Why Spring is the Best Time to Try a New Morning Routine

Springtime is the season of renewal when we hear the sound of birds singing outside our windows in the morning. The beauty of the butterflies returns to fill the landscape. For many of us, it also means we feel the mental and physical effects of an endless winter indoors less active, and overindulgent. If we have a morning routine, it may need a refresh.

In the Springtime, we feel an urgency to slip out of old bad habits and begin making changes toward a healthier lifestyle. We come out of winter hibernation feeling refreshed and renewed. One of the best ways to continue the momentum is to adopt a new morning routine. Anyone planning to embrace a healthier way of life is far more likely to remain devoted if they start their wellness routine early in the morning of each day.

For most of us, by the time we arrive home later in the day, we are too exhausted to begin to ever truly put any real effort into making a serious change toward a healthier life. Fast food for dinner has become the path of least resistance. The success rate is higher and the payoff is greater if adopted as part of our morning routine rather than any time later in the day. These are the reasons why Spring is the best time to try a new morning routine.  

Getting Started

With the arrival of Spring, it is the perfect time to adopt a new morning routine. There are a variety of different ways to work toward becoming healthier. For most of us, having several new activities in our quest for a healthier life will likely begin to show a positive change within a few weeks.

With a commitment to your new morning routine, you’ll feel confident knowing you’re affecting change that will have positive effects on yourself and those around you.

The way you begin your day has a significant impact on the way the rest of your day goes. If you start your day on the wrong foot, it’s easy to allow everything to bother you and make you feel down. It can create a negative mood that changes the course of your day. Days when you wake up in a good mood, everything just goes right. You’re happy, you find yourself more positive and easygoing. Being mindful and setting the intention to create a healthy morning routine will start your day just right.

Prepare Ahead of Time

A morning routine is made much easier when it’s calm. It’s calm when you take a few moments the night before to prepare. Choose your clothes, get your coffee cup out and ready to go, and put whatever you can in the car to take with you in the morning. The fewer tasks you need to complete in the morning, the more relaxed you will feel to start your day on a positive note.

Wake Early

Being mindful means being aware of what makes you feel good in the mornings. Do you feel good when you’re woken up by the kids who are begging for breakfast, need their lunches packed, and have forms they forgot to give you to sign? Or do you feel good when you wake up before they do so you have time to enjoy a shower, a cup of coffee, and a little peace? Most people feel better when they rise early enough to enjoy peace and quiet before the day begins, so it helps you to be aware enough to rise before the pandemonium begins.

If you have trouble falling asleep at night, read this post to help you get more sleep so you can wake up earlier.

Stay Quiet

It’s tempting to turn on the television or log on to your phone to check out social media or the news when you wake up, but don’t do it. Stay quiet for 10 minutes or so. Drink your coffee. Read a book. Watch the sun come up. Hang out with your dog or cat. Do something you enjoy that’s quiet. It allows you to focus on what is so good about life and all that’s going on around you.

Starting slow and easy in the morning is the best way to ensure you wake up in a good mood with a good attitude. No one wants to feel rushed or overwhelmed within five minutes of waking up. You’re going to feel that way, but you’re better equipped to handle it when you’ve already had peace, quiet, and time to focus on what’s good in life before the chaos ensues. Mindfulness means making deliberate decisions to focus on you and what’s good for you rather than what’s required, what’s necessary, and what’s on the list of things to do.

Practices to Incorporate into Your Morning Ritual:

1. Meditation 

One great way to make a change to your morning plan each day is to spend twenty to thirty minutes meditating on the day ahead. Sorting out those thoughts and allowing your mind to be prepared for the day is a big plus. Doing your daily meditation routine first is a great idea because it can help you to mentally prepare and focus on all the other aspects of your morning routine and the day ahead. 

Stay Committed

Let’s face it, life can be quite stressful. Having time to meditate every morning will give you a feeling of being in control early in your day. Trying to meditate in the morning may seem somewhat counterintuitive at first. All too often, your schedule is hectic and rushed in the mornings. Many people feel they don’t have time. But being committed to meditating every day as the first part of your morning routine will bring positive results. 

Adopt a Technique

It’s not uncommon for different people to have different ways of meditating, and discovering what works for them. Everyone is different and what works best for one person may not necessarily work for another. One good way to start is by sitting in a quiet room in a soft chair with your feet bare and touching the floor. Your hands can be turned upward toward the ceiling in a relaxing posture allowing you to focus. Clear your mind and focus on your breathing and nothing else.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is all about obtaining a level of focus and a relaxed state of mind. It’s not about being lethargic or sleepy. There is a difference between the two. While sitting in the meditative position, you can control the rate of your breathing and make sure to inhale deeply enough to completely fill your lungs without overdoing it and excessively stretching your chest outward.

Keep your eyes closed and remain still throughout the session. Begin by first spending approximately ten minutes decluttering your mind of all the junk and negative thoughts you have floating around your mind. During this time, you can also try to forgive and forget anyone with which you are angry or unhappy.

This helps to clear your mind allowing you to focus on the positive aspects of the day. Try to spend the next ten minutes focusing on the potential of blessings and good vibes the day ahead has to offer. Then as the final step, focus deeply on the entire idea of being healthier and the remaining tasks and activities in your morning routine. 

Focus on the Health Benefits

The health benefits of regular meditation are seemingly endless. Studies have proven that regular meditation decreases stress, reduces anxiety, improves emotional health by experiencing fewer negative thoughts, enhances self-awareness, lengthens attention span, reduces age-related memory loss, extends kindness and forgiveness, manages impulses, improves sleep, lowers blood pressure, and improves overall health.

Skip the Perfect Session

 Another thing to remember is that meditation is not about achieving a perfect session. It’s about learning to focus through the stress and distractions of this life and not finding a way to escape or move around them. The ultimate goal is to be a source of positive energy in our busy world while allowing our mind and body to remain calm and in complete control during all situations throughout our day. 

2. Write in Your Dream Journal

One habit to add to your morning routine is writing in a dream journal. This can actually be the thing you do first in the morning when you wake up, even before getting out of bed. Here is a Dream Journal you can download and start today.

In a dream journal, you write down everything you remember from your dreams. This can be a gentle way to wake up and recall what you dreamed about and later on, be something you analyze to tap into your intuition and pick up any signs.

Don’t be intimidated by writing down your dreams, as it is as simple as just writing what you can remember. Some mornings, it might just be one or two little details, such as remembering a place you were or what you were doing. On other mornings, you might have entire scenes in your head.

The great thing about writing down your dreams is that it becomes a practice. The more you do it, the more your brain will start to recall. Before too long, you have a very in-depth and detailed book filled with dreams, each more detailed than the last.

Focus on the Health Benefits

There are a few reasons you should start keeping a dream journal and add it to your morning routine.

Dreams often reveal hidden signs and synchronicities – Dreams don’t just contain symbolism that you need to then analyze and relate to something going on in your life. Sometimes, the signs aren’t subtle but are more in your face. You could see the same number or color repeatedly, or you might dream about meeting someone new, who you then realize you met weeks after having the dream.

You can pick up creative ideas from your dreams – Many times, you get creative ideas or plans for reaching your goals in your dreams. It might not be a completely finished idea, but by writing down details of what you remember, you might get a spark of an idea that helps you work toward your goals. A friend of mine used to work out her homework problems in her dreams. She would wake up with all the answers and just write them down.

It allows you to release the dream – Whether you had a nightmare or a dream you don’t want to dwell on all day, it can help to write down what happened, to allow your mind to release it. You know it’s there in your journal, so you don’t have to think about it much anymore.

3. Healthier Drinks

Another good thing you might find helpful to include in your new morning routine is to introduce a new refreshment for increasing energy, nourishment, and overall health. You may find that consuming a healthy drink during your morning routine provides you with the needed energy and stamina to persevere with your regimen and remain fully charged throughout the day. 

Coffee

Recent research suggests that moderate amounts of coffee consumption are linked to lower rates of heart disease, some cancers, Parkinson’s disease, and depression. Coffee may even help you live longer. However, large amounts of caffeine may have adverse effects on people who are pregnant or have anxiety disorders. Additionally, be attentive to what you put in your coffee. Avoid large amounts of sugar and cream.

Choose a Better Alternative

 
There are a whole host of healthy drinks available in the marketplace like herbal teas, Kombucha, Matcha, and green juice to name a few. All of these do provide some level of health benefits like providing necessary vitamins and minerals not to mention the basic benefit of keeping the body hydrated. Chose one that works for you and what your body needs.

Create Your Own Health Drink

Making your drink fresh every morning is not just good for health purposes, but it helps you to get your day started productively. The type of healthy drink you make and what you choose to include in it can be a personal preference, but here are some types of healthy drinks that help you to start your morning in the right way:

Smoothie – Not only does making a smoothie in the morning help you to get more nutrients into your diet, but it can also be a healthy breakfast.

Green juice – Green juice is made when you juice a variety of fruits and vegetables, allowing you to have something made purely of plant foods.

Tea – Having a warm beverage in the morning can be soothing on your stomach, which is what makes a morning cup of tea a great option.

Water with Lemon – Why not try some water with lemon? It allows you to hydrate right when you wake up, and you can add other ingredients like apple cider vinegar if you choose.

4. Morning Exercise

Including exercise as part of your morning routine will boost your energy for the whole day. If you can get outdoors in the morning, it allows the body to get the adrenaline flowing early, but it also brings fresh outdoor air into the lungs. You can do aerobic type exercise, weightlifting, stretching exercises, or yoga outdoors in the early morning hours with noticeably positive benefits.

As spring approaches the morning temperatures will steadily increase allowing a comfortable atmosphere for working out. Mixing it up to include a combination of all three types of exercise throughout the week is the most beneficial for overall wellness.

Aerobic Exercise 

Aerobic type exercise is great for increasing the health of the heart and lungs, boosting metabolism, energy levels, and endurance. A thirty-minute aerobic exercise routine performed every morning outdoors like jogging, bicycling, walking, or swimming will increase the overall health of your cardiovascular system. It can also help with regulating blood pressure, reducing the symptoms of asthma, reducing weight, and strengthening the immune system to name a few. Including aerobic exercise as part of your morning routine will bring lasting throughout the day and night. 

Strength Training 

You might enjoy the strength training side of exercising. For some, there is no substitute for the feeling after giving the muscles a brisk workout by doing some heavy lifting outside on the back patio. There is also no need to try and break any records. Take it slow and don’t overwork your muscles.

Simply undertaking a moderate thirty-minute workout with weights is a great way to get started and keep those endorphins flowing all day. Working a variety of different muscles in a short amount of time is possible by doing only a few quick sets for each muscle group. Strength training helps you maintain muscle tissue as you get older. It helps control body fat because muscle burns more calories than fat so your overall metabolism increases with the more muscle tone you have.

Flexibility and Balance

Flexibility and balance exercises are great for boosting confidence and performance output. Whether it’s standing on one leg with your arms in the air or bending backward over a giant exercise ball, flexibility and balance exercises have their unique benefits to overall health. Some workout routines to increase flexibility are Yoga, Pilates, or simply adding some flexibility stretches to your morning routine. A thirty-minute workout in the morning doing flexibility and balance exercises like these is a valuable tool for increasing strength, stamina, and overall well-being for the entire day. 

More Tools

How A Morning Ritual Benefits Your Overall Wellness is an eBook that takes a deep dive into creating a healthy morning ritual for increased success and positivity. You’ll find five benefits of morning rituals and how to create one that fits your lifestyle. You’ll learn why a morning routine is important for your mental and physical well-being, and for your career and family life. And you’ll discover productivity, self-care, and mindfulness techniques to help you get started.

Conclusion

It’s important to remember that a morning ritual should be personalized and tailored to your own needs and preferences. What works for one person may not work for another, and that’s okay. Experimentation and flexibility are keys to finding the right routine.

Some common elements of a morning ritual include meditation, exercise, journaling, and setting intentions for the day ahead. However, individuals may also choose to incorporate other activities that bring them joy and fulfillment, such as reading or spending time in nature.

Consistency is also important in establishing a morning ritual. While it may be tempting to hit snooze or skip the routine on occasion, making a commitment to oneself and sticking to it can lead to long-term benefits.

Overall, creating a morning ritual is a simple yet powerful way to prioritize self-care and set yourself up for a successful day. By taking the time to intentionally start the day, you can cultivate a sense of calm, focus, and purpose that can carry you through the rest of your day.

Try a few of these suggestions. Incorporate one at a time. Take it slow. You will find what works for you. Eventually, you will accomplish your mission of adopting a new morning routine for a healthier you.