Wake up Happier

When we wake up we often believe that our daily mood is set and that’s just the type of day we are destined to have, some days we feel great, some days we feel off key and some days we are just in a downright bad and ugly mood. That’s just the way life goes and we have to accept that. To some extent that’s true, our feelings and emotions are a constant rollercoaster and some days we do wake up feeling less than 100%. However, we are able to sway the feelings we experience by reinforcing positivity and being accepting of our current frame of mind.

Introducing a morning routine which is stable, consistent and full of positive reframing can be incredibly impactful upon our day and can help to stabilize the feelings we are experiencing. If we allow our thoughts and emotions to control the type of day we have, they begin to dictate our entire lives which can be seriously detrimental to our health, happiness and overall wellbeing.

During mindfulness training you will likely come across the mountain meditation. This particular exercise asks you to imagine a mountain standing tall, strong, sturdy and unshakeable within your mind, it then encourages you to visualise every morning when dawn begins to rise and the weather creeps in filling the surrounds of the mountain. The weather changes daily, there can be rain, hale, fog, sunshine, thunder, heat waves and much more, yet throughout all of this change the mountain remains calm, still, strong and stable.

It then goes on to allow you to imagine yourself as the mountain and your thoughts and emotions as the weather. Regardless of the changes each day the mountain remains unscathed. It is not affected by the external circumstances at all. In a way they are irrelevant, time will continue to pass, the weather will continue to change throughout the course of the day but the mountain shall remain.

The idea behind the practice is for you over time to become the mountain. Just imagine if the mountain were to react every time it experienced a change in weather? It would cause havoc, not only to itself but to everyone around also. When we are allowing the way we feel to set up our day, we have nothing stable to rely upon, especially on the bad days when we need that bit of extra help.

The importance of an impactful morning routine is hugely undersold. When we create a commitment to ourselves to have a good day and put the procedures in place to make that happen regardless of our feelings it allows us to become stable even when the weather isn’t in our favour.

There are many ways to make your morning work for you and to become an emotional stabilizer. It could include meditation, going for a walk or run, listening to positive videos, making time to read, working on a project? Whatever works for you and helps you to regulate your emotions for the day.

It’s also helpful to remember that everyone is different and that different techniques work for different people and that it's your responsibility to design your morning to get the very best out of your day and create a happier, healthier life.

I would love to share a few of my stabilizers over the coming weeks that I have found work for me. Keep a lookout on our social media platforms, website and blog for more ideas.

Cassie - Mind & Bloom x