Beginnings
Today begins the first day in my "Miracle Morning" adventures! The point is to wake up early and do some physical and mental exercises to help you start the morning on the right foot. No more hitting the snooze button! It's time to wake up and get FOCUSED for the day. All these ideas came from a book I read: The Miracle Morning Book (Don't buy the book - it's not that well-written. Just ask me and I'll give you a synopsis or you can even borrow my copy!)
Here's how my morning went:
5AM: FitBit alarm went off on my wrist. I didn't feel it and slept through.
5:03AM: My alarm clock went off. I set this because I realized I was tending to sleep through my FitBit alarm so I used it as a back up. I guess I need it after all.... at least for now! I popped out of bed and drank a full glass of water. Next, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth.
5:10AM: After turning a few lights on, I settled into our new rocking chair and began the SAVERS routine.
S- Silence: Sit in silence for 5 minutes. Clear your head.
A- Affirmations: Repeat postive thoughts to yourself for 5 minutes. Today, I told myself I CAN loose 40 pounds! I have done it before, I CAN do it again! I need to watch what I eat and say NO to bad foods more often! Loosing weight has been my biggest recent problem so I needed to speak these things to myself today.
V- Visualization: You're supposed to visualize your dreams coming true, etc. for 5 minutes. I didn't do that. I prayed. And there's definitely freedom in this routine to do that. I prayed and I listened to God. And it was so good for me to do that. I cried and cried. I realized why I had stopped trying to connect to God - I was afraid. I was afraid that God would interfere with my life. I have my plan - my hopes, dreams, and even just day-to-day goals. I want to loose weight, I want to be better at different things - reading, writing, drawing, my UBAM business, regular work goals, being a mommy, being a wife. I worried that God would lead me away from these things. I worried God would take away something that meant so much to me..... which I realized was this deep fear that had been imparted after Jonah passed. It wasn't God who took Jonah away - it was evil. God is not a mean God. God wants what is best for us and if I am striving for things that are GOOD, why would God take that away? If it's taken away, it's not God, it's evil. God will not take my children from me. God will protect and God will help me. I cried and cried. I don't usually get emotional like that over nothing so I knew it was a stronger pull on my heart. God was present, welcoming, and forgiving. I need to remember this....
E- Exercise: I haven't done this YET this morning. I plan to incorporate it into the routine somehow but since I'm off this week, I wanted to do my exercise by taking walks. I haven't felt comfortable taking walks this early in the morning when it's still dark out. I haven't felt comfortable leaving my kids sleeping.... But I think that mentality may change when I start back to work. Or I'll get on my exercise bike and pedal.
R- Read: I'm flip-flopping these last two. The Miracle Morning wants you to read a self-help book during the reading time of the morning but I'd rather not. I have my 2018 Popsugar Challenge to complete and I love reading GOOD books (*wink*). So I'd rather have all my reflecting and writing happen before I dig into a good book! Also, I have been known to read while I cycle so that may very well happen again during my morning routine!
S- Scribe: As in WRITE, which is what I'm doing right now. I'm thinking I'll continue the scribing here in my LiveJournal. I'm also Bullet Journaling again - YEY! But I like the idea of reflecting on the first three parts of the routine here in journal form.
And it is now 5:55AM but I still want to read. The goal is to have all of this done in one hour. We'll see!
So that's what I'm up to first thing in the morning for at least the next 30 days! The book talked about needing 30 days to solidify a new habit. Makes sense. So January is the month of solidifying new habits!
My New Habits
1. Miracle Morning
2. 10,000 steps EVERY day
3. South Beach Diet (I'm getting organized today - meal planning/grocery shopping - and will start full force TOMORROW)
4. Intentionality - I want to reach out to my friends more!
5. Floss (I have GOT to start taking better care of my teeth!)