Wake Me Up: Morning Positivity - Morning Routine for Self Love and Gratitude

Episode Date: January 6, 2020

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If you'd like to enjoy Wake Me Up completely ad-free and get access to exclusive bonus content, check out the link in the show notes for the Wake Me Up premium feed. Good morning and welcome to Wake Me Up. The way this podcast works is pretty simple. Just turn on an episode while you're still in bed. All you have to do is follow along as I guide you through a refreshing morning routine. It's sure to leave you relaxed and excited. about your day. To have consistently great mornings, you really just need to have a regular

morning routine. That's why wake me up works. If you tune in consistently, you'll become a morning person in no time. And you'll find that if you consistently win your morning, you'll consistently win your day. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave a review. It would be really helpful to show others how they might benefit from the podcast as well. And please send me feedback at wake meuppodcast.com. So as you're lying there in bed, you can just listen to me as we take the next few moments to get up. You can roll onto your back and bring some gentle movement to your hands and feet. Circle your wrists and ankles, whatever feels good.

Open your eyes and use the morning light to help you wake up. Begin to take some deep breaths. Draw the air into your belly. Hold it for a moment. And exhale. Keep breathing just like that. Now let the movement spread to your arms and legs. Nothing fancy.

Just get the blood moving a little bit. as you're starting to wake up now, you don't need to worry about the day ahead. It will come and go just like every other day. There will inevitably be good moments and bad ones in today and every other day. And that's okay. You've handled good and bad before, and you'll continue to for the rest of your life. You have everything you need. You're enough.

and you are worthy of a good day. Your good day starts right here, right now. So take one more deep breath in, and as you exhale, roll over on your side, place your feet on the ground, and stand up. Feel your feet on the floor. Notice the blood beginning to move through your body, and allow yourself a minute to come to life.

after a night of rest. Take a gentle stretch. Reach your arms to the sky. Now that you're beginning to warm up to the day, let's take a moment to get ready for a bit of meditation. Have a sip of water if you'd like, and make your way to a comfortable, seated position. You can sit anywhere, just don't sit in bed.

And while you get situated, I'm going to share my tip of the day. which is a bite-sized piece of information that will help augment the morning routine you build with this podcast. Nowadays, we're all pummeled with news, social media, emails, and notifications for everything imaginable. Studies have consistently shown that this is stressing us out. I've felt it, and I'm sure you have too. The baseline of stress we all deal with is more now than it was 15 or 20 years ago. The connectedness of life that's available now is great in so many ways.

It makes communication quicker and more efficient. But it also keeps us from moments of stillness and solitude, when we can really think about life and organize our thoughts. Carving out time for yourself is becoming, increasingly important and trendy. Self-care, we like to call it. And doing that in the morning is one of the most effective times for it.

Many successful people, CEOs and the like, refuse to look at their phones in the first moments of the day for this exact reason. But if you're like me, you're hardwired to look at your phone when you get up. I want to see if I missed anything. That's why this podcast is structured like it is. It could just be a morning meditation podcast, but it's not.

It guides you from bed to the start of your day and gives plenty of time for you to settle into a calm and focused mindset. So I really hope you make a habit out of tuning into the podcast every morning. Hijack your tendency to look at your phone and use it for something positive instead. The news can wait 15 minutes. Responding to that email or text can wait 15 minutes. You'll be better off because of it. Now that you've found a comfortable seat,

you can just listen to my voice as I guide you through a meditation. Today, we're going to focus on self-love and acceptance. So you can gently close your eyes and breathe deep into your belly. Hold that breath for just a moment before exhaling slowly. Take a few more deep breaths just like that at your own pace. As you take these breaths, notice any sounds around you, like the fan or street noise outside. Begin to draw your attention inward. Notice your chest, rising and falling with each breath.

Notice how you're sitting. and feel if you need to make any adjustments to get comfortable. While you sit, thoughts may come to mind, and that's perfectly normal. You can just note the thought, and watch it drift by like a cloud in the sky. Now, bring your attention to your heart. Feel it beating in your chest. If you'd like to, you can bring your hands and place them on top of your heart, but that's up to you. Think of a time you were really proud or glad to be yourself.

It can be anything. It doesn't need to be big or important. Bring the image of that moment to mind and just watch it play back. Notice all of the details in this moment. Where you are, what you're doing and feeling. Who else is there? Let yourself bask in reliving this moment. How amazing it is that you got to live this moment, that you have this as a memory in your brain.

Feel the sense of joy, of gratitude in your heart because of this moment. And let this sense of gratitude radiate through you. It spreads throughout your body. Down your arms to your fingers. Down your chest and your back. down your legs, all the way to your toes. And last, up your neck, your face, and around your head. You can begin to bring yourself back to the present moment.

Leave that memory behind. But bring the sense of gratitude with you. Feel the sensation of sitting in the chair. Feel your feet on the floor. As that memory shows, you are a special and unique person and just think you could have another moment like that

happen today you can begin to wiggle your fingers and toes bringing a little movement back to the body take a deep breath in and as you exhale slowly open your eyes take a moment to gather yourself

there's no rush you have plenty of time. Now, it's time for the send-off. In this final portion of the podcast, I share a bit of positivity to motivate you for the day ahead. Have you ever changed your mind about something? Experience something and felt one way, and then later felt completely different about it?

For most of us, this is fairly common. Or, have you ever had a thought that surprised you? It wasn't a thought you would expect to have. That's also pretty normal. These point to something really simple, but really important. Our thoughts are not static. They change all the time. But the core of your person, your true self, that remains.

In other words, you are not your thoughts. Those are just neurons firing in your brain. and they don't define you. One thing's for sure. Humans like stories. They're everywhere, from TV to books to podcasts, but we also create them in our lives. Our brains string thoughts together into narratives.

And we use these narratives to make sense of things. It's how we understand the passage of time, our development as a person, and the phases of our life. And the more we repeat those narratives, the more we ingrain them. But it doesn't mean that those narratives are necessarily true. They're just thoughts, after all, and we are not our thoughts. Or maybe the narrative is true, but it's just not true anymore. Have you ever made a career change, ended a relationship, moved to a different place,

or changed your lifestyle? That's changing your narrative. Like an old t-shirt, you decide your old narrative doesn't fit anymore. So you move on to wearing a new one. So consider the thoughts you have about yourself. Are they positive, negative? Probably a mix of both. What's the narrative you have about yourself?

Maybe there's more than one. Do you like that narrative? When you think about that narrative, does it fit? Or have you outgrown it? Only you will know. If you feel like a narrative isn't serving you, remember that it's just a bunch of thoughts strung together. And you are not your thoughts.

You are greater than that. But you don't need to get rid of your old shirt, i.e., your old narrative. Sometimes old shirts are really comfortable. Just know that you can get rid of it at any time. You can rewrite your narrative whenever you'd like. Because don't forget, you are special. You have done great things, experienced great moments, like the memory you recollected earlier during meditation.

So whatever narratives you have, I hope you choose to write ones that make you feel warm inside and proud of yourself. And if they don't, maybe it's time to try on a new one. That's all for today, friends. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave a review or share it with a friend. I'd also love to hear from you.

So send me your feedback at wake me uppodcast.com. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful day.