Guys, I have been illuminated.

Unfortunately, it did not come in the form of enlightenment like it did to Siddhartha, nor did I reach an inner peace far beyond the grasps of human consciousness.  It did not come in the form of light, nor music, nor deep thought. Rather it came in the beautiful form of my friend Blanche as she told me about a new thing she was doing: The Miracle Morning.

For those of you who know me, know that I am constantly late wherever I go.  It upsets me to no end and yet, I find myself doing it over and over again.  And that is how Blanche started to tell me about the Miracle Morning. Created by Hal Elrod, the idea (she told me, as I have not read the book but she highly recommends it) is to wake up early each morning and to set a time just for yourself to do a routine before you go on with your day. At first I was skeptical, but curiosity got the best of me and I did it and I loved it. I like the fact that it allows me to focus on myself and what I need to do. It gives me a purpose to wake immediately up. In fact, it gets me excited to wake up.

So, what exactly is Miracle Morning? These are the steps as told to me by Blanche:

  1. Go to bed early (the most difficult of the steps) and as you go to sleep, think of something you did that day that you are grateful for or proud of.  Tell yourself that tomorrow is going to be great, smile, think of some things you’d like to do.
  2. Wake up early (put your phone across the room and wake up as soon as it sounds – don’t let it snooze!). Resist the urge to go back to bed! Wash your face, brush your teeth and drink a glass of water.
  3. Do S.A.V.E.R.S.:
    1. Silence – 10 minute guided meditation (there are some great ones in youtube here, here, and here). Bonus tip: if you’re learning a new language or want to keep up with one, do it in that language.
    2. Affirmations – 5 minutes (tell yourself how great you are! Write it down or say it out loud. Give yourself hugs.)
    3. Visualizations – 5 minutes (set at least three realistic goals you want to accomplish and visualize how you’d like your day to go)
    4. Exercise – 10 to 15 minutes (I like to dance and do crunches but you can do whatever gets your heart pumping a little bit!) You can do a 5 song playlist and you must include Bailando.
    5. Read – 15 to 20 minutes (it can even be something you have to read for school)
    6. Scribe – 15 to 20 minutes of journaling (scribe is a weird word to use but the guy had to complete the acronym somehow!)

And voila! That’s the Morning Miracle. What I like about it is that its pressure free. Can’t do it one morning? It’s okay, you can do it later or the next day. You can also change the minutes of each section as you see fit. The idea is not to feel guilty if you don’t do it, but to feel good when you do. And, surprisingly, the more you do it, the more you want to do it.

Am I on time for things now? I’m getting there! And trust me, that is progress. But, I think what I like about it the most is that, for someone who suffers from a lot of anxiety like I do, I’m genuinely surprised as to how much it has calmed me down. Maybe its a placebo, or maybe its real, but I’ll do anything to calm my anxieties.

If this sounds like something you would like to do, then I suggest you give it a go at least once. And I hope you have as much fun with it as I have.

It’s too early to call myself a morning person, but who knows? Maybe if I keep this up…

Stay illuminated,

-Alana