Creating a healthy daily routine or ‘Dinacharya’ as it’s known in Ayurveda is as essential to radical change as vodka shooters are at a college dorm party.
The best way to get on it already is to start in the morning WITH ONE THING.
That’s right. Just one.
If you want to have the biggest impact with little effort, go with what underwhelms you first. Take heed. Just because I said “underwhelm” doesn’t mean it won’t feel uncomfortable. And if it does, that’s a sure sign you need to do it. Am I right? Or am I right?
Growth does not occur when you are cooped up in a box. So, open that sucker up and peak out a little. You might just find EXACTLY more of what you want!!
Listed below in chronological order…well, you can mess around with this somewhat to suit your morning needs… are 4 STEPS you can take to make your whole day kickass. Are you ready?
Step One:
Get up 15 minutes earlier. I learned this sleep habit from when I “Ferber-ized” my kids. If you are getting up 15 minutes earlier that means you need to go to bed 15 minutes earlier. Too much? Start with 5, then 10. You will hardly notice 5 minutes and the impact will eventually be substantial. If you don’t have 5 minutes…time for a serious look at those priorities, man!
Step Two:
Write a gratitude list. Writing it down one-ups just saying it as you are more likely to fulfill/connect/resonate with something that is in writing than something that has been articulated to yourself or drummed up and recited in your mind. Plus! When you are having a crappy day, you can always refer back!
Step Three:
Drink hot lemon water. Your body collects toxins from all sorts of mediums throughout the day and it acts like a collection bin overnight, with toxins settling in. When you wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed or feeling like you’ve been kicked in the pants (you choose), your ‘soul vessel’ is seriously hankering to get rid of that junk, so lemon water will help you to flush out those toxins, become more alkaline, and, therefore, more harmonious. One more thing- the warmth of the drink will get ‘things’ going, if you know what I’m saying. Wink.
Step Four:
Move your body. This is another crucial step in detox. Your body needs to get that sludge into the digestive tract to be removed from the system and physically moving it will help this along. Consider this a non negotiable. Take 5 minutes to do those exercises your physio told you to do (but you never did), or a few yoga poses, or straight-up, old-fashioned stretching. Yes! Your body loves this. It will tell you! Trust me.
At some point in the morning, hopefully, you will have ‘taken out the trash’ (read: had a big ol’ poop). If this doesn’t happen right away, in time, with a regular kickass morning routine, it will. And you will be all the more healthier for it.
Take care of your body first.
Without this CRUCIAL habit, everything else is undermined. Choose instead to get a kickstart, to lay the foundation for more good things to come your way. Work on Step 1 for a week or two, then add in Step 2, and so on, and so forth. Or totally make over your morning routine in one fell swoop. But do so ONLY if you can totally handle it. Baby steps, remember?
I’ll leave you with these parting words: Your body is your temple, not a frat house on a Friday night after finals are done.
So, treat yourself very kindly.
Now get out there and win, baby!
Yours in self-care,
Kendra