Simple Morning Moments: What They Look Like, and How to Create Them
Morning moments are my absolute favorite. There is something so special about waking up and feeling the excitement of a fresh new day. Whatever happened the day before is past and it is time to embark on a new adventure.
The morning is uniquely special because it is a time when your brain is particularly malleable and open to new ideas. How you choose to harness this openness is up to you … if you are looking to start your day with gratitude and joy, here are some tips to help you on your journey to creating a morning routine filled with simple moments:
It starts the night before:
So many of us set the goal to “wake up early”. We set the alarm for 7:00am and have every intention of springing up when it goes off. Then we go about our evening, watching TV until 10:30, sitting on our phones in bed until 11… and find ourselves unable to fall asleep until 12:00am.
This is not a recipe for success in creating some simple morning moments. In order to truly have the best start to your day, you have to end your day with the intention to have a great next morning. This might mean sacrificing watching the next bingeable episode of TV or putting your phone on “Do Not Disturb” 1 hour before bed. These small actions will help set you up for success in the morning.
What are the things that you love?
When thinking about simple morning moments that you can work into your routine, it’s important to personalize it. Not every health influencer’s 5:00am routine will be the right fit, so you have to take a few minutes and think about what will make you excited in the morning. For me, it’s my morning cup of coffee that I get to drink nice and slow while reading a book on the couch (yes, I wake up super early so I can have 30 minutes of uninterrupted reading and it is glorious). So, what are the things that you enjoy the most during the start of a new day?
Is it a morning walk with a friend? A workout class? Journaling? Scrolling Pinterest and dreaming of your future while listening to your favorite songs?
Whatever it is for you, let’s talk about how to work it into your everyday morning routine.
Creating the Structure:
Now that you have a small list of your favorite simple moments and things you want to include in your mornings, it’s time to compile them into a morning routine that will ACTUALLY work. To do this, let’s take a look at the habit loop:
Very simply, the habit loop posits that in every action, there is a cue/trigger (something that initiates an action), the action/behavior that follows the cue, and a reward (the outcome from the behavior). Now, let’s take a look at how this could work to help you organize simple moments into your morning routine:
Example of a Simple Morning Moments you want in a routine:
- Waking up at 7:00am
- A morning walk
- Journaling
- Making the bed
- Coffee
A morning routine built with the habit loop might look something like this:
CUE: The alarm goes off at 7am
HABIT: You get out of bed to turn it off.
REWARD: You have started your day off with a win because you didn’t hit snooze!
CUE: You turn to look at your bed.
HABIT: You make the bed.
REWARD: Now you have a clean space to work in throughout the day and a cozy place to sleep at night.
CUE: You see the walking clothes you laid out the night before.
HABIT: You put on your clothes and shoes and go for your morning walk.
REWARD: You are getting in healthy movement and will have more energy throughout the day.
CUE: You get back from the walk and go into the kitchen. You begin making coffee.
HABIT: While the coffee is brewing, you pick up your journal that is next to the coffee pot, and jot down some affirmations and intentions for your day.
REWARD: You have a hot cup of coffee and a strong mindset to take you through the day.
Whatever your “wants” are out of a morning routine, it is important to breakdown the way that you will move from one habit / simple moment to the next so you can eventually cut out the “thinking time” of your morning.
There is only so much willpower that we have in the day, and habits allow us to act without having to use up all our willpower thinking about getting out of bed. With habits, we just do it!
This strategy is extremely effective, and I encourage you to try and create your own morning routine filled with simple moments you love. It will change the way you look at each new day, and provide you with so much joy, even in the littlest things like reading with a coffee.