Start some morning rituals if you feel like you need a change in your life.
Morning rituals are significant to be centered, to get control of your life, and to feel empowered in the journey of creating the life of your dreams.
That is why I have created an ultimate guide about morning rituals. Enjoy!
What are morning rituals?
How we start our day, our awareness, our mood, and our decisions in the morning affect our day and, finally, our life. Morning rituals are essential to living the life we dream of.
Morning rituals meaning
Actions we take in the morning time, just after we wake up, to give a start to the day, would be enough description of morning rituals?
Not exactly, as morning rituals are different than morning routines.
What makes this difference is awareness.
Spiritual morning rituals
In a way, morning rituals are spiritual, as they make us connect. They connect us to ourselves, a new day, life, and meaning.
Deciding to do a morning ritual means deciding to slow down and connect to life. Being aware of a new day that is coming with infinite potential.
Doing a morning ritual tells the life that I am here, excited to live, hopeful, and looking for the upcoming day.
Oh yes, the morning ritual is a spiritual act.
Why are morning rituals important?
Firstly, morning rituals are important because it shows us and to life that we choose to take responsibility for our own lives. It is enforcing self-respect. Morning rituals are empowering as it increases focus and clarity.
Secondly, morning rituals have many more positive side effects depending on your intention.
Your intention is powerful. What you intend makes you take action, and those actions and preferences create your reality at the end of the day.
To give some ideas about why morning rituals are essential, below are some morning rituals with different intentions:
Morning rituals to start your day
Starting a new bright day is underestimated. However, it is the start of a new beginning, which brings many possibilities. Doing morning rituals to start a new bright day is enough reason for me.
Morning rituals to start your new day, celebrate the new beginning instead of taking the sun’s rise for granted, again and again, being grateful for it.
Morning rituals to win the day
You start your new day with many plans and to-dos on your mind. How much you could realize also depends on how you have created that day. To say at the end of the day, Yes, I won the day, starting with a morning ritual is very important.
Morning rituals for good health
Morning rituals are essential to creating healthy habits physically, psychologically, and spiritually. So if you are criticizing yourself for not being able to have healthy habits, then start some morning rituals and stick to them.
Morning rituals for success
If you are imagining a better version of yourself in your mind again and again and longing for success, I have good news for you. Morning rituals to become successful are proven with experience. So when you look at the lives of successful people, you are always finding out the morning rituals’ effect on their lives.
Success is a journey with ups and downs. To start with, personal doubts and inner critics make this journey harder. Morning rituals are an excellent antidote for these poisons.
Morning rituals for a productive day
We always have more than we can finalize on our plate. It will always be this way. But, no worries, you are not alone. Morning rituals for productivity can help you through.
Morning rituals make us more precise with our prioritization. For a productive day, you must prioritize your most critical tasks and stick to them. Morning rituals bring to your life the clarity that you need for productivity.
Morning rituals for weight loss
Such a concrete example of an intention as weight loss can be good to look at. To be focused on your preference, you need morning rituals. Start the day by slowing down, reminding yourself of your intentions and your ability to succeed.
Reminding some affirmations and visualizing your best version of yourself (whatever this means for you) after weight loss will make this journey more accessible and successful.
How do you start a morning ritual?
A morning ritual even starts beforehand by planning it.
For example, since last month, I have been waking up around 6:45 to run while listening to an audiobook, witnessing the sunrise, meditating, and having a shower. This is my morning ritual these days. Then I wake my kids up and help them prepare for school.
The planning of my ritual starts the day before. I am preparing my sports clothes, shoes to run, headphones, and the keys to the house, all in a place that I can reach easily without making noise to prevent disturbing my kids and my husband.
So, preparing for the morning ritual beforehand is essential. Think about what you need once you start your morning ritual and prepare everything ahead of the night.
Start your ritual as efficiently as possible to increase your possibility of sticking to it.
Preparing a space for your morning rituals can make it easy to stick to them.
Prepare a space, at least a tray, with the staff you will use. Let’s say you will meditate or do some yoga. Have your yoga mat, your incense, and other objects you will use altogether in a clean space. Let them welcome you in the morning.
In the morning, just start, not think about it twice, and get out of that bed, now.
Lately, I have been reading Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. It is a book full of daily ritual stories of writers, composers, painters, choreographers, playwrights, poets, philosophers, sculptors, filmmakers, and scientists. Twyla Tharp’s daily ritual is just what we are talking about.
‘Tharp is something of an expert on daily routines. The choreographer’s 2003 book, The Creative Habit, is all about the necessity of forming good, consistent work habits to function at a higher creative level. Not surprisingly, her routine is intense:
“I begin each day of my life with a ritual: I wake up at 5:30 AM, put on my workout clothes, my leg warmers, my sweatshirts, and my hat. Then, I walk outside my Manhattan home, hail a taxi, and tell the driver to take me to the Pumping Iron gym at 91st Street and First Avenue, where I work for two hours. The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym; the ritual is the cab. The moment I tell the driver where to go, I have completed the ritual.”
By automatically getting up and getting into the cab every morning, she avoids the question of whether or not she feels like going to the gym; the ritual is one less thing for her to think about, as well as a friendly reminder that I’m doing the right thing.’
*Daily Rituals, Mason Currey, Pages 222-223
Once you get out and start preparation, be aware.
First, congratulate yourself for taking responsibility for your life. You did it. One little step at a time.
While preparing, be aware. Connect.
Start small; then, you can make it bigger if you like.
If morning rituals are new for you, you can start small and make them bigger.
Wake up 15 minutes before, prepare your coffee slowly instead of rushing, enjoy each sip, and daydream about your day ahead.
Try for some days. Feel how it feels. If the answer is positive, you can even think to make it longer; if not, 10 minutes of enjoying coffee is an excellent ritual on its own as well.
Also, depending on life circumstances, you can change your morning rituals. Connect to yourself. Be your best friend and listen to your needs. Answer these needs with morning rituals. Be flexible and adapt.
What are some excellent morning rituals?
Below I have prepared some ideas for morning rituals. You can choose to make one of them or create your morning ritual from their combinations as you wish.
1. The first thing that you say once you open your eyes:
You are starting a new day. Be aware of your urge to do. Slow down for a second. Feel your breath and your body. Smile. Ask this question: Life, what miracles are you bringing me today above all my expectations?
2. Looking in the mirror:
Slow down for a while. Breathe. Look at yourself in front of the mirror. See yourself. Say to yourself ten times that Life Loves You. Mean it and witness your emotions and sensations in the body.
3. Brush your teeth mindfully:
This alone can be your morning ritual at the start. You are brushing your teeth mindfully and being aware of it. Being here and now.
4. Scrape your tongue:
Scraping your tongue is an ayurvedic ritual. It is an excellent healthy morning ritual.
5. Morning ritual meditation:
What a great way to start the day. Just after waking up before beginning the rushing hours, continue consciously in the silence of meditation. You are checking in with yourself. Check-in your emotions, your body, and your mind.
6. Journaling:
You can wake up and journal to prepare for a new day or just as an act of meditation. Then, you can paint, draw or answer specific questions such as how do you feel today? Why do you think as such? What are you grateful for? What good shall I do today? My intentions for today? My tasks for today etc.?
7. Morning pages:
Morning Pages is a tool from the book by Julia Cameron called Artist’s Way. She recommends writing three pages every day, first thing in the morning. Content is not essential, but the act of writing it does. It is a mental detox to start your new day with creativity.
You can check the difference between morning pages and journaling here.
8. Drink your coffee, water, and tea mindfully:
Slow down. Be gentle. Prepare your drink for you. Show self-love and care. Enjoy your drink while being aware.
9. Doing Yoga:
Be aware of your body and feelings while you are starting to move.
10. Workout:
Exercise affects your mood during the day and is a healthy habit. Workouts as morning rituals are healthy choices for you. It is up to you to decide to wake up earlier for some workouts as morning rituals.
11. Listen to music or make music:
While enjoying your drink, consider listening to the music you choose—really listening to it—playing your instrument for 10 minutes before starting your day.
12. Making your bed:
Make your bed and feel accomplished a task and feel satisfied very quickly. During the day, seeing a lovely setting will be a positive side effect.
13. Morning sun rituals:
Enjoying the sunrise and just before or after it makes all the difference. If you live where you can see the sunrise, I strongly recommend you take this chance. It is an everyday show which makes you feel full of hope and energy.
Singing while the sunrise was a ritual from our ancestors as well. So you can give it a try.
14. Affirmations:
Life is a journey, and we are in this body and mind. Our minds do not always provide the most necessary information for us. We are not what we are thinking about. We can choose how we think and how we react when we feel. Affirmations serve perfectly for this.
Choose the affirmations you need and repeat them in your morning rituals.
15. Visualization:
Remember your goals and visualize yourself accomplishing these goals. Then, visualize the joy that you would feel then. Starting your day with a daydream is a big bump of energy.
16. Read a book or a poem:
Before rushing for your daily tasks, read part of a book or a poem.
This is your life. Your morning ritual. Your decisions.
It is not a rule. You know yourself best. Connect and do not worry about making changes when needed.
It is a game to live life as a ritual.
What about you?
What are morning rituals for you? Why are they important in your life? What are those that you are doing as morning rituals?
Below is a Pinterest friendly photo…. so you can pin it to your Rituals Board!
