• Wake up at 6:30 • Down a 500 ml bottle of water • Brush my teeth, splashing my face with cold water at the end a few times • I'll step out onto my deck to see the sun on the lake and do a few sun salutations bare chested. It wakes up my body through the range of motion my joints and body moves through and, because it's still chilly up here (a smidge under freezing this morning), through the cold. I love it. • Journal, the prompts each day being roughly "what are a few things that I am grateful for, including a sensory input" and then "what would make today awesome" and while answering the second question, I only include things that I have agency over ("it'd be great if I went to bed early" as opposed to "it'd be awesome if I met the love of my life" as neat as that'd be). These prime me for a more aware and conscious day. I also end each day with a little bit of follow up.
• Cook breakfast, maybe eggs or some cereal. • Dress completely and then read a little bit before work, which in this case is a minute walk to the maintenance shop as I live on a cabin on the grounds.
If the job required my waking earlier, I'd adjust to be able to comfortably include my routine. I used to be a slides out of bed twenty seconds before the bus leaves for work kind of person. I became hooked to the kind of calm, more aware living that giving myself time in the morning enables.
Your morning routine is my Nirvana. How have you been able to establish this peaceful and fulfilling start to every day? Is it hard to be consistent with this routine?
It required some experimenting. For example, I liked the feeling of getting my thoughts down on paper, but it took me a year or so of writing somewhat sporadically before I realized that I like prompted journaling more than open-ended, recap-of-my-day styled journaling. I watched on Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars getting Coffee that he, Jerry, has splashed water on his face every morning to wake up for the last thirty something years, or something. I was blown away by that. I had sometimes washed the sleep out of my eyes, but the power of that ritual made a mark on me. I brush my teeth religiously because I used to not brush my teeth with any regularity and smoked on top of it, too. I got so grossed out by it that it became a cornerstone of my morning (and evening) rituals for a while. I would announce it to my girlfriend, and she pointed out how odd it was that I announce it, and I announce it because it's practically novel to me. That's pretty gross, right? Yea. I hear that you're supposed to drink at least 2.5 liters a day, so I start my day with a fifth of that requirement. Experiment! Find out what sticks. The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago or, if failing that, today. You'll amass data about yourself, what works and what doesn't. In searching for what could work, be guided by the principle of doing that which primes you most for productivity, creativity, or serenity.Your morning routine is my Nirvana. How have you been able to establish this peaceful and fulfilling start to every day? Is it hard to be consistent with this routine?
I'm still in the Mitten! But I live in Oscoda now, which is about three and a half hours outside Detroit. You don't have a summer home up in "God's Country" do you? (I swear someone told me that's what northern Michigan is called.)
Success and failure are found in granularity. Succeed one morning. Succeed another morning, and do it again. Fail once? Who cares, try again and see if you can succeed the next time. I'm going to stop now because I should be finishing a paper and the word 'succeed' is starting to look made up. Point being, do well long enough and it will become a habit. Until it becomes habit don't sweat failures, because hey, it's just one morning, and I'm going to bet folding money that there will be another one in roughly 24 hours. Is it hard to be consistent with this routine?