What I’ve been observing in the realm of morning routines as of late is a whole lot of should-ing all over ourselves.

We should be meditating for longer.
Should be writing down 65 gratitudes.
Should be waking up at 4:30am just to fit it all in pre-workout pre-email blowing up and pre-client calls.
Should be doing more more MORE.

When did our morning routine become so… routine?
<Insert Carrie Bradshaw musing at her computer meme> If it’s just another list of to-dos that you’re making yourself feel pressured to get to or guilty about skipping… is that improving upon your day?

We know that having moments of rest and restoration, moments of joy, and moments of play are crucial to our days, especially as business owners. Can you cultivate your morning routine around grounding your day in moments that open you up to receiving and bring you genuine pleasure?

As with all areas of life, there’s no perfect routine. No airtight formula. I thoroughly enjoy my morning routine not because it’s “right” but because it works for me.  I’m sharing it today in hopes that it inspires you not to replicate it, but to use it as a jumping off point for your own exploration.

Let it be personal.
Let it be  juicy.
Let it light you the F up.
And let yourself begin each wonder of a day from that sacred place.

This is my routine…

I like to wake up in the morning to the sun streaming into my NYC apartment, much to my partner’s chagrin (he’s team cave of darkness). That’s normally between 6 and 7am, sans alarm. I’m literally a house plant and will hop out of bed and look at the sun through my window. It’s said that this helps to regulate your own internal body clock and actually helps you to sleep more soundly at night, too.

I tongue scrape first because #oralhygeine, and then lather on some pure Argan Oil before I get to work gua sha-ing the heck out of my face (and damn, it feels so good). 

I’ll head to the kitchen and have a big glass of room temp water with half a lemon squeezed into it, a splash of apple cider vinegar, and some Himalayan pink sea salt, and take all of my vitamins (I call them morning snacks). Digestive system = awake and ready to face the day! 

I then make my cherished cup of coffee. Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Ground Coffee is my jam because it has Lion’s Mane and Chaga mushrooms in it, so I feel like I’m doing my bod an extra favor in the morning (you can use code CAROLYNSMOOTHIE for 10% off everything on the Four Sigmatic site BTW). I doctor up my coffee with a scoop of Vital Proteins Collagen Creamer and bring it right back into bed with me.

This is what goes down, in no particular order, back in bed: 

• Visualization – I watch my mind movie and read through my life goals in my notebook. This helps me to get into “manifesting my dreams and desires” mode at the start of each day. 
• Pleasure or self pleasure – With my partner or on my own, I love connecting with my body in the morning. 
• Meditation – I use Oak and have been meditating with the “unguided” option lately, even if it’s just for 10 minutes. 
• Reading my book – Whatever book I’m into these days, I go gangbusters on in the morning. I find that my focus is so much sharper and I absorb more at the beginning of the day. 
• Gratitude journal – 5 gratitudes, no matter how small (I’ve literally written that I’m grateful for multi-colored post-it notes before). 

This is key – *no phone* up until this point. It’s still on airplane mode and do not disturb from the night before. 

Once I’ve made my way through my routine, I’ll look over my to-dos, check in with my energy, and that dictates how I take things on as I craft my day. Oh, and then I do the New York Times mini crossword and try to beat my best time 🙂

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