[g_podcast id="8677349"]
Today it's all about: how to start the morning. And how you can put together your own morning ritual.
In this episode, I talk about:
How do I get off to a good start in the morning so that the rest of the day goes well?
You may have heard me say 'The morning sets the tone for the whole day'. I've mentioned this before regarding breakfast. The way I eat in the morning very often determines the quality of what I eat for the rest of the day.
And it's the same with our thoughts, our mood, etc.
The way I get up in the morning often sets the tone for the rest of the day.
To have a good morning, it's important how I go to bed at night.
There's a great exercise for this. Just think about it:
What am I grateful for today?
I would recommend that you write it down and try to do this for a week. You'll see how well it works for you if you write down 3 things you're grateful for.
They say that the last thought you go to bed with is the first thought you wake up with in the morning.
I've often discussed this with clients and sometimes the response is 'I can't think of anything I'm grateful for'. If you feel like you're in such a bad place right now and you can't think of anything to be grateful for - that can't be true!
If you're someone who listens to my podcast, I assume that you have a smartphone, that you have something that you can use to access the internet. That alone shows me that you're well enough that you can be grateful that you have a cell phone/computer, that you have internet, that you have a roof over your head.
There are thousands of things you can be grateful for! No matter how small - it doesn't matter.
You can be thankful that you have something to wear today.
You can be thankful that you don't have to go hungry.
Really think about what you can be thankful for today. Even if it's just that someone held the door open for you, or that you saw a beautiful bird, or that someone smiled at you.
Of course, it can also be big things. The longer and more often you do the exercise, the more you will think of things to be grateful for!
The first step to having a good morning is to focus your thoughts in the evening on what is going well in your life at the moment.
It has a stronger effect if you write it down (e.g. in a nice notebook). Just try it for the next 7 days and see how it affects your life.
When you wake up in the morning, positive thoughts might come to mind first. And if not, try to program yourself so that when you wake up in the morning, you think of something positive that you are grateful for.
I recommend that you don't do anything that stresses you out in the morning (e.g. look at your appointments for today). Maybe try not looking at your cell phone first thing in the morning - it you may see or read something negative first.
You also sleep better when your cell phone is not next to your head. Maybe you should try not having your cell phone in your bedroom - instead you can buy a different alarm clock if you use your cell phone as an alarm clock.
The reason for winning the good morning for yourself is to set new habits and start the morning positively.
A good book I can recommend is Hal Elrod's 'Miracle Morning. The hour that changes everything'*
https://amzn.to/2IQ6n3Y
I read this book a few years ago and highly recommend it.
Hal Eldrod has developed this system through his own personal crises, how he programs himself in the morning to have a good day and has virtually developed a system of what a morning ritual can look like for him.
I would just read it for inspiration. You don't have to do it exactly like him - but he has a very good thought process on how he came up with this system and he has good suggestions on what such a ritual could look like.
I'd be happy to tell you a bit more from the book - you don't have to do it exactly the same way - it's just meant as a suggestion so that you can put together your own morning ritual.
Many people are afraid to start something new in the morning because they don't have enough time and aren't fit enough. I would recommend, as I said earlier, that you take notes for 7 days in the evening. If you find it stupid afterwards and it doesn't help you, then don't do it. But just try to stick with it.
Hal had the same problem. He writes the same thing in the book. He also thought he couldn't do anything in the morning. But then he realized that it only worked in the morning because he didn't have time in the evening (time spent with family, etc.). Mornings were the only time he could work on his personal development. And many other people feel the same way. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, 'the morning sets the tone for the whole day'.
So just give it a try and if you find that it doesn't work, you can always do it differently.
Hal started this morning ritual on the topic of 'personal development' because he had heard that your level of success depends on your development. You can never be more successful than when you have developed personally.
This fascinated him greatly. And it was precisely this personal development that led him to think about it and develop a system consisting of 6 different points.
The Silence point (e.g. meditation) The Affinity point Meditation)
The point Affirmations (positive sentences he said to himself)
The point Visualize (imagining positive things he wanted to achieve)
The point Sport (part of his morning ritual)
The point Reading (inspirational readings)
The point Writing (writing things down, taking notes)
This is what Hal suggests. Whether you do these things exactly the same way doesn't matter. I would recommend that you think of a few things that make you feel good that you could do in the morning.
You can start with 2-3 things, it doesn't have to be 6.
Hal's ritual takes an hour. If you don't have that time in the morning, you could just do each of these for 1 or 2 minutes. That's what he suggests in his book. He says that you can also do the ritual in 6 minutes.
You determine the length of your ritual yourself.
The advantage of a ritual is that if you start the morning consciously, you won't go straight into a stress reaction (late, hectic, etc.).
Think about what an ideal morning could look like for you - what you can do for yourself and your soul.
I personally think meditation is great, or you can read a few pages of an inspiring book, do yoga exercises, go for a run or drink a glass of water.
A good breakfast is very important and taking time for it (10 minutes can be enough. The main thing is that you have peace and quiet).
Other ideas for a ritual would be for me personally, for example, to make a little sketch or color something in. I like colors, I like drawing - it puts me in a good mood in the morning.
I also think visualizing is a great habit.
I personally have the 'Healing Code' for the morning, which is an inspiring book for me personally.
It suggests a kind of self-healing in a certain sequence.
Look for inspiration, maybe try to incorporate different things in the morning. Things that strengthen you, give you strength and put you in a good mood. This can also be a nice song that puts you in a good mood or dancing to your favorite song.
Stroking your pet.
There are lots of things that make you feel good in a short time and don't take up much time at all.
My suggestion now is:
Think about 2-3 things that could be a positive habit in the morning and write them down. Think about how long you need for your ritual and try to do it for 7 days.
Of course, 7 days is not enough to make a positive habit out of it in the long term, but it is enough to try out whether it suits you, whether it helps you and whether it is good for you.
The more positive you start your morning, the more positive your day will be!
That's my experience.
I can really recommend reading Hal Elrod's book because he gives good tips in it and because you can definitely include reading this book as a morning ritual. He explains exactly how his ritual works. I just wanted to give you this as a little impulse.
It's important to me that you try it out and write it down and perhaps reflect on it after 7 days to see how it went and hopefully decide to pay more attention to yourself in the first minutes or hours of your day.
I'd love for you to get back to me and let me know if you did it and how you felt about it and if you're going to keep doing it.
Now I recommend you subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you like what you hear, I really appreciate a review on iTunes or Apple Podcast. Because those reviews also help other people find the podcast so we can spread the knowledge about gut and health more.
Today it's all about: how to start the morning. And how you can put together your own morning ritual.
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why a positive start to the day begins the night before
- Which book inspired me to write this podcast episode
- What you could do in the morning to get yourself in a positive mood
- And: Why the morning is a good time for personal development
If you start the morning in a positive way, it influences the quality of the whole day!
How do I get off to a good start in the morning so that the rest of the day goes well?
You may have heard me say 'The morning sets the tone for the whole day'. I've mentioned this before regarding breakfast. The way I eat in the morning very often determines the quality of what I eat for the rest of the day.
And it's the same with our thoughts, our mood, etc.
The way I get up in the morning often sets the tone for the rest of the day.
To have a good morning, it's important how I go to bed at night.
Actually, the preparation for a good morning starts the night before.
There's a great exercise for this. Just think about it:
What am I grateful for today?
I would recommend that you write it down and try to do this for a week. You'll see how well it works for you if you write down 3 things you're grateful for.
They say that the last thought you go to bed with is the first thought you wake up with in the morning.
I've often discussed this with clients and sometimes the response is 'I can't think of anything I'm grateful for'. If you feel like you're in such a bad place right now and you can't think of anything to be grateful for - that can't be true!
If you're someone who listens to my podcast, I assume that you have a smartphone, that you have something that you can use to access the internet. That alone shows me that you're well enough that you can be grateful that you have a cell phone/computer, that you have internet, that you have a roof over your head.
There are thousands of things you can be grateful for! No matter how small - it doesn't matter.
You can be thankful that you have something to wear today.
You can be thankful that you don't have to go hungry.
Really think about what you can be thankful for today. Even if it's just that someone held the door open for you, or that you saw a beautiful bird, or that someone smiled at you.
Of course, it can also be big things. The longer and more often you do the exercise, the more you will think of things to be grateful for!
The first step to having a good morning is to focus your thoughts in the evening on what is going well in your life at the moment.
It has a stronger effect if you write it down (e.g. in a nice notebook). Just try it for the next 7 days and see how it affects your life.
Avoid that the first thing you do in the morning is something that stresses you out
When you wake up in the morning, positive thoughts might come to mind first. And if not, try to program yourself so that when you wake up in the morning, you think of something positive that you are grateful for.
I recommend that you don't do anything that stresses you out in the morning (e.g. look at your appointments for today). Maybe try not looking at your cell phone first thing in the morning - it you may see or read something negative first.
You also sleep better when your cell phone is not next to your head. Maybe you should try not having your cell phone in your bedroom - instead you can buy a different alarm clock if you use your cell phone as an alarm clock.
The reason for winning the good morning for yourself is to set new habits and start the morning positively.
Book recommendation: The Miracle Morning
A good book I can recommend is Hal Elrod's 'Miracle Morning. The hour that changes everything'*
https://amzn.to/2IQ6n3Y
I read this book a few years ago and highly recommend it.
Hal Eldrod has developed this system through his own personal crises, how he programs himself in the morning to have a good day and has virtually developed a system of what a morning ritual can look like for him.
I would just read it for inspiration. You don't have to do it exactly like him - but he has a very good thought process on how he came up with this system and he has good suggestions on what such a ritual could look like.
I'd be happy to tell you a bit more from the book - you don't have to do it exactly the same way - it's just meant as a suggestion so that you can put together your own morning ritual.
Many people are afraid to start something new in the morning because they don't have enough time and aren't fit enough. I would recommend, as I said earlier, that you take notes for 7 days in the evening. If you find it stupid afterwards and it doesn't help you, then don't do it. But just try to stick with it.
Hal had the same problem. He writes the same thing in the book. He also thought he couldn't do anything in the morning. But then he realized that it only worked in the morning because he didn't have time in the evening (time spent with family, etc.). Mornings were the only time he could work on his personal development. And many other people feel the same way. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, 'the morning sets the tone for the whole day'.
So just give it a try and if you find that it doesn't work, you can always do it differently.
Example of a morning ritual
Hal started this morning ritual on the topic of 'personal development' because he had heard that your level of success depends on your development. You can never be more successful than when you have developed personally.
This fascinated him greatly. And it was precisely this personal development that led him to think about it and develop a system consisting of 6 different points.
The Silence point (e.g. meditation) The Affinity point Meditation)
The point Affirmations (positive sentences he said to himself)
The point Visualize (imagining positive things he wanted to achieve)
The point Sport (part of his morning ritual)
The point Reading (inspirational readings)
The point Writing (writing things down, taking notes)
Develop your own morning routine
This is what Hal suggests. Whether you do these things exactly the same way doesn't matter. I would recommend that you think of a few things that make you feel good that you could do in the morning.
You can start with 2-3 things, it doesn't have to be 6.
Hal's ritual takes an hour. If you don't have that time in the morning, you could just do each of these for 1 or 2 minutes. That's what he suggests in his book. He says that you can also do the ritual in 6 minutes.
You determine the length of your ritual yourself.
The advantage of a ritual is that if you start the morning consciously, you won't go straight into a stress reaction (late, hectic, etc.).
Think about what an ideal morning could look like for you - what you can do for yourself and your soul.
I personally think meditation is great, or you can read a few pages of an inspiring book, do yoga exercises, go for a run or drink a glass of water.
A good breakfast is very important and taking time for it (10 minutes can be enough. The main thing is that you have peace and quiet).
Other ideas for a ritual would be for me personally, for example, to make a little sketch or color something in. I like colors, I like drawing - it puts me in a good mood in the morning.
I also think visualizing is a great habit.
I personally have the 'Healing Code' for the morning, which is an inspiring book for me personally.
It suggests a kind of self-healing in a certain sequence.
Look for inspiration, maybe try to incorporate different things in the morning. Things that strengthen you, give you strength and put you in a good mood. This can also be a nice song that puts you in a good mood or dancing to your favorite song.
Stroking your pet.
There are lots of things that make you feel good in a short time and don't take up much time at all.
Get into action and just try it out
My suggestion now is:
Think about 2-3 things that could be a positive habit in the morning and write them down. Think about how long you need for your ritual and try to do it for 7 days.
Of course, 7 days is not enough to make a positive habit out of it in the long term, but it is enough to try out whether it suits you, whether it helps you and whether it is good for you.
The more positive you start your morning, the more positive your day will be!
That's my experience.
I can really recommend reading Hal Elrod's book because he gives good tips in it and because you can definitely include reading this book as a morning ritual. He explains exactly how his ritual works. I just wanted to give you this as a little impulse.
It's important to me that you try it out and write it down and perhaps reflect on it after 7 days to see how it went and hopefully decide to pay more attention to yourself in the first minutes or hours of your day.
I'd love for you to get back to me and let me know if you did it and how you felt about it and if you're going to keep doing it.
Now I recommend you subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you like what you hear, I really appreciate a review on iTunes or Apple Podcast. Because those reviews also help other people find the podcast so we can spread the knowledge about gut and health more.
