Creating a strong morning routine for yourself will help you begin your day in a positive and empowered way. A clear morning routine can help you establish a sense of purpose and structure, reduce stress and anxiety, improve focus and time management, and promote overall well-being.

When building a morning routine it is important to start small, and to choose activities that help you feel supported, nourished, and cared for before jumping into the rest of your day. Rather than starting by ‘taking away’ aspects of your current morning routine, think about ways you can ‘add’ more positivity to your daily routine. 

Read on to explore 5 activities you can add to your morning routine for an amazing day: 

1. When we first wake, it can be so easy and tempting to reach for our phones and start the day scrolling. Instead of doing this, try to commit to taking at least 15-20 minutes (if not longer) to yourself before checking out what the rest of the world is up to. You will feel a greater sense of clarity, motivation, and inspiration by tending to yourself first. 
2. Develop a daily Gratitude practice. Practicing gratitude by writing down a few things you are thankful for each morning can help shift your focus to the positive and cultivate a more optimistic mindset. This will also help you to see all of the beauty and blessings that currently fill your life! Acknowledging the good that you already have will also help to strengthen your joyful connection to the present moment. Gratitude is the truest path to abundance, so when we begin our day by cultivating thankfulness- we step into an abundant and joyful experience! 
3. Eating a healthy breakfast. Remember when we talked about focusing on adding rather than subtracting as we develop a strong morning routine? Well, applying this method to how we eat is so powerful! Instead of creating an unrealistic, unpleasant, and unnecessary diet- consider adding just one piece of fruit or veggies to your daily breakfast! If you are able to- eating a healthy breakfast that includes protein, fiber, and healthy fats can provide you with extra sustained energy and improve your mood and concentration throughout the day. Remember, it is most important that you feed and nourish your worthy body! So whatever honors your daily nutrition needs, give yourself permission to enjoy and care for yourself through your relationship to food. 
4. Planning or goal-setting. Beginning your day by setting a clear intention as to what you’d like to experience and/ or achieve creates the quickest path towards success.Taking a few minutes to plan your day or set intentions for what you want to accomplish can help you feel more organized and focused, and increase your sense of productivity and accomplishment. Your set intention will also serve as a clear guide during your day, so that you can focus on making choices that are in alignment with your goals and desires. 
5. Meditation or mindfulness practice. You deserve to take a moment to fill your cup each morning before you begin filling the cups of others. Whatever mindfulness practice resonates with you, I encourage you to make it a regular part of your daily routine! Remember, not everyone resonates with a traditional meditation practice- so take time to find what works for you. This could be taking 5 minutes to breathe and watch the sunrise as you sip your tea, or it could be a morning walk listening to affirmations, or simply a 5 minute journaling session where you allow yourself to check in with your needs and feelings. Taking a few minutes to meditate or practice mindfulness can help calm your mind, reduce stress, and improve focus.

It is so worthwhile to build a positive morning routine for yourself! Having a morning routine will provide structure, reduce stress, improve productivity, and promote daily joy! 

 So, are you ready to rise and shine?