Wednesday 29 February 2012

It's early...


I've been waking up at 5.30 am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays these past few weeks. It is by choice, though I may not have been of sound mind when choosing that choice. A pre-dawn boot-camp Groupon sounded positively invigorating when I signed up in January. And it is... once I can get out of bed and into the dark, wet Seattle mornings to the Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Association building.

When I wake up I tell myself, "Don't think, Alisha." Auto-pilot is the best way to get myself there.

After totally working the squats for an hour I do feel awesome, as anticipated. I signed up for this punishment not only for the physical benefits, but also just to remind myself that, not only can I wake up at 5.30 am to work-out, I am capable of quite a bit more. Starting my morning like this helps me to focus and get the momentum going for the rest of the day.

I'm totally into morning rituals to give me a bit of rhythm. These days, my ritual/ get-out-of-bed bribe is listening to my audio version of The Help in the car on the way to boot camp. (Audio is a great way to read The Help by the way. Those voice actors are something else!). It's so good I often find myself doing several loops around the neighborhood before parking to hear what's going to happen next.

When I wasn't doing morning work-outs, I started my day like this...
It's an immunity tea that really wakes the body up. The cayenne gives that little extra kick. (Be careful not to inhale any surface cayenne while drinking, now that is a kick.) While sipping I write my morning pages and set my intentions for the day. Sometimes I read for 20 minutes, just because. Then I drink drip coffee to off-set the immunity tea -- we can't be perfect.

I love having rituals to help me get going and stop me from reinventing the wheel every morning when faced with a new day. Even though I've been waking up and getting on with things successfully for three decades, it's always a bit of a shock to get started, isn't it? Rituals ease me right in...

What are your morning rituals?
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