Have you ever thought about the way you start your morning, and how it can create a chain reaction through the rest of your day?
Imagine this, you get out of bed to find the power isn't working, which instantly puts you in a bad mood. You then can't have your morning coffee and shower, and before you know it your bad mood is spiraling out of control! You head off to work, telling yourself the story about how bad your morning has been. On arrival to work your colleague smiles brightly and asks how you are today? You then proceed to tell them about how terrible your morning has been, and continue the story on in your mind and your emotion (even though you have now arrived at work, where the power is on and everything is normal!) This bad mood continues throughout the day, you are not focused, and it is harder to work, so perhaps more bad things happen to add to your story.
Now that kind of scenario is not a normal one, but it can happen with all sorts of things, perhaps your children have taken a bit more organising so then you were late to start work, or maybe you had an argument with your partner first thing. Either way you look at it, whatever the scenario, do you really want to carry it on through the whole day!?
First things first!
The very first thing you could do in the morning, maybe even before you open your eyes, is set an intention for the day. Not a physical intention of what you want to happen, but more of a mindset and emotional intention.
How do you want to FEEL today? Happy/calm/confident/energetic.....
What kind of mindset do you want to carry? Easy/positive/productive/open.....
What are you grateful for in this moment before the day gets started?
Secondly
Do something that increases that feeling/emotional intention that you set. Perhaps you take a few moments to put on some music that makes you feel that way, or maybe you spend some time meditating on something that makes you feel wonderful!
Third
Do not look at social media or check emails until you are sure you are feeling good!!
Inviting the persuasion of other people into your mind before you are sure you're in a good place, could send you rocketing back into negatives very quickly.
Fourth
Move your body. Stretch, walk, breathe, just move your body in whatever way you feel is right. Get those endorphins flowing! Beat anxiety and stress by using all the natural processes you can to increase the good feeling chemicals in your body.
Fifth
Make an agreement with yourself to check in, throughout the day with where your mind is at, how you are feeling emotionally and if you are sticking to your intentions. If you have strayed slightly, that's OK! Be kind to yourself, gently remind yourself of where you want to be and re-focus.
Lockdown is a great time to practice and perfect your morning mindset routine, learn what works for you and what doesn't, so by the time you go back to work, you will have it sorted!
