Be mindful how you start your day

The power of routines is immense. And the routines we do in the morning set the tone for the entire day. So, how about you? How do you feel in the morning? Are you able to catch your mind when you’ve barely left the bed and see what thoughts are coming through? Do you feel happy to be alive another day on planet earth, in a beautiful body and full of excitement and anticipation for the day to come? Or do you start thinking about the stressful meeting waiting for you at work, the difficult conversation you need to have and how you’ll manage to do that much needed shopping before picking up the kids?

The morning is when our mind is the most potent because it has been refreshed after a full night of sleep. So it’s really important to be aware of what thoughts we spend time on in the morning. Whatever we spend time thinking about, we give it our energy. And eventually, whatever we think often or strong enough will tend to manifest. That’s how much of a power we all have.

I’ve mentioned how important it is to focus on the positive before. That advice applies even more in the morning! In the morning, we have an opportunity to uplift our spirit or to stay preoccupied with material concerns depending on what energy we focus on. In a universe made manifest through duality, there’s a simple choice: think positive or think negative.

Thinking positive means you focus on the positive. Sure, there’s negative stuff wherever you look for it, it’s inevitable. But there’s much positive in plain sight, but our ego mind is expert at forgetting it. Be grateful to be alive, to be healthy, to be surrounded by your family friends and pets. Be grateful for yesterday and all the good fun you’ve had. Be grateful for all your skills, your gifts, your potential. Be grateful for all those things you still want to do in life: today or long term. Be grateful for eating as much as you like, for having a roof over your head, for having enough money to support yourself. The list does not end, and you’ll make it your own. This gratefulness exercise will raise your vibes. It’s sometimes called “count your blessings”. It’s up to you to stay on this high for the rest of your day: be gentle with yourself, do not dive into negativity and remember that all is a matter of energy and perception.

I know, easier said than done!

Thinking negative means you linger onto your past hurts: yesterday, last month, 5 years ago and when you were a child. All may not come consciously to your mind but the energy of unfinished business is there and stays with you.

So, what do you prefer : positive or negative? The trick is that in reality, we forget about that. We forget we have the choice. We get sucked into repetitive thinking patterns (i.e. rumination) and before we know it, that light-hearted sunny morning turns into a descent into worries about all the things we have to do before the sun sets. So, do yourself a favour: start your day with positive thoughts. Be mindful of your thoughts. Don’t let your ego drag you down.

Negativity is like a parasite: it needs to be fed by the host. And you are the host, your mind is. When you think about the negative stuff, you reinforce it, you give it your energy. When you starve it, it goes down in size and before you know it, it will be gone (but it will fight to say alive before that…). Denying your problems and magical wishful thinking is not what I am talking about here.

In fact, beware of Spiritual Bypassing!

You sure need to set up time to sort out your issues, but that does not mean that ruminating about those stuff should be a constant! And that makes for a huge difference.

Love is the energy that dissipates negativity. Negativity is made of emotions and thoughts that do not know love. They are the opposite of love. Love is constructive, reinforcing, supportive. When you bring love into your life, negativity seems diminished until it eventually evaporates. The sky looks brighter, the problems seem smaller, life seems simpler. Incorporate daily routines in your life, those that make you feel the love that you hold inside your heart, and your negativity will be consumed from within.

When you have healthy routines, there’s no need to travel to the other side of the world in a work hard, play hard attitude. You don’t need to leave behind your problems for a week, pretend your life is fabulous and then come back home and pick up everything where you’ve left it at—and feel miserable again deep inside. When your routines support you, you’re fine here and now, at home. Why would you need to go anywhere else?