Nine months ago, I published my Morning Routine article. Nine months later, I feel I need to post an update as my morning routine is no longer the routine I once had committed to. I’m at a stage on my journey where I feel healed. I know I’m healed. If you’re curious about what that might mean you can watch my video “are we ever really healed?” And in the interim, rooting into my truth: that I’m healed, my morning routine needed a big shift. Here’s My Anti Routine “Healed Girl” Morning Routine.
Over the winter I had some deep realizations. I realized that the spiritual community and commentary had convinced me that I was, “broken”. In that perception of myself: I believed I needed to “work on myself” every day, often first thing in the morning.
I’m not broken.
And while I’m not perfect and will always have improvements to make – I don’t need to consistently “work on myself”, especially not EVERY MORNING. I do still, very firmly, believe in the importance of a mindful morning. And I believe there are some practices that are important for maintaining a positive mindset. However, I no longer commit to a “morning routine”.
My Anti Routine “Healed Girl” Morning Routine:
My updated morning routine isn’t really a “routine”. I consider it an “anti-routine”.😅 I don’t participate in a regimented “routine” anymore. Instead, I have “mindful mornings”. There are two things that I do routinely, every morning. The first thing is that I meditate each morning, before I even get out of bed. The second thing is that I spend AT LEAST the first hour of my day off of my phone.
I love morning meditation to set the tone for the day. I typically stick to a 5–10-minute meditation that helps me to set the intention for the day and touch gratitude. I’ve been practicing meditation upon waking for nearly three months now and I love it.
When I was sticking to a strict routine in the morning I would wake up, use the bathroom, brush my teeth, wash my face, and make a cup of tea before sitting down to meditate.
In that “strict” routine.. I would spend the first 20 minutes of my day with my thoughts. Thoughts about the day prior. Thoughts about the day ahead. Thoughts about family. Thoughts about friends. Thoughts about work. Thoughts about men. The thoughts that came in during that first 20 minutes or so would flood in and would sometimes have a hard time rolling out. My morning meditation was much harder to stay in after 20 minutes of thoughts. With my new commitment to meditate first thing upon waking – the thoughts don’t have the time to creep in.
Meditating immediately upon waking is the best shift I’ve made in the last few years for my mental health.
You know what isn’t good for our mental health? Cell phones.
This is why the second step of my anti-morning routine is to just stay off my phone for at least an hour. I tend to wake early (between 4-5am) so its easier for me to stay off my phone in the morning – who is there to talk to at 4am?
My anti-morning-routine in Italy looks like a cornetto and a coffee.😆
My Mindful Mornings
After meditating, I get up, put on one of my favorite robes and do the morning things: bathroom, brushing, washing, etc. I make a cup of tea, go outside to get my feet on the grass and face in the morning sun. Then, I decide what I need that morning.
Some mornings I revisit pieces of my tried-and-true former routine. Maybe I will feel that I need to journal my feelings. Perhaps I feel that I need to write some affirmations down. Perhaps I don’t! Maybe I feel that I need to do some breathwork. Sometimes I do a morning yoga flow. Sometimes I put on some Abraham Hicks wisdom YouTube videos for 30 minutes or so.
Other times I just sit outside in silence sipping my tea, listening to the birds and the sound of the waterfall in our pond.
Getting my feet on the grass, under the morning sun, with my morning tea, coffee, or raw milk is part of my morning routine.
I still spend my morning tending to my mental wellbeing. However, I no longer treat myself as a project that needs to be “fixed”. I don’t need to journal my feelings every day. I don’t need to write down a page or two of affirmations every day. I don’t need to spend the first hour of every day in a regimented routine “training myself” to heal.
I am healed. So, I spend the first hour of my day mindfully in ease. In peace. In joy. In pleasure.
Watch my Musings about My Anti-Routine “Healed Girl” Morning Routine:
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