“Morning Rituals” Section Overview
Most of us start our day in a sort of haphazard way, doing what has to be done: shower, eat, drive to work, etc.
If we were going to run a marathon, for example, we’d learn what exercises to do, how long to run, what to eat, etc. But we start our day with no structure or planning to optimize it. In this section, I will show you how to create morning rituals to not only start your day with calm and happiness, but to carry that energy throughout your day, and then into your entire life. It’s amazing how spending 20 minutes every morning can change your life!
What I Love About Morning Rituals
Just this morning I realized one thing I really love about having a morning ritual. It’s that on days when I’m just not Mr. Bundle of Energy, I can have a routine that I can do that will boost up my energy and attitude, and I don’t have to think about it. I just do it.
So I start by stretching. It’s easy to do and helps wake me and my body up, if you know what I mean. Then I do some Tai Chi to get in the flow, so to speak. After that, I have quite a few other processes I do, which I list later on in this section. By the end of my processes, I’m ready to do my kettlebell workout, animal flow or other exercise. In addition, I am feeling happy and looking forward to my day.
I really hope you’ll create your own morning ritual so that every day you can go into your day feeling great.
Start Your Day Right
Envision this: starting your day bounding out your door invigorated and excited to truly enjoy the day ahead and energized to conquer whatever you may encounter. Sound good? Sound realistic?
Now, isn’t that the way to live your middle age?
This is not necessarily a genetic trait, You can train yourself to start every day on a higher note, thus translating into a more empowered, enjoyable and productive life! It all starts with waking up on the “right” side of the bed — here’s what I mean:
How you start your day sets the tone for the rest of your day, and essentially how you live out your life, which is why I believe an effective morning routine can transform your outlook and make an epic difference in your life.
You’ll find that if you do your morning rituals, your day will not only be happier, but you’ll be a lot more productive. Productive, not because you’re stressed-out and cramming a lot into your hours, but because you’re relaxed and happy, and those intuitions seem to come more easily, allowing your day to be a flow, not a struggle.
So, instead of finishing your day and thinking “Whew, I’m glad that’s over!” you can smile and think “Got a lot done today and enjoyed my day too.”
There are many different practices that you can do to start your day off right. But there are some, which I believe are core and essential. Please understand that you don’t have to do an hour-long routine to start your day, although it would be a good investment.
The point is that if you believe that a morning ritual would be beneficial to you, then maybe it will be worth getting up an extra 30 minutes early to make your whole day shine. Someone once said “If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t want to do it, you’ll find an excuse”.
There is a 6-minute routine which I’ll talk about in a bit, if you feel you’re really short on time. But at least get started doing something. Once you see and feel how much even a short routine will brighten your day, then you will hopefully be inspired to add more. I feel that about 20 minutes is a pretty-good time period, and most people can make that time available if they really want to. It will change your day.
And, remember to “take your morning routine with you”. What I mean by this is to do parts of it throughout your day. Have a card in your wallet, or a file on your mobile device that lists your goals for the day, like staying calm or working out.
List a couple of goals that really inspire you, that make you feel great, such as moving to somewhere peaceful, having your own work-from-home business, or whatever lifts you up. Finally have some physical practices that you can do, such as taking 5 minutes to relax and just be aware of your breath. These practices are all part of making “the rest of your life the best of your life”!
Set Your Goals
Having a list of goals is one of the best ways to start your day off on the right foot. For more information on goals and goal-setting, please be sure to read the Achieving Goals of my course.
You should have several levels of goals.
Attitudinal Goals: make a list of the attitudes that you want to have during your day in order to make it both beneficial and pleasant. They could include things such as not rushing, not judging others, making an effort to be kind to others and trusting that everything works out perfectly.
Task-oriented Goals: these might include things such as exercising today, clearing up some problem, emailing or calling someone, etc.
Short-term Goals: these goals might include saving a certain amount of money, finishing some project, checking out some new income opportunity, starting a new exercise routine, etc.
Long-term Goals: some of your long-term goals might be starting a new business, moving to a new home, creating a great relationship, etc.
Vision Board: having a vision board is actually a part of goal-setting. Although it’s important to have written goals, and to review them regularly, a vision board creates a level of emotional motivation that is very different from that created by mere words.
Your vision board should have images of the things in life that you really want to achieve. They could include things such as the perfect new home, an awesome new car, a trip to some exotic location, or anything else that inspires you.
Gratitude: I have read many different articles that talk about the incredible benefits of having gratitude. Gratitude not only makes you feel better by helping you to appreciate what you already have, but it can also create positive feelings that invite more abundance into your life.
For myself, every morning I do an exercise I created called “Happy & Grateful”. In this exercise, I smile and say to myself “Today I’m happy and grateful for…” and then I fill in something I’m happy and grateful for. I then add in some additional clarification. Here’s an example: “Today I’m happy and grateful for the air conditioning I have”. Then I follow it with something like “It makes me so much more comfortable.”
It usually starts out with some regular topics, like the peaceful room I have to do my rituals in, the nice place I have to live, the nice things I have, the good health I have, etc.
I then add in the things that are current, like a new workout routine that makes me feel great, a new idea I’ve had for my Website at GreatMiddleAge.com, the nice weather I’m experiencing, etc.
Please take note: it is important that you don’t rush this and let it become mechanical, with no feeling. In addition, make the effort to feel happy and grateful. There’s little benefit to just rush through them. Try it both ways for yourself and feel the difference. Also, smiling helps to keep the emotion going.
One extra benefit of this is that you may find yourself happier and more appreciative of other good things during your day. Also, you can decide to do this practice other times of the day, such as driving to work, or waiting in line. The outcome will be that you will be a happier person. :o)
Inspiration: find a book, audio or video that really inspires you, and then spend 5 or 10 minutes with that material. It’s great for you to inspire yourself through your goals, vision board, gratitude etc., but somehow reading the words of someone we admire as positive and energetic can inspire us even more.
YouTube is my favorite source for learning how to have a better life There are so many people on it who have learned how to make their lives better, and then share those ideas with you. Maybe do this every night from 8-9pm instead of wasting your time watching a TV program or movie which will not help your life at all.
Meditation: some people think of “meditation” as some sort of esoteric Eastern practice. In its simplified form, meditation just means quieting and focusing the mind. What I’m referring to here is to just take some time to sit comfortably, and let your mind quiet down.
One of the best ways to do that, is to focus your attention on the rising and falling of your abdomen as you breathe. By the way, keep in mind that you can do this anytime during your day when things get hectic. I talk more about how to do meditation in the Personal Growth section of this course.
Balance Your Energy Every Morning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di5Ua44iuXc (Donna Eden)
I know, I know…this looks and seems weird, but I do it anyway. Why? For three reasons. One is that I have read Donna’s book and respect her expertise in the field of energy medicine.
Two is that it might work, and for the few minutes it takes to do, I’ll take the chance. The third reason is that it is a grounding and repeatable ritual, and it thus sort-of puts me into the mindframe of the ritual
You will see my full morning ritual at the end of this page.
In my search for great material for this Website, I found a practice called “The Miracle Morning”. It was created by a guy named Hal Elrod. Due to his generosity and kindness, I have been allowed to present some of his great materials here.
In addition to these gems, Hal has a book titled “The Miracle Morning”, which you can get by clicking here. It has had more than 700
5-star reviews, so it’s got to be a great book. He also has other materials which you can get from his site at http://miraclemorning.kajabi.com/fe/27903-tmm-book-free-resources.
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
The Miracle Morning is an instructional book all about how to create a morning routine that sets you up for success in every aspect of life. Now practiced by thousands of people world-wide, the Miracle Morning is helping transform lives and create greater success for its readers. By using your morning to invest in and develop yourself, you too can live the Miracle Morning and start on your path to success.
This concept builds three imperative arguments:
Even if you’re not a morning person, the Miracle Morning will show you how to wake up early and love it. You’ll be blown away by how much more energy, motivation, and time you’re going to have, with increased productivity, significantly less stress, improved health and way more vitality and joy.
Author Hal Elrod had hit rock bottom twice: first when he was pronounced dead at the scene after a tragic car accident before making an amazing recovery and then after going bankrupt in the post global financial crisis. He was depressed and desperate. One morning Hal went for a run for the first time and listened to a podcast which changed everything. The following words set in stone the beliefs behind the Miracle Morning: “Your level of success, will rarely exceed your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become”.
Hal started to plan how and when he would commit time to this new personal development initiative and decided to dedicate the mornings when there are fewer distractions and when you’re not too busy to skip these exercises. Hal jumped out of bed on his first morning and spent 60 minutes: in silence, reading, reciting affirmations, visualizing, journaling and exercising. These 6 simple activities changed Hal’s morning and his life. Every day he would be excited to wake up. He shared the “miracle morning” that had turned his life around with friends who immediately felt the benefits. The Miracle Morning movement was born…
Approximately 95% of our society settles for far less than they want in life, wishing they had more, living with regret and never understanding that they could be, do, and have all that they want. So the crucial question—the one that we must explore and find the answer to—is this: what can we do now to ensure that we don’t end up struggling, like the 95% majority will?
Step #1: Acknowledge the 95% Reality Check
We must embrace the fact that if we don’t commit to thinking and living differently than most people do now, we are setting ourselves up to endure a life of mediocrity, struggle, failure and regret—just like most people do. Realize that this will include our own friends, family, and peers if we don’t do something about it now, and set an example of what’s possible when we commit to fulfilling our potential.
Step #2: Identify the Causes of Mediocrity
Avoid these common causes of mediocrity:
1) Rearview mirror syndrome (living in the past)
2) Lack of purpose.
3) Isolating incidents – every single thought, choice, and action is determining who we are becoming. Don’t isolate decisions and think by skipping one workout you’ll be okay.
4) Lack of accountability.
5) Mediocre circle of influence.
6) Lack of personal development.
7) Lack of urgency.
Step #3: Draw Your Line In the Sand
The 3rd step is to draw your line in the sand. Make a decision as to what you are going to start doing differently from this day forward. Not tomorrow, not next week, or next month. You’ve got to make a decision today that you’re ready to make the necessary changes to guarantee that you will be able to create the life you really want.
The old saying, “You Snooze, You Lose” may have a deeper meaning than any of us realized. When you delay waking up until you have to—meaning you wait until the last possible moment to get out of bed and start your day—consider that what you’re actually doing is resisting your life. Every time you hit the snooze button, you’re in a state of resistance to your day, to your life, and to waking up and creating the life you say you want.
Through my own experimentation—as well as that of many other Miracle Morning enthusiasts who have tested this theory—I’ve concluded that, for the most part, we need as much sleep as we believe we need. In other words, I’ve found that how we feel in the morning when we wake up—and this is a very important distinction—is not based on how many hours of sleep we got, as much as it’s based on how we told ourselves we were going to feel when we woke up.
What I found was that whether I got nine, eight, seven, six, five, or even just four hours of sleep, as long as I consciously decided, before bed, that I was getting the perfect amount of sleep—that the hours were going to energize my body to feel wonderful in the morning—I consistently woke feeling better than I ever had before.
The Miracle Morning is largely about recreating that experience of waking up feeling energized and excited, and doing it every-single-day of your life—for the rest of your life! It’s about getting out of bed with purpose—not because you have to, but because you genuinely want to—and dedicating time each day to developing yourself into the person you need to be to create the most extraordinary, fulfilling, and abundant life you can imagine.
Step #1: Set Your Intentions Before Bed
The first key to waking up is to remember this: Your first thought in the morning is usually the last thought you had before you went to bed. “So, the key is to consciously decide every night to actively and mindfully create a positive expectation for the next morning.
Step #2: Move Your Alarm Clock Across The Room
If you haven’t already, move your alarm clock across the room. This forces you to get out of bed and engage your body in movement. Motion creates energy, so when you get up and out of bed it naturally helps you wake up.
Step #3: Brush Your Teeth
As soon as you’ve jumped out of bed, head to the bathroom to clean your teeth. This simple act will help raise your motivational levels. Plus you’ll have fresh breath.
Step #4: Drink a Full Glass of Water
It’s crucial that you hydrate yourself first thing every morning. After 6-8 hours without water, you’ll naturally be mildly dehydrated, and dehydration causes fatigue. Often when people feel tired—at any time of the day—what they really need is more water, not more sleep. Start by getting a glass of water (or you can do what I do, and fill it up the night before so it’s already there for you in the morning), and drink it as fast as is comfortable for you.
Step #5: Get Dressed or Jump In the Shower
The fourth step has two options: Option #1 is to get dressed in your exercise clothes, so you’re ready to leave your bedroom and immediately engage in your Miracle Morning.
Option #2 is to jump in the shower. Personally, I like to just change into my exercise clothes, since I’ll probably need a shower afterwards anyway, but a lot of people prefer the morning shower because it helps wake you up and gives you a “fresh” start to the day. It’s really whichever you prefer.
Your life is made up of the Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Spiritual parts that make up every human being—or P.I.E.S. for short. The Physical includes things like your body, health, and energy. The Intellectual incorporates your mind, intelligence, and thoughts. The Emotional takes into account your emotions, feelings, and attitudes. The Spiritual includes intangibles such as your spirit, soul, and the unseen higher power of which we are all part.
Your life is where your ability to create new feelings, perspectives, beliefs, and attitudes in your “inner” world lies, so that you can create or alter the circumstances, relationships, results, and anything else in the “external” realm of your life situation. As many sages have taught us: our outer world is a reflection of our inner world. In other words, by focusing time and effort each day on developing your P.I.E.S., and constantly becoming a better version of yourself, your life situation will inevitably—almost automatically—improve.
Here are six powerful, proven personal development practices known as the Life S.A.V.E.R.S. that you’ll use to gain access to the powerful forces—already within you—that will enable you to alter, change, or transform any area of your life.
S is for Silence
Silence is the first practice of the Life S.A.V.E.R.S. and may be one of the most significant areas for improvement for our noisy, fast-paced and over-stimulated lifestyles. I’m referring to the life-transforming power of purposeful Silence. “Purposeful” simply means that you are engaging in a period of Silence with a highly beneficial purpose in mind.
Silence is one of the best ways to immediately reduce stress, while increasing your self-awareness and gaining the clarity that will allow you to maintain your focus on your goals, priorities, and what’s most important for your life, each and every day. Here are some great silence inducing activities to choose from: meditation, reflection, deep breathing, being grateful.
A is for Affirmations
I am the greatest!” Muhammad Ali affirmed these words over and over again—and then he became them. Affirmations are one of the most effective tools for quickly becoming the person you need to be to achieve everything you want in your life. Affirmations allow you to design and then develop the mindset (thoughts, beliefs, focus) that you need to take any area of your life to the next level.
We have an internal dialogue with ourselves the whole time and often talk ourselves down. The good news is that our programming can be changed or improved at any time. We can reprogram ourselves to overcome all of our fears, insecurities, bad habits, and any self-limiting, potential-destroying beliefs and behaviors we currently have, so we can become as successful as we want to be, in any area of our lives we choose.
To create your affirmation, think about:
V is for Visualization
Visualization, also known as creative visualization or mental rehearsal, refers to the practice of seeking to generate positive results in your outer world by using your imagination to create mental pictures of specific behaviors and outcomes occurring in your life. Frequently used by athletes to enhance their performance, visualization is the process of imagining exactly what you want to achieve or attain, and then mentally rehearsing what you’ll need to do achieve or attain it.
Most people are limited by visions of their past, replaying previous failures and heartbreaks. Creative Visualization enables you to design the vision that will occupy your mind, ensuring that the greatest pull on you is your future—a compelling, exciting, and limitless future.
To create your visualization, 1) Get ready. Sit on the couch and breathe. 2) Visualize what you really want. Imagine your perfect day and a picture of success. Think about your affirmations. 3) Visualize who you need to be and what you need to do. See yourself engaging in the exercises you need to complete and enjoying these tasks.
E is for Exercise
Morning exercise should be a staple in your daily rituals. When you exercise for even a few minutes every morning it significantly boosts your energy, enhances your health, improves self-confidence and emotional well-being, and enables you to think better and concentrate longer.
The benefits of morning exercise are too many to ignore. From waking you up and enhancing your mental clarity, to helping you sustain higher levels of energy throughout the day, exercising soon after rising can improve your life in many ways.
In this course, I will give you some great and easy ways to begin exercising, even if you are totally out of shape.
R is for Reading
Reading, the fifth practice in the Life S.A.V.E.R.S., is the fast track to transforming any area of your life. It is one of the most immediate methods for acquiring the knowledge, ideas, and strategies you need to achieve Level 10 success in any area of your life.
The key is to learn from the experts—those who have already done what you want to do. Don’t reinvent the wheel. The fastest way to achieve everything you want is to model successful people who have already achieved it. With an almost infinite amount of books available on every topic, there are no limits to the knowledge you can gain through daily reading. Aim for 10 pages a day and this works out to over 18 (200 page) personal development books.
S is for Scribing
Scribing is the final practice in the Life S.A.V.E.R.S. and is really just another word for writing. My favorite form of Scribing is journaling, which I do for 5-10 minutes during my Miracle Morning. By getting your thoughts out of your head and putting them in writing, you gain valuable insights you’d otherwise never see. The Scribing element of your Miracle Morning enables you to document your insights, ideas, breakthroughs, realizations, successes, and lessons learned, as well as any areas of opportunity, personal growth, or improvement.
To sum up on the life S.A.V.E.R.S, remember that everything is difficult before it’s easy. Every new experience is uncomfortable before it’s comfortable. The more you practice the Life S.A.V.E.R.S. the more natural and normal each of them will feel.
If you’re not into reading, go to YouTube.com and do searches for topics such as how to have more energy, how to build good habits, easy exercise, etc. Check out the TED talks. Even if your time is short, you can still watch YouTube for 10 minutes or so.
A great tip is to get the free software called a Tube Catcher. You can get it for free at http://www.atube.me. Once installed, you can save your favorite YouTube videos. And! You can also save them as MP3 files, so you can listen to them in your car, on the bus, going for a walk or whatever works.
Probably the most common question—or concern—I get about The Miracle Morning is regarding how long it needs to be. I developed The 6-minute Miracle Morning for those days when you’re extra busy and pressed for time, as well as for those of you who are so overwhelmed with your life situation right now that just thinking about adding one more thing stresses you out.
I think we can all agree that investing a minimum of six minutes into becoming the person we need to be to create the levels of success and happiness we truly want in our lives is not only reasonable, it’s an absolute must, even when we’re pressed for time. I think you will be pleasantly surprised in the next few minutes as you read and realize how powerful (and life-changing) these six minutes can be!
Minute 1 – Envision yourself waking up peacefully in the morning, with a big yawn, a stretch, and a smile on your face. Instead of rushing carelessly into your hectic day—stressed and overwhelmed—you spend the first minute sitting quietly, in purposeful Silence. You calm your mind, relax your body, and allow all of your stress to melt away.
Minute 2 – You pull out your daily Affirmations—the ones that remind you of your unlimited potential and your most important priorities—and you read them out loud from top to bottom. As you focus on what’s most important to you, your level of internal motivation increases.
Minute 3 – You close your eyes, or you look at your vision board, and you visualize. Your Visualization could include what it will look and feel like when you reach your goals.
Minute 4 – You take one minute to write down some of the things that you’re grateful for, what you’re proud of, and the results you’re committed to creating for that day.
Minute 5 – Then, you grab your self-help book and invest one miraculous minute reading a page or two. You learn a new idea, something you can incorporate into your day which will improve your results at work or in your relationships.
Minute 6 – Finally, you stand up and spend the last minute moving your body for 60 seconds. Maybe you run in place, maybe you do a minute of jumping-jacks. Maybe you do push-ups or sit-ups. The point is that you’re getting your heart rate up, generating energy and increasing your ability to be alert and focused.
This may sound completely counter intuitive, but stick with me. You don’t actually have to do The Miracle Morning in the morning. Obviously this is preferable, but for some people this isn’t going to be possible. You can use the afternoon or even the evening to invest in yourself.
Keep in mind that digesting food is one of the most energy-draining processes the body goes through each day. The bigger the meal, the more food you give your body to digest, the more drained you will feel. With that in mind, I recommend eating after your Miracle Morning.
As for what to eat, it has been proven that a diet rich in living foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables will greatly increase your energy levels, improve your mental focus and emotional well being, keep you healthy, and protect you from disease. In addition, grains such as barley and oats (oatmeal) can provide long-lasing energy for you.
Be sure to align your miracle morning with your immediate goals. Most Miracle Morning practitioners and high achievers use The Miracle Morning to enhance their focus on their immediate goals and their most significant dreams. This is especially true for those they’ve been putting off, or haven’t been making time for—such as starting a business or writing a book. The Life S.A.V.E.R.S. are ideal for improving your ability to stay focused on your goals and accelerating the rate at which you make progress towards your dreams.
Be sure to mix things up to keep your miracle morning interesting. Try new mediation exercises, mix up your workout routine, create new visualizations or affirmations.
When you feel ready, you can progress your miracle morning to the weekends. Don’t feel like this has to be a Monday to Friday thing. The more you practice the miracle morning, the better you’re going to feel.
It’s been said that our quality of life is created by the quality of our habits. If a person is living a successful life, then that person simply has the habits in place that are creating and sustaining their levels of success. On the other hand, if someone is not experiencing the levels of success they want—no matter what the area—they simply haven’t committed to putting the necessary habits in place which will create the results they want.
Considering that our habits create our life, there is arguably no single skill that is more important for you to learn and master than controlling your habits. You must identify, implement, and maintain the habits necessary for creating the results you want in your life, while learning how to let go of any negative habits which are holding you back from achieving your true potential.
My personal experience and the real-world results I’ve seen working with hundreds of coaching clients has led me to the conclusion that you can change any habit in 30 days, if you have the right strategy:
[Days 1-10] Phase One: Unbearable
The first 10 days of implementing any new habit, or ridding yourself of any old habit, can feel almost unbearable. Although the first few days can be easy, and even exciting—because it’s something new—as soon as the newness wears off, reality sets in. You hate it. It’s painful. It’s not fun anymore.
The problem for most people is that they don’t realize that this seemingly unbearable first 10 days is only “temporary”. Here’s where you have an advantage over the other 95%. See, when you are prepared for these first 10 days, when you know that it is the price you pay for success, that the first 10 days will be challenging but they’re also temporary, you can beat the odds and succeed!
[Days 11-20] Phase Two: Uncomfortable
After you get through the first 10 days—the most difficult 10 days—you begin the 2nd 10-day phase, which is considerably easier. You will be getting used to your new habit. You will also have developed some confidence and positive associations to the benefits of your habit.
While days 11-20 are not unbearable, they are still uncomfortable and will require discipline and commitment on your part.
[Days 21-30] Phase Three: Unstoppable
When you enter the final 10 days—the home stretch—the few people that make it this far almost always make a detrimental mistake: adhering to the popular advice from the many experts who claim it only takes 21 days to form a new habit.
Those experts are partly correct. It does take 21 days—the first two phases—to form a new habit. But the third 10-day phase is crucial to sustaining your new habit, long term. The final 10 days is where you positively reinforce and associate pleasure with your new habit. You’ve been primarily associating pain and discomfort with it during the first 20 days. Instead of hating and resisting your new habit, you start feeling proud of yourself for making it this far.
THE MIRACLE MORNING 30-DAY LIFE TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE (AND FAST START KIT)
When you commit to The Miracle Morning 30-Day Life Transformation Challenge, you will be building a foundation for success in every area of your life, for the rest of your life. By waking up each morning and practicing The Miracle Morning, you will begin each day with extraordinary levels of discipline (the crucial ability to get yourself to follow through with your commitments), clarity (the power you’ll generate from focusing on what’s most important), and personal development (perhaps the single most significant determining factor in your success).
If you’re feeling hesitant, or concerned about whether or not you will be able to follow through with this for 30 days, relax—it’s completely normal to feel that way. This is especially true if waking up in the morning is something you’ve found challenging in the past. Remember, we all suffer from RMS (Rearview Mirror Syndrome). So, it’s not only expected that you would be a bit hesitant or nervous, but it’s actually a sign that you’re ready to commit, otherwise you wouldn’t be nervous.
Step 1: Get The Miracle Morning 30-Day LTC Fast Start Kit
Click Here to get your free Miracle Morning 30-Day Life Transformation Challenge Fast Start Kit
Step 2: Plan Your First Miracle Morning for Tomorrow
Commit to and schedule your first Miracle Morning as soon as possible—ideally tomorrow (yes, actually write it into your schedule)—and decide where it will take place. Remember, it’s recommended that you leave your bedroom and remove yourself from the temptations of your bed altogether. My Miracle Morning takes place every day on my living room couch while everyone else in my house is still sound asleep.
Step 3: Read Page-1 of the Fast Start Kit and Do the Exercises
Read the introduction in your Miracle Morning 30-Day Life Transformation Challenge Fast Start Kit, then please follow the instructions, and complete the exercises. Like anything in life that’s worthwhile, successfully completing The Miracle Morning 30-Day Life Transformation Challenge requires a bit of preparation. It’s important that you do the initial exercises in your Fast Start Kit (which shouldn’t take you more than 30-60 minutes) and keep in mind that your Miracle Morning will always start with the preparation you do the day or night before to get yourself ready mentally, emotionally, and logistically for The Miracle Morning.
Step 3.1: Get an Accountability Partner [Recommended]
In Chapter 3: The 95% Reality Check, we discussed the undeniable link between accountability and success. All of us benefit from the support that comes from embracing a higher level of accountability, so it’s highly recommended—but not required—that you get a like-minded accountability partner to join you in The Miracle Morning 30-Day Life Transformation Challenge.
Are You Ready To Take Your Life To the Next Level?
What is the next level in your personal or professional life? Which areas need to be transformed in order for you to reach that level? Give yourself the gift of investing just 30 days to make significant improvements in your life, one day at a time. No matter what your past has been, you can change your future, by changing the present.
If you can take the time, try this schedule or a variation:
6:00 AM – Wake Up (Brush Teeth/Wash Face/Stretch)
6:05 AM – Silence (Meditate)
6:10 AM – Affirmations (If possible, read them out loud with conviction)
6:15 AM – Visualization (Vision Board/My Ideal Day)
6:20 AM – Write (Journal)
6:25 AM – Read (Self-help Books/Magazines/Articles)
6:40 AM – Exercise (Weightlifting, cardio)
7:00 AM – Get Ready (Shower/Dress/etc.)
My morning rituals include these activities.
● Donna Eden 5-minutes Energy Balancing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di5Ua44iuXc
I can’t say “I feel great” after this, but I feel that it’s worth the few minutes it takes, based on my respect for Donna Eden that I get after reading her book, Energy Medicine: Balancing Your Body’s Energies for Optimal Health, Joy, and Vitality, which has a 4.5 stars out of 5 average rating. http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Medicine-Balancing-Energies-Vitality/dp/1585426504/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
It also gives me a good start to my rituals because it doesn’t require any mindset or attitude, and it gets me into the mood of the process.
I’ve been doing EFT for the last 10+ years, and consider it an integral part of my health and personal growth. EFT is based on the acupuncture meridians, and helps to clear up emotional issues, as well as physical ones.
So, for my morning EFT routine, I scan my feelings and see where I feel bad. Perhaps some discouragement, disappointment, lack of vitality, etc. I then do some EFT on each of these issues until they are cleared. This is one practice where I do feel a change after doing it. There’s a good introductory video on EFT at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFKVVP8KXd4.
Here’s how I do the Happy & Grateful practice.
The first thing is to do it with a smile. After doing this practice for a year or more, I discovered that if I do it with a smile, it’s much more effective. (That’s one thing I’m excited about, is that I’m always looking to improve things in my life, and I can thus pass on tips to you and save you spending a year before you get to finding this tip, if ever.)
Another thing is to not rush this process. You need to do it slowly enough that you can feel the emotions that it generates. These emotions are an integral part of this process, as they help to give you a positive attitude, which is part of having a great day. It can help you to attract and be aware of opportunities to uplevel your life.
Next, don’t become mechanical about this, and just go through the motions. If you’re going to do that, you might just as well not bother. But, beware, because at one point, I found myself being more mechanical and not having the happiness that this process can bring, as I was in a hurry to finish my rituals and get on with my day. Luckily, I caught myself, and fixed this.
Here’s how I do it.
I first look at a photo of the ideal home I’d like to live in. it’s the wallpaper that fills my computer screen. After a minute or so, I close my eyes and imagine myself living the life situation that is my goal. I describe my vision, speaking out loud, although if your situation doesn’t allow that, it’s OK.
The general outline for me goes something like “I am living in a really-nice house in a peaceful country setting. The only sounds I hear are the birds and the bees and the breeze in the trees. My health is the best it’s ever been, due to my excellent diet, the supplements I take, all of the great healing work I get done, as well as the exercise I do daily. I have a substantial income from my Internet business, and I am constantly improving the lives of tens of thousands of people. I have great friends who love and respect me, as well as some romantic interests” And I go on filling in the details.
Notice that I do not say “I will be living…”, but I say it in the present tense. At the same time I do this, I generate the feeling I will have when I am experiencing all of this.
This part is very important, as it is what energizes the experience. Otherwise, you are just saying words and they will thus have little power. This ritual always makes me feel great, so if you work with this technique, be sure to create that feeling. In addition, what I am noticing lately is that when I do this practice and say things like I am filled with excitement for the day”, then this rolls over into my actual life right now.
One thing I notice as I create this site is how many sections interact and overlap with other sections. That’s because they’re all parts of what makes a happy life. So your morning rituals are going to involve personal growth, unlimiting your beliefs and setting goals. They will also (hopefully) include great nutrition and may also include some physical fitness.
So let me encourage you to explore this entire course and start making improvements in all areas. Keep in mind, however, that they needn’t be huge changes. In fact, it’s generally better to make smaller changes, and improve as you go. In addition, be sure to visit my site at GreatMiddleAge.com for my articles.
In this way, you’re more likely to stick with the upgrades and make them a permanent part of your life.
Now that you’ve got your attitude together and are starting your day right, it’s time for you to take a look at Natural Healing to get your physical health on track, so that’s the next section of this course.
