I watched a video this morning that talked about the morning rituals of successful people. Basically, it said that all successful people have something in common. They have a morning ritual they go through every morning before they start their day. Whether it be exercise or meditation, visualizing or reading, successful people know they must focus themselves to have success in their day.
I too have a morning ritual, though I’m still working on making it an everyday ritual. I have noticed that the days I DON’T do my ritual, usually end up as bad days. There is something to this. The morning ritual helps us to focus our energy and get in the right frame of mind to start our day.
I start my morning ritual with exercise. AFTER I drink a couple cups of coffee of course! Though I will admit, I’ve been thinking about doing away with the coffee. I switched to decaf years ago, so it’s not the caffeine I crave, it’s just the morning ritual I’ve had for the longest amount of time.
After the morning workout I eat a good breakfast, shower, get dressed and head over to my art studio.
This is where the heart of my morning ritual happens. I start with reading. I’m currently reading a book called “Simple Abundance” by Sarah Ban Breathnach. Before that, I read a random chapter from “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life” by Wayne Dyer. In the past, I’ve read a verse from the Bible or another inspirational book. The idea of the reading is to put myself in the frame of mind I need to be in before I meditate/pray.
Once I finish my reading, I start with a prayer. Sometimes it’s for someone or something specific, sometimes I pray for the entire world. I always end with the Reiki prayer that goes something like this:
“Just for today,
I will not worry,
I will not be angry,
I will do my work honestly,
I will be grateful for all the many blessings in my life,
I will be kind to all living beings.”
After my prayers, I meditate with my eyes closed for anywhere between 5-25 minutes. Depending on the day, sometimes it’s difficult to remain quiet for that long. The most important thing about meditation is the practice. It’s never perfect and I’m not trying to be perfect. My goal is to quiet my mind and go within. To connect to my higher power, Divine Source or whatever name/label you give it.
I always feel peaceful and centered when I go through my daily morning ritual. I can get through my day in joy, peace and love. A big part of my prayer is being grateful. Gratitude can do SO much to change your attitude! Gratitude opens the door for more.
Some of my most inspired (In Spirit) paintings and pieces of art come from my meditation practice. It feels to me like my soul is directly connected to my spiritual source when I meditate. The only way to describe it is it’s like Spirit is whispering ideas in my head or sometimes shows me an image in my mind’s eye while I meditate. Many people have told me they can sense the higher energy from these paintings. I’ve always said, they aren’t MY ideas, I’m merely the channel they come through.
Some days I will also write in my journal, things I’m grateful for or things I need to get out of my head.
Some days I feel pressure to get right to work and skip my morning ritual. I always regret that decision. Now that I’ve learned that lesson, I skip my ritual less and less. It usually takes something urgent and dramatic to make me skip it. A call from one of the kids, traveling out of town, camping or just staying home on vacation.
My morning ritual means a lot to me. I don’t think I would last long without it. The exercise gives me energy, the meditation gives me inner peace. I highly recommend giving it a try if you don’t already!
Paula's Blog 