Can you imagine feeling fulfilled every day of your life? Guess what, every day starts with the morning; therefore, let’s start with being fulfilled in the morning.
I see early morning as highly valuable time. Besides that magical glow of the early sunlight, the air is crisp, it’s still relatively quiet, and if you find yourself in the countryside, birds are singing the way they do only in early morning. Also, if you start your first 15 minutes right – your productivity/relaxation/enjoyments/or “whatever it is you woke up that early for” will be so much more enjoyable. Your brain is fresh from its cleansing through the night, and you had dreams that took you out of your everyday reality. Your beginner’s mind is more open and receptive.
However, there is a trick to that. And this trick will be necessary regardless of how early or late you get up. Perhaps you read all of that and said: I still want to go to bed at 3:00 AM wake up at 11:00 AM. That’s fine, and the trick I’m about to share with you still applies.
You have to have an effective “go to sleep” process and efficient sleep time. Keep in mind that your day depends first on how you went to bed last night and how well you slept. Then it depends on how you started the first hour of your day.
Everyone is different: maybe you are married with kids, or single, or traveling a lot, etc. You might be waking up in different places or in different environments. Life is much easier to fit into the routine if you exist in a stable environment; however, for some of us, it’s not possible. Your morning routines can be flexible according to your needs, and you can design a few for different situations. The trick is that you have to practice all of them to make them a habit. And they all have to have a few components that are common to them. Consistent practice makes perfect, and the rewards are immense.
Make your bed.
(1 minute)
It helps you to start your day with success. And something significant happens with your brain when it experiences tasks accomplished. It becomes pre-conditioned for future success to complete more tasks. You don’t need to be elaborate and pile a bunch of pillows and decorations on your bed. Simplicity is brilliant – just make sure your bed is tidy.
Brush your teeth.
(2 minutes)
Even though it is an obvious thing we all do in the morning, you can turn it into the bio hack. Use your non-dominant hand to hold your toothbrush. Everything unusual you do creates neuro-connections in your brain.
- Try oil pulling. Take a tablespoon of sesame or coconut oil and swish it in your mouth for as long as you can but not less than 5 minutes. Better 20 minutes. You can do it while taking a shower. Spit it into the toilet. All the bacteria in your mouth will be pulled into that oil, and you start your day fresh.
- Use natural toothpaste. You can make your own, or you can purchase one free of fluoride. Fluoride is a known neurotoxin and should not be used regularly. Even small amounts of neurotoxins can be detrimental to your health. Some dental work requires the use of fluoride so discuss it with your dentist and make sure you understand all the answers and reasons for using it.
- You can use a unique blend of oils while brushing to fight bacteria. These include neem oil, clove oil, tea tree oil, etc.
- Scrape your tongue with a special dental scraper.
Drink “Morning Lemonade” before anything else.
(3 minutes)
You have been dehydrated during your sleep, and that includes your brain – you use a lot of water while sleeping. Especially if you have night sweats.
Use only filtered/purified water. Filters are inexpensive and absolutely necessary.
It’s better to use room temperature water. Sea salt is to re-mineralize your body. You also can use drops of trace minerals.
Recipe: 12 oz purified water + 1/2 squeezed lemon + 1/4 tsp sea salt
Breathing practice.
(3 to 5 minutes)
Take thirty to fifty deep breaths and hold breath after the thirty – at the bottom of the breath. You might feel tingling in your fingers and toes midway through the practice which shows your body is being oxygenated.
Make sure you exercise caution, and if at some point you feel dizzy, switch to the regular breathing and continue practicing.
Movement.
(5 to 10 minutes)
It is essential to increase your metabolism in the morning to have good energy throughout your day. It is also important to preserve your adrenal glands and manage cortisol output. Therefore, I recommend a short intense workout, nothing more than 10 minutes. All you need to do is boost your metabolism for the day.
You can perform calisthenics or follow short workouts on Fitbit or any other exercise app. You can jump on a rebounder or do a 15-minute yoga routine – but whatever it is, it has to raise your heart rate and get you out of your comfort zone.
Shower.
(5 to 10 minutes)
You can combine it with oil pulling. If you don’t do oil pulling, you can combine showering with a breathing practice.
You can also do gratitude practice in the shower. Recite everything and everybody you are grateful for. Avoid gratitude for extraordinary difficult events or people, after all, showering is not a therapy session, and you have a whole day in front of you to achieve great things. Save that for the forgiveness practice as it’s a bit more involved process. You can learn from everything in life.
In the last 3 minutes, you should alternate hot/cold water or just finish with cold water for 30 seconds to 3 minutes. It is best to expose your body, face, and head to the cold water. Don’t be afraid of the cold; it signals your body to regenerate cells. Start with 10 seconds and continue with 10-second increments.
Important: Keep breathing.
Meditation.
(10-20 min)
Meditation is the single most effective tool for your personal and business success. All successful people meditate and tell others about the wonders of it. There is no special power, talent, or skills required to start meditating. There is no competition, and nobody will test you on your meditation skills. And it is a powerful secret weapon nobody knows you have.
There are many different kinds of meditation – from guided to silent, walking to sitting, indoors to outdoors – it doesn’t matter which one you start with, as long as you start with something. There are YouTube videos, apps, books, etc., to help. Give yourself a chance to join the ranks of billionaires.
A good duration of meditation time is 20 minutes. More is better, less is acceptable. Concentrate on your breathing and follow instructions for whichever method you choose. The easiest one is to sit down, close your eyes, and breathe.
Don’t expect your mind to be quiet because it will not – your brain is always working. Just breathe for 20 minutes. With time, your mind will get quiet all by itself, and it can take years. It’s not a goal. Meditation doesn’t have a goal.
After that, you can write in your journal (while drinking tea or coffee), plan out the day, read your goals – for another 10-15 minutes.
Your day might feel very different after this short sequence of events. As it becomes a habit, you might want to add something to it or modify something. Maybe you will try “oil pulling” after all.
Have a great day!
Extra: Remember your dreams right after you wake up.
Your unconscious mind might be telling you something through your dreams. Since the beginning of time, dreams were told and interpreted, and even now we don’t know exactly what the mechanism of dreaming is. Chinese medicine explains dreams as your soul traveling while you are asleep to bring you knowledge from other places. Some people practice lucid dreaming or shamanic journeying while sleeping, but I’m not talking about these in detail here. Just keep in mind, if you remember your dreams – write them down.
