Since I’ve been focused on the hype of personal development and gasp! actually want to make my life better and stop living on auto pilot, I’ve set my eyes on sorting through the wealth of information available on the topic and have decided to focus solely on the concept of a morning ritual. One thing at a time right…
We all know the importance of waking early and starting the day the right way – creating a morning routine that sets the tone for an extraordinary day ahead but really, I was still stumped on the hows, the why, the whats and when.
Eventually, I came across this amazing book which albeit has a somewhat sales pitch-esc approach in some chapters but enough enthusiasm, information and inspiration to allow me to fully grasp how best to TAKE ACTION, get my life on track and let go of this feeling of mediocrity I’ve come to know and abhor.
* This post contains affiliate links which means that if you subscribe or purchase something after clicking one of these links, I may earn some wine monies but never fear, I promise that you will never see me post a link to a product or service that I haven’t used myself and that I haven’t loved completely!
The Miracle Morning: The 6 Habits That Will Transform Your Life Before 8AM
Having been clinically dead for 6 minutes and suffering unimaginable injuries from a near fatal (or would you say fatal since he died for a moment there) car crash, being told he may not ever walk again then overcoming tremendous physical and emotional turmoil, weeks and months of recovery & rehabilitation to finally conquer his limitations to walk – reaching new heights to then suffering another blow financially with the US economy crash in 2007 and pushing past this > Hal’s story moved me in a way that I couldn’t believe.
“If I could go from being found dead, told I would never walk again, going broke and feeling so depressed that I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning to creating the life I’ve always wanted, then there is no legitimate excuses for you not to overcome any limitations that have held you back from achieving everything you want for your life. None. Zip. Nada.”
His mindset, perception and perseverance was an inspiration reading and really made me question myself and the limitations that I have that keep me in this stagnant mindset and mediocre existence.
Six Principles Guaranteed to save you from a life of unfulfilled potential.
Hal attributes his rise from the ashes to a system of principles that you and I have all heard of before but in The Miracle Morning, he’s combined them into an easily executed 60 minute plan of attack, dubbed Life S.A.V.E.R.S – sounds easy enough right > I’ll give you an idea of how it works.
S is for Silence
For the first 10 minutes of the hour, sitting in silence is key ~ mediation, prayer, reflection, gratitude, deep breathing. This creates peace of mind, clarity and allows you to breathe easier throughout your day.
A is for Affirmations
Next up, ten minutes of affirmations which is basically a mantra of sorts that you repeat to yourself over and over again. Your subconscious mind can’t tell the difference between a truth and a lie, so if you’re continuously telling yourself negative beliefs – guess what, your brain’s going to believe it. By consistently re-training your brain through the use of affirmations to lift your limiting beliefs, you’ll eventually re-program your mind to accept it as truth. In the book, Hal walks you through how to make your own sentence or paragraph that pertains to your needs and you can either say them out loud over and over or think them over and over but I like to write the words over and over in my journal to really plant them into my mind.
V is for Visualization
Now, this is something that I struggle with = visualizing and creating mental pictures of outcomes you want to occur in your life > people you want to meet, places you want to go, materialistic things you wish for. The act of visualizing stimulates your brain to achieve a specific goal and to notice opportunities, people or lucky breaks that it previously would have ignored. 10 minutes on this one of course.
E is for Exercise
We all know this one but find it hard to incorporate this into our daily life what with our so many excuses but by practicing The Morning Miracle, a quick 10 minutes of physical exercise (yoga, a walk around your block, jumping jacks or your standard push ups & sit ups) is all you need to get your heart pumping, blood flowing and oxygen filling your lungs to wake you up, enhance your mental clarity and ensure you sustain maximum levels of energy throughout the entire day ahead.
R is for Reading
No, this doesn’t mean you can read for 10 minutes your favourite chick lit or fantasy novel; read something of substance in a field that interests you and develops you, from the experts that have already achieved what you want to do > learn from the best.
S is for Scribe
Writing/journaling and taking the time to get all your thoughts and feelings out on paper clears your mind of all the junk and allows you to move forward with determination. Either on paper or digitally, spend 10 minutes writing anything and everything you can think of > it could be like a diary, your goals and ambitions for the day ahead or a gratitude journal. Just let it flow through you and onto the page.
I’ve done a three-part series on all that gratitude is and all that the practice of gratitude journaling does plus the how to’s, to grant you a more fulfilled life so you’re more than welcome to visit What’s This Thing Called Gratitude + Why You Should Probably Look at Doing It, Gratitude & Five Things I’m Grateful For Today – In Case You’re Stuck & How To Practice Gratitude Journaling Every Single Day if you want to know more about it.
It’s important to realise that this system is as flexible as you want it to be, to suit your time limits and your focus; it doesn’t need to be 10 minutes for each or take a full hour if you don’t have it, and it certainly doesn’t have to be in this exact sequence.
My Miracle Mornings; How they are changing my life.
My love for this book is how simple it made the entire concept of a morning routine seem easy to do, offering a structure I so desperately needed whilst being flexible enough for me to implement all the things I knew to be important but couldn’t quite figure out how to put it all together, in the time frame I have available to me.
I haven’t quite mastered the art of waking up at the same time each day and some days I have two hours & some days I have 30 minutes so I adapt my Miracle Morning routine to suit the time I have but I am working on creating some stability in my mornings to really set the intention for my day ahead.
Some days I miss it completely and on those days, I find it harder to concentrate, don’t breathe as easily and am quick to become frustrated by small things like silly slow drivers on the way to work.
Life just seems effortless and uncomplicated after I’ve done the Miracle Morning routine; I smile more and breathe deeper knowing that the intentions that I’ve set pave the way for an efficient and purposeful day ahead, knowing that I’m on track to fulfilling my potential.
Hal’s five tips for waking up early.
Just quickly before I end this post, I wanted to give you a brief run down on the five step process outlined in The Miracle Morning to stop all you snoozes from snoozing:-
- Set intentions for the day ahead, in bed the night before ~ think hard about how you want tomorrow to be, how excited you are to get up and go with a bang.
- Move your alarm clock across the room ~ ugggh, I hate phone noises and especially alarms so moving it across the room has done wonders for me getting up outta bed to turn that racket off.
- Splash cold water on your face and brush your teeth ~ cold water and minty freshness really gives you a kick. Although, I really like settling into my morning routine with a fresh cup of coffee so I pass on brushing my teeth until I’m actually getting ready to go to work.
- Drink a super big glass of water ~ sleeping for six to eight hours is a really long time for your body to go without water and you’ll be feeling a tad dehydrated without even realising it, which in turns makes your body tired. Drink it up as fast as possible!
- Get dressed in your work out clothes ~ earn your morning shower after all your S.A.V.E.R.S are completed.
And if that isn’t enough, there’s always this:
I’ve only touched the surface on what The Miracle Morning really is and highly encourage you to go forth and conquer! You can check out how much it is, either paperback or Kindle here
* This post contains affiliate links which means that if you subscribe or purchase something after clicking one of these links, I may earn some monies to put towards my wine fund but never fear, I promise that you will never see me post a link to a product or service that I haven’t used myself and that I haven’t loved completely!
Have you heard of The Miracle Morning and given it a shot? How did you go? Or maybe you do something similar that might help me further my goal to achieve my optimum morning routine? Super keen to hear your thoughts.
nil in thought 