My morning routine has become a daily habit now. I don’t know particularly when I started with this but it all happened gradually as I strived to restructure my life in order to bring in more harmony.
For now, the whole world is in a halt due to Corona Virus pandemic. My country (India) is in lockdown too. Everyone is feeling anxious about the future. But my morning routine remains unchanged. I think it is what is keeping me grounded. I don’t know how I would have been feeling if I did not have one. Not being able to go out anywhere, I would have lost all balance by now and in turn, spend my whole day getting bored and distracted by my phone. But because I spend my morning right, I don’t allow myself to be dismayed and in turn, spend my day thoughtlessly or filled in with anxiety.
Regardless of the uncertainty, I feel as long as we are alive, we must have hope and cherish the ‘today’ and try to spend it meaningfully. It is all the more important to have our hopes up now for the future and strive our best for long-lasting change so that when we return to our normal days, we are better individuals who love and respect ourselves and our world.
For me having a morning routine is what adds meaning to my days. My day starts with ease and I have a sense of purpose and satisfaction because of it. This is the time I spend for my growth, for my construction and my future self and goals. When I begin my day with a morning routine, my entire day goes smoothly and meaningfully.
So here is a look at my morning routine which I call my morning rituals:
- Currently waking up at 6 am. Mum and I sleep together so if she rises up along with me I make my bed instantly.
- Drink warm water
- Exercise. I use Kayla Itsines’ Sweat app which is a great app for home workouts. It takes around 30-45 minutes.
- Next, I meditate for at least 10 minutes just after exercising. I have been doing this only since the past few days and I am finding this to be really comforting. It not only helps me cool down my body after an intense workout but also cools down my mind making me feel more reconnected with myself and Universe. I express thankfulness for being alive and send Metta for all. Something I learned from my 10 days Vipassana Meditation retreat.
- Read my morning read for about 30-40 mins. My mother wakes up and brings me black tea as she also sits down for her own morning ritual. In the morning I don’t read fictional novels. I read only encouraging and self-help books. I just finished ‘A youthful diary’ by Daisaku Ikeda which helped me connect with my mentor more. In my morning read, these days I am also including NHR 3 (New Human Revolution) by Sensei Ikeda. I have decided that I will read NHR daily.
- Write my diary/ journal. I write just casually about how I am feeling, what thoughts I have, what I did the previous day, about the things I am grateful for, how I would want to spend my day and things like that.
- Then I write in my planner which I have started to use only since this year after one of my friends gifted me. There I write about what all I plan to do in the morning and then in the evening. By the time I finish this it is almost 8:30 am
- Shower
- Thereafter I sit down for my morning prayer (Chanting ‘Nam Myoho Renge Kyo’) for 1 hour.
This is how I spend my morning whether quarantined or not. Though sometimes the order does not go exactly as how I have written, I feel it is okay as long as I complete my morning ritual. This helps me have an uplifting state of mind.
With all the extra time we have got staying at home now, I would recommend everyone to not check their phone at least first thing in the morning and instead challenge oneself to start building one’s own morning routine. You can give just one hour to yourself upon waking up and spend it by reading for 20 minutes, doing light exercises, meditating for 10-15 minutes (I open 10 minutes meditation music in youtube) and just sit in silence and thankfulness or doing anything which you would like to do after waking up in your ideal kind of day.
Here is a quote for you,

Happiness is not readymade. I think happiness is a verb. There are things that we need to do and having a morning routine is one guaranteed thing that can bring you more peace, harmony and self-fulfilment in your days. It casts aside anxiety and fear for the future and instils hope and satisfaction in your days and in your life ~ something that is most needed in these trying times.
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