My morning routine – how I like to start my day!

Do you follow a specific morning routine? If yes, what are essential parts it? How do you like to start your day? I only discovered how important a good morning routine is to me in the past year. It got almost a little ritual with elements that help me to stay positive and focused throughout the day. In this post I want to tell you about the elements of my morning routine and why I like to implement them into my daily habits.

Step 1: Waking up intentionally

Maybe that sounds a bit weird but it definitely can make a big difference. How often does your alarm goes off and you jump out of the bed, getting ready for the day? Do you take a moment to feel how you’re actually doing? Way to often we run right into our day and forget about ourselves.

The first thing I like to do in the morning is to stop for a moment after waking up and go within. How a I doing today? How does my body feel? Maybe I have sore muscles or something hurts? How is my mood? Am I full of motivation or is there something that pulls me down? All these questions help me to find out how I am actually doing and I take the moment to look for an answer. Without judging! It’s basically just like checking the inventory, without judgement, rating – just a statement. This gives you room and time to look after yourself and maybe recognize what you need today or for what you want to take time today.

Step 2: Meditation

I meditate almost every morning, most of the time only about 13 minutes but that does the job for me. Generally you can definitely do meditation at any time of the day, independent of where you are. However for me personally, early mornings are perfect for meditation – my mind doesn’t have to deal with all the thoughts and impressions from the day and it is therefore easier for me to quiet my mind. I am much more concentrated.

In general a meditation right after waking up or going to bed is great as the perceptual ability at this time is  intensified – the body is not as active yet or starts to shut down for sleep so it is easier for the mind to concentrate on the meditation.

In the beginning I started with guided meditations but now I meditate without any guiding or instructions. For all of you who haven’t tried meditation yet or feel a bit insecure about it I can really recommend listening to podcasts with guided meditations or using an app in the beginning. There are plenty out there, two English apps I can recommend are:

• Headspace
• 1GiantMind

Of course there are many more out there, just give everything a try and find out what works best for you. Just keep one thing in mind: your mediation can and will probably vary every time, sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it won’t work at all because your mind just won’t stop attacking you with thoughts and sometimes you might even fall asleep. This is completely normal and part of the process. Just try to embrace the journey.

Why meditate at all?

Well, that would probably be a blog post for itself. Meditation is not about achieving a specific goal or creating a certain feeling. With a little bit of exercise it helps to live more consciously and stay more clear, concentrated and relaxed throughout the day. Especially in stressful situations you might experience that you are much more calm and clear and solve problems solution-oriented. I don’t want to miss meditation in my life anymore!

Step 3: Lemon water

After I finished my meditation I am slowly ready to start. I stretch a few minutes and the first few steps lead me to the kitchen where I bring water to a boil and prepare a glas of water with freshly squeezed lemon juice in the meantime.

During the night the body usually dehydrates quickly. Did you ever think about why you usually weight less in the morning than in the evening although you didn’t go to the toilet at night? In fact, the human body looses up to 500ml of liquid while sleeping – no matter if you wake up feeling sweaty or not. Therefore it is even more important to re-hydrate your body. It doesn’t only have a energizing and vitalizing effect but also helps digestion and other body functions. With the lemon juice you get that extra portion of Vitamin C which has positive effects on your immune system and also tastes refreshing.

Step 4: Tea-Time!

After I finish my lemon water I usually make myself a good cup of tea. Which tea often varies – very advisable and healthy is a herbal tea with fresh ginger slices! I always have some fresh ginger at home. To make the tea I simply peel about 2-3 cm of the ginger, cut it into slices and pour hot water into the cup with my ginger slices and tea. Adding ginger can help to prevent getting sick and strengthen your immune system.

Green tea certainly is good too, however not all people can deal with it on an empty stomach. In general you shouldn’t leave the tea leaves or tea bag of green tea longer than 3 minutes in the water to prevent to much tannins in the water. Tannins from green tea are of course not toxic – however they can inhibit the absorption of plant-based iron.

Step 5: Intention for the day

Did you ever consciously set an intention for the day? I love to do this as it can make a normal day very special. This can be something like “thinking positive”,”do something good for someone else”, “do something good for myself” or even simple things like “enjoy the good weather”, “give grandma a call”, “eat slowly” – literally everything that comes to your mind and you would like to do today.

The best way to do this is to write your intention down somewhere you can see it the whole day. Maybe you set a memo or reminder on your phone or even set an alarm which reminds you. Every time you catch yourself forgetting about your intention – simply come back to it. Don’t beat yourself up for forgetting it, but just get excited remembering again. It’s not about achieving your intention to 100% it’s more about doing something very consciously and mindful. I love this little ritual.

Step 6: Write a To-Do-List

You’ll hardly ever find me without one. To-do-lists for me are an essential tool to be productive and get some structure into my days. They also help me to keep track of my tasks and also be more content with myself. If I don’t write a list I sometimes tend to underestimate what I actually got done within a day. A to-do-list shows me that I can be proud of myself for managing my day so well.

To-do-lists also help me to stay more focused. If I start my day without really knowing what I have to do, just seeing a huge amount of work in front of me it will most likely be an unproductive day. Making a list can help taking one step at a time without looking at the whole stairway.

Step 7: Breakfast!

It is not specifically a part of my morning routine but I put it down here anyways. The time at which I eat breakfast often varies and if I don’t have any appointments or a lecture to attend I eat whenever I get hungry. My favorite breakfasts are probably porridge, pancakes or a good green smoothie bowl with loads of toppings. If you need a bit breakfast inspiration you can check out the breakfast section on this blog.

One last thing: during my whole morning routine I leave my smartphone switched off! I hope this post inspired you a little bit to assemble your own morning routine or add some elements to your existing one. Of course you don’t have to follow the same routine like I do – everyone is different and has different needs and priorities. However, I can only recommend taking this time in the morning for yourself and get up a few minutes earlier. Eventually you will notice a difference.

Please let me know in the comments below if you follow a morning routine yet! What are essential parts of  YOUR morning routine? Let me know 🙂