Whether you’re aware of it or not, you have a morning ritual. Or, for those who sleep late, you have a ritual you perform upon rising.
For those unaware of their morning ritual, take a few days and pay attention to your habits. Once you’ve become aware of them, ask yourself, “Are these rituals helping or hindering me?”
A Peek into a Morning Ritual
Since I’m a morning person and an introvert, early mornings are the best time of day for me. If you’re around me long enough, you’ll hear me verbalize, “God created early mornings just for me.”
Mornings are when I’m the best me of the day. Upon rising there’s the usual 2-part bathroom pit stop. The first part is what everyone does in the morning. However, part of my first pit stop is taking a teaspoon of oil to swish in my mouth for about 20 minutes. This oil pulling ritual is why I have a second morning bathroom pit stop.
Between Pit stops
While oil pulling, I do things like boil water and prepare the herbs for my teapot and go outside to check the lights to see which ones need charging. Since I don’t live alone, part of that 20-minute oil pulling session is spent washing dishes that were left overnight in the sink (and please, feel free to read that last part with the annoyance I’m feeling as I write it).
During the winter, my outdoor jaunt usually inspires me to take a photo of either the last remnants of the early morning moon or the morning sunrise. I can’t tell you how many moon/sunrise photos I have stored on my tablet. Warmer weather brings on a whole new set of outdoor rituals.
Second Pit Stop
By now the oil pulling has done its thing so I get rid of the oil, brush, and Waterpik my chompers. Wash my face, apply a few spritzes of an essential oil (frankincense, lavender, and lemongrass) and water mix then on to the next.
To the kitchen I go (water still not boiled), fill my water jar with cold water, one cube of ice, and a scoop of Dr. Berg’s wheatgrass powder (Amazon affiliate link). I then wander to my office, sit in the chair, place my feet on the grounding mat and begin writing. Ideas usually flood my mind at this time, so I have to get my fingers on a keyboard quickly.
Between typing and sipping wheatgrass, I pop a couple of vitamin C and niacinamide and continue writing. The rather angry whistling of the boiling water reminds me to fix the tea. Once the tea is made, I let it steep, go back to my office, and continue writing. Fortunately, I light a tea candle under the teapot to keep it warm because if I’m knee-deep in writing, I sometimes forget the tea.
Now to Begin the Day
Once the ideas are on paper along with a few daily goals, I’m ready to begin my day. By this time the rest of the world is waking up.
I do have a coffee ritual, but my coffee ritual is a later-in-the-day ritual. I’m naturally energized in the morning and adding a cup of coffee too early in the day sets me in supersonic mode and I become difficult to live with. I came to the realization that coffee later in the day was a much better option.
How about Your Morning Rituals
Do you have a morning ritual that works for you or are your mornings dictated to you by those around you or social media? Are your early morning actions energizing or draining? Rituals are similar to journaling in that it’s personal. What works for the goose might make the gander hurl. And, if your morning routine is working for you…don’t change a thing.
I’ve found that rituals, whether they’re performed during the morning, noon or evening are a simple, yet powerful way to increase productivity. Also, the right rituals sure make a person feel good!
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Felicia, I enjoyed reading this post.
I, too, am a morning person and an introvert. And my morning ritual is pretty much set in concrete. I usually get out of bed between 7 and 8, providing I did not have one of my occasional nights of insomnia that led me to get up and start my day at 3 A.M. More often, I sleep until dawn and turn on the TV as soon as I awake or shortly after climbing out of bed (Although in recent months, so many bad newscasts lead me sometimes to skip the TV.)
After showering and performing the usual bathroom rituals, I immediately head to the kitchen and brew a pot of strong (Its got to be strong.) caffeinated coffee. Next, I head to my computer and plant myself in front of the monitor. I usually grow there for the next three hours, if not for the rest of the day (Some days, I take intermediate and brief breaks to do a 30-minute exercise or grab something to eat). And unless I am seriously engrossed and concentrating on what I am writing, I will have the TV playing on low volume in the background – half-watching Judge Mathis, Judge Marianne, and The View in that order. Some mornings between 10 and 11, I might stop to grab a bagel to accompany the remainder of the coffee I’ve been sipping. Or occasionally, I’ll fix a full breakfast, and THAT’s my morning ritual.
If you want to know what I do during those nights of insomnia read my post “Pillow Talking” on my blog. http://potpourri101.com/insomnia/pillow-talking/
I’ll be heading over to your blog to read your post.
Interesting about the TV though. I’m not much of a TV person. My background sounds are either none or I put on Jazz24.org. If Jazz24 is going off the rails, as they sometimes do, I play my Spotify jazz playlist.