What’s your morning routine?
What’s Your Morning Routine?
I’m curious to hear if you have a morning routine that supports your well-being, or
how to do you get going? Do you drag yourself reluctantly out of bed or jump enthu-
siastically?
Making love, self-pleasuring, grab some carbs and drive to work, coffee, juice,
journaling, getting on your phone & laptop, or sleeping in, what’s your pattern? Feel
free to give us ideas in comments below.
Some people are blessed with an abundance of fuel that gets them up at dawn,
anticipating the unfolding of their day. Often for me, getting back into the 3D physical
plane has been challenging.
The extension of ‘daylight’ hours with led lights and tempting devices shifts our
circadian rhythm to late nights and slumbering mornings.
For some of us, the memory of having to get up for school and work is enough to
keep us under the covers. Our inner child becomes resistant. Do you have something
to look forward to, or responsibilities that you enjoy participating in?
I am both amused and inspired by the young, often male, doctors, athletes and
podcasters who speak about getting up at 4 am, hitting the gym before dunking in
cold water, journaling and preparing their nootropic cocktail, ready to work on one of
their many digital enterprises and income streams by 7 am. They are not my role mod-
els, though I’ve found much of the knowledge imparted by these routines to actually
be useful.
Quite the opposite, most of the old souls I hang out with are happy to come into
their day slowly, perhaps with the exception of those with young children. They would
prefer to meditate, listen to music, sip their tea, have some leisurely sex, maybe put on
some clothes and be ready for activity around 10 am. Where do you fall in that spec-
trum?
Since I’ve been writing about the aging process, I’m particularly aware that the
body and soul requires more discipline, rather than less as time goes on, to maintain a
vibrant state of living. It’s not enough to brew a cup of coffee and take a walk. The
present world, and the stresses most of us are under, requires an athlete-in-training at-
titude toward our daily routine. Is that true for you?
In my youth, I actually was a ’morning person’, meaning that I woke up early. Even
in my 20’s (which was the last time I had a 9-5 job), I would wake up at 4 am to medi-
tate, make myself a beautiful breakfast, leaving time to exercise or nap before work. I
never liked being rushed.
However, with self-employment, hormonal changes (and living with people who
like to stay up late), I became a person who enjoys waking up slowly when the sun hits
my face, stay in bed to read, meditate, slumber, and think about if there is any reason
to get out of bed.
I am very happy when I have morning appointments, and I ‘have’ to get up. Those
are often my best days. But to do that for no reason, except that it feels good, is usual-
ly not motivation enough.
So here’s the short version of my morning routine, and I will add some more de-
tails in the notes below. I future blogs I will explore intermittent fasting, dopamine re-
sets, bulletproof coffee/tea, nootropics.
Typical Morning:
Allowing sunlight to come into my bedroom.
In the state between sleep and waking, reviewing dreams and pondering what I
want to accomplish today.
Going outside to pee, putting on some music or listen to the stream outside my
window, tuning into nature.
Get back into bed, sitting up, reading or meditating.
It takes awhile for my brain to ‘kick in’, but at a certain point I can feel it engaging
in waking consciousness.
Stretching on a heated massage table, moving the body and some core warm
ups.
Barefoot walking.
Drinking warm alkaline water (a pint or quart) with lemon & some sea salt on my
tongue.
Jumping on trampoline long enough to get heart going.
Cold shower / cold plunge.
I often massage my whole body with coconut oil and brush it with a sauna brush.
About 3 days/week: physical exercise, gym, swim, bike ride.
2 hours after warm water: Matcha tea with butter and collagen. (Recipes in anoth-
er blog)
Breakfast 2-4 pm
——————
Morning Routine when in tropics:
Drink warm water
Get up for sunrise a few mile beach walk
Swim
Go to cafe to write
Late morning collagen/butter/caffeine
Breakfast around 1-2 pm
Further tips:
Setting goals for the day while in between waking and sleeping states: It really
helps me to be specific, if I have a few goals, to imagine what it feels like to engage
with the energy and complete them. What emotion would I feel to see that project
complete today?
I used to be a to-do list person (though I do keep them for specific reminders) and
my list would often expand to more than a dozen items. I found from teaching this ma-
terial, to limit my mental list to 3 items only. Sometimes only 2. That way if I get in a
productive mood, it’s ok to move with the energy and complete a bunch of ‘generator’
tasks. However it feels more satisfying to know that I can do 2 things in a day. For a lot
of people that would seem too simple, even outrageously lazy. That’s over 700 little
projects completed in a year! I don’t include in that list things such as shopping, sex
dates, laundry, making meals, hanging with friends, trips to hardware store. Those
things just flow naturally. The list is about projects that require me to overcome a cer-
tain inertia to focus on effectively.