I understand its value.
So when it comes to reading the bible I don’t do it because I’m looking for a divine word from God to speak to my specific life or business circumstance. I’m not looking for personal prophecy or a word of knowledge. The Bible is the way that I get to know God. I get to see His heart and read His thoughts. This has to be done with discernment of course because there are many things that can be taken out of context or misinterpreted in the bible. And the reality is you will always find what you’re looking for so if you go in looking for contradictions you’ll find them. If you open your heart and go in looking for nuggets of truth, healing, peace, and freedom you’ll find it. And that’s the reality for any book your read or experience you encounter
During my bible reading, I’ll dive into a book of the Bible, do a word search, study a specific theme or person, or read for context. There are so many lenses we can take from the bible so the adventure is endless but recently I’ve been working through finding the answer to the question “what is the kingdom of God” and imagining what it looks like for me to live as a kingdom citizen while on earth. It’s so fun and every day I get a piece of the puzzle that reminds me of how much I don’t know and how much I am learning and growing and how unending this journey is. Lol! I love it!
So there you have it, my 3 non-negotiable morning essentials for high performance and a super productive day. I invite you to do one of these things for the next 7 days hit me and let me know how you feel after! I promise if you do this as a genuine student from a place of curiosity coming to learn you will find revelation, freedom, and your authentic self. Life will feel different and you won’t need to prove anything to anyone you’ll just be who you are no matter where you are. I’m telling you it’s freedom! Until next time Trailblazer! Make this week your best week! Ciao for now!
Important Links Mentioned This Week:
Our best-selling time management workshop – Master Your 5% Activities
