It’s so easy to sleep with a smartphone next to my bed. I can set 5 alarms to go off anytime between 4AM and 6AM “just in case my body really feels like it needs more rest”. Ever said that to yourself?
If I don’t feel like getting up at 5AM, but the 3rd alarm has my eyes open I can check my email, the news or a Facebook feed until I warm up a bit. After all, it is just SO COMFY in my warm bed.
OK just a quick retweet to the practice twitter page and then I am out of bed… then an Instagram favorite…
Next thing you know you are sprinting – feverishly looking for your keys and, if you are lucky, you nab a bagel as you dash through the door with different colored socks on.
Ever been your reality?
Or something that sounds similar?
This isn’t a smartphone bashing post, nor an article on the importance of a proper breakfast before you start adjusting(working). Instead this is an article about setting an intention AND following through to be at your best ALL day long.
I am not here to tell you that the first thing you need to do is hit that alarm, spring out of bed and sing amazing grace. Instead my urge here is to do something every morning that is aligned with who you are and WHY you are actually getting out of bed.
Why you are getting out of bed on a Monday is not “just to go to work” – instead it’s to serve humanity. All work in some capacity is a service to humanity, and I feel like this needs less explanation from one fellow chiropractor(entrepreneur) to another, but I digress… and that being said, perhaps you are on your way to the office to make money so that your children can have a great education.
Perhaps you are up early in the morning to make breakfast for your family or workout so that you can continue to have excellent health. No matter the reason WHY, what I believe is important is to have a supporting morning routine that sets the stage for everything that follows.
Every morning when I get up, I always leave 20 minutes to get out of bed, feed my energetic dogs and head downstairs where a round leather pillow is waiting patiently for my gluteus maximus. My routine has changed through the years – for one year I wrote every morning as my meditation.
One year I participated by alternating guided meditations by Wayne Dyer (the man has 3 that I have cycled through). For a couple months I did 5 minutes of meditation, 10 minutes of yoga and 5 minutes doing between 100-120 pushups. I currently sit still in silence for 10 minutes and then rehydrate from the night of sleep (recall I live in dry Colorado) before I head to my computer to write for the morning. Dr Tom does 20-30 minutes MINIMUM of tai chi and yoga, with the occasional hike of the ski hill.
Whatever your routine, the important thing is to do it for 10-20 minutes AND be intentional about it.
The key word here: intentional.
When you reach for a vibration first thing in the morning that allows you to express your fullest, most true, authentic potential – there is only one thing that can happen. The rest of the day you WILL attract aligned experiences.
Esther and Jerry Hicks are 2 of my favorite authors and probably the people who have largely pioneered the recent wave of popularity in the “law of attraction.”
The powerful “Law of Attraction” in and of itself is: the essence of that which is like unto itself, is drawn. In other words, your thoughts are now attracting another thought that is its “Vibrational Match”.
Therefore as you put feel goods out to the world, you attract more feel goods. If you put negative feelings out there, you are creating momentum in the wrong direction from your ideal, aligned and happy values. Literally the law of attraction can be stated as “what you think about comes about.” Or to upgrade to one of my favorite quotes by fellow Chiropractor, John Demartini,
“What you think about and thank about, comes about.”
The first time I heard this my innards were a jumble, for years and years I was brainwashed to believe that like REPELS like. From science class, or who knows where, let’s just say it was around 6th grade – I based my philosophy in the old scientific-based properties of magnetism. You know the one that states like REPELS like. Do you remember this from science class?? The N pole of a magnet will always repel another N pole – versus attracting another magnets opposite charged S pole.
It wasn’t until I was nearing 30 that I first heard the opposite and thus had to un-wash decades of brain junk. For years and years, I applied the idea of magnetism to my personal life. Thus I thought that I would literally attract more of what I did NOT think about, and repel that which I did think about. Yeah I wasn’t a happy young adult and many of my formative teen years were spent in emotional turmoil.
Hindsight is always 20-20.
The law of attraction works, and friend I can tell you first hand that you will ALWAYS attract more of the way you are currently feeling, I quote Esther Hicks:
”The one who fears something the most is the one who has it most activated in their vibration. And so, it is logical that they would experience it.”
Yet knowing this concept and owning it to the point of action, to the point of creating change in your life are 2 vastly different things. And I struggled with this change for many long years, until I found the key.
The key here, as alluded to before, is not just committing to change, although that is a necessary step, but also to be intentional about it. Meaning that you are committed to:
a) getting out of bed
b) not cruising your smartphone with a bunch of someone else’s values
c) waking up at your intended time etc. etc.
On top of that you are going to fill those spaces with your aligned values intentions.
The best way to align your values is to create time/space/silence with God. This can look different for anyone. I have a friend who spends time in nature. Some people run for an hour first thing in the morning. Again, I sit on a pillow.
Whatever you do, or are rather NOT doing, be sure that you are creating space for yourself. If running for an hour is your thing, great. But as I have been reminded so many times, silence is vital. If you would run for 45 minutes and sit in meditation (or prayer) for 15 minutes, you might not get as much endurance with your workout, but your soul, your spirit, the essence of who you are would be turbo charged for the day!
Esther Hicks’ challenge is to reach for the happy vibrations first thing in the morning and to do it for 30, 60 or 90 days. Once you do that once, and all it takes is one stretch, then just by the results you will never reach for anything unaligned in the morning ever again.
Rumi is quoted as saying,
“The breeze at dawn has something to tell you, don’t go back to sleep.”
Rumi is right. If you are ever startled away early in the morning with a thought or an idea, write it down. If it’s close enough to the start of your day, say 4AM – get going on the day with that idea.
The mind is fresh and fertile first thing in the morning, and the seeds you sow in the morning will be what you reap all day long.
What will you intentionally commit to starting today?
Guest written by associate coach, Dr. Jay Breitlow