My morning routine
A morning routine has now become a big topic, it feels like everyone does something for themselves in the morning. To give you inspiration, but also to relieve you of any stress, I have written down my Morning routine for you here.
Preparing for my morning routine
The night before
For me, the preparation for my morning routine clearly begins the night before. I don’t usually manage to do my evening routine myself, but that’s my goal for 2022. Unfortunately, I still fall asleep on the couch quite often. However, I notice that I wake up much better and start my morning routine when the evening was better.
My ideal evening routine is when we go for a walk after dinner. Then I get ready for bed, with all the trimmings in the bathroom. Then I go to bed and do a bit of relaxed yoga on the bed, or at least stretch. I like listening to something to fall asleep. Reading also helps me fall asleep quickly.
I’ve banned my cell phone from my side of the bed for a while. Fortunately, Max, my boyfriend, has a different sleep-wake cycle than me. So when he goes to bed himself, he takes my cell phone to the charger in the living room. I have noticed that I sleep better without my phone next to my head and that I wake up easier.
The morning
Getting up is the start of a wonderful new day. For me, the perfect morning starts when I take my temperature directly after the alarm clock rings (I use NFP and have a cycle computer) and then get up. I also set the alarm 5 minutes later than the hour, so I get up at 5:05 am, so that I don’t have to wake up and hear the news. It was like that for quite a while and stressed me out first thing in the morning. Now I wake up, mostly to good music, and then I can get up easily 😊.
Here is the main reason why my cell phone is no longer within reach of the bed. I was always on my cell phone in the morning and checked the latest information. That really didn’t do me any good. Since I only pick up my cell phone after about an hour in the morning, my morning is much calmer and more attentive.
Love for the body
Oil pulling
Yes, I know everyone is talking about oil pulling at the moment, and I have to admit that I can’t say for sure if it really helps me. But first to the facts.
What is oil pulling?
It should serve to detoxify, because all kinds of bacteria have accumulated in the mouth over the night when lying down. In addition, it should help to strengthen the oral flora overall and can support the healing of all kinds of diseases.
Oil pulling can be done with different oils. Coconut oil in particular, but also sunflower oil, linseed oil or sesame oil can also be mixed with various essential oils if required. I personally use coconut oil mixed with flaxseed oil along with peppermint and grapefruit oils. With essential oils, please make sure that they can also be taken internally!
How is oil pulling done?
I start tongue cleaning as soon as I get up. The tongue is cleaned with a tongue scraper. This can help reduce bad breath and is intended to remove plaque from the tongue. The reflex zones of the tongue are uncovered again, and the oil pulling can unfold its full effect.
Then I put a teaspoon of my oil mixture in my mouth. A tablespoon of oil is recommended, but that was always too much for me. A teaspoon is therefore ideal for me. The oil mixture should now be swished around in the mouth for about 20 minutes. Keep moving the oil in your mouth.
In the meantime, 20 minutes in the morning seems like a long time, I take care of the apartment a bit. I clean up, make my tea, set up my glass of hot lemon-ginger water and get everything ready in the bathroom.
When the 20 minutes are up, I spit the oil into a paper towel. Fun fact on the side, that’s almost the only reason why we still use kitchen paper, unfortunately I haven’t found a better way to dispose the oil yet. If you have a more sustainable idea here, please bring it along 😉.
Facial care
When I get to the bathroom, I stand on my acupressure mat. I love to stand on it most of the time. On days when I don’t feel like it, I don’t do it, either. I noticed that my sensitivity to pain is strongly related to my menstrual cycle, and I don’t have to, and I don’t want to torture myself with it. Most of the time the acupressure is good for me, and then I enjoy standing on it during the time in the bathroom. That’s why it’s so important that I get everything ready beforehand. Stepping off the mat and back on isn’t that comfortable 😉.
After rinsing my mouth out again, I brush my teeth. After that, I clean my face and while I let the NKM toner work, I take my supplements and sip some of my hot lemon-ginger water. Then I do a little facial massage with the intensive oil.
After that, I leave the bathroom. Incidentally, my feet are always warm after acupressure, a nice side effect.
Love for the soul
After giving love to my body, it is now the turn of the soul.
With my tea, I go to my meditation place. Some time ago, I treated myself with a real meditation cushion in the shape of a crescent. That’s where I sit best and can relax and sit upright for a long time. This is where I light my candles. I like it in the morning just to have the candles as a light source.
Little reminder – my affirmation for the day
Then I draw a card from Laura Seiler’s deck. Those are wonderful affirmations for the day. Funnily enough, I often draw the same cards, I can probably work a lot on the topics 😉.
I also read Veit Lindau’s daily impulse. From what touched me the most in the morning, I make my affirmation for the day. I then post my little reminder for the day on Instagram, which I create on Canva.
Here I really got into the habit of posting directly from Canva. So I’m less tempted to browse Instagram. My morning starts best when I just dedicate it to myself or only deal with myself. As soon as I start looking at the lives of others, I am no longer with myself. And since I do that enough throughout the day (whether through my work or on social media), the time in the morning is just for me.
Meditation
After that, I do a meditation by Laura Seiler from her app. I now choose a meditation each day on a topic that I need or feel that day. Up until a few months ago, I actually did the same meditation every day. That gave me consistency and a certain security, because it always took the same amount of time, and I was able to organize the time better.
The meditations last from less than 10 minutes to about 20 minutes, so very doable. If I have more time, I also like to do a meditation by Veit Lindau in the homodea app. His meditations are often more intense for me and last around 30-40 minutes.
Yoga
After the meditation, I roll out my mat and do a little yoga. Always with Mady Morrison on Youtube. I linked my little playlist for you. I always do the 7 videos in a row, day after day. Monday the first, Tuesday the second, etc. I almost like the unit on Sunday best.
After yoga, I’m always really awake and feel fit and ready for the day. I just love the feeling after yoga!
Journaling
After the mat is put away, I sit down at my bullet journal. Every day, I answer the same questions about the day before.
- What was my learning?
- What brought me joy?
- For what was I thankful for?
- What made me happy?
Then I look at how the day before went with my goals for the year. For example, I aim to be physically fit and healthy. So I think to myself, was I sporty yesterday and did I eat healthy? I answer that in a small list to check off, which I can then transfer into a large overview every week. This gives me an overview of my goals for the year and the extent to which I have pursued or achieved them.
Writing down and reflecting on these points helps me get in the mood for the day and start the day in a grateful mood. In addition, I always have my goals in mind and am constantly working on them.
What you must not forget here – I have had a bullet journal for about 5 years. I’ve been working on myself and my inner attitude for a long time, and I’m a very disciplined person who tends to control too much. This means that I may be able to achieve one or the other faster, but I also often get in my own way. Therefore, nothing I write here should cause you stress. Everything is just my way, which is good for me. I have adapted the various points to myself and my needs over the years. So find what is good for you and what helps you and just let my explanations inspire you.
Love for the day ahead
So after I’ve finished my morning routine for the mind, almost 2 hours have passed.
Sport
If I’m working from home, or it’s the weekend, I can still do sports. I’ve noticed that exercising in the morning serves me best. Sometimes I eat a little something before exercising or drink a vegetable or fruit juice.
Prepare
Then it’s time for making food for Koda, our dog, and preparing and packing my food and drink for the day when I go to work.
I then only prepare myself in the bathroom by putting on my make-up and getting dressed.
Start of day
When I am then in the home office, my day begins, and I can start my everyday work full of energy.
If I drive to work instead, I still have a good half hour to listen to the radio. That’s the only time of the day (other than Instagram and rarely Facebook) that I listen to the news. In the last 2 years in particular, I’ve noticed how much the news can spoil my mood.
Small detour, news consumption
A lot of bad things happen in the world – but also a lot of good things that we rarely hear about. The world-weariness that I often had, however, does neither me nor the world any good. I can see for myself what I can do to make this world a better place, but unfortunately I don’t have the opportunity to change anything else. In order to spare myself this stress and also to not be completely uninformed, I have therefore made it a habit to listen to the news in the morning and then not for the rest of the day.
Summary of my morning routine
So, what steps do I take in summary in my morning routine?
- Preparation
- Evening routine, the day before
- Getting up
- Body
- Oil pulling
- Facial care
- Soul
- Affirmation
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Journaling
- Day
- Sports if possible
- Prepare
- Start to the day
What is your morning routine? Or what did inspire you from my morning routine? Write me here in the comments or under the post on Instagram 😊.
Have a fabulous day now, morning or evening.
