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Miracle Mornings are Awesome! Will You Take the Miracle Morning Challenge?

In February 2017, I read the life-changing book, the Miracle Morning, by Hal Elrod--and I began implementing it immediately. For the past 10 months, I've had weeks where I started off each day with a "miracle morning", and weeks where I didn't. And I can tell you that my weeks with miracle mornings, without a doubt, went much better than the weeks without. When I start my day off with a miracle morning, I am calmer, more patient, and more focused on what really matters. And I am less anxious and tense throughout the day.

 Today, at the beginning of the new year, I am recommitting myself to have miracle mornings every day. Will you join me?

 What is a Miracle Morning? It's starting the day off right. There's an easy acronym, "SAVERS", that helps me remember.
S--Silence
This is time to ponder, pray, and or meditate.

A--Affirmations
Growing up, I thought affirmations were silly. But I’ve seen where negative self-talk gets me. Saying affirmations is just a way to help you think positively, and doing so will change your life. For sure, there are weird affirmations out there that won’t feel right for you. But you can also find or right great ones that will work for you. Here were my affirmations this morning, but they change, based on what I'm struggling with during any given week:
  • Today, I will love and serve God and my fellowmen. I will "be a light, not a judge" to those around me.
  • I will take my love to my family and my frustrations to the Lord.
I'm religious, and my affirmations reflect that. But write (or find) affirmations that fit you. Google "how to write an affirmation" or "affirmations for ___" (fill in the blank with words that describe you--"busy Moms", "entrepreneurs", "homeschoolers", or whatever, and you'll find lots of great ideas.

V--Visualization
During this part of the Miracle Morning, you visualize your goals and your day going positively. This has been the hardest for me. I’m a concrete thinker and abstract ideas are sometimes hard for me to grasp. But I recently came to a realization that this is something I do naturally when I'm praying and my mind wanders. So rather than letting my mind wander during praying, no I close my eyes and visualize before I start praying.

E--Exercise
For me, this is just 10-15 minutes of exercising with an exercise video from Youtube. To maximize my time, I put the video on silent and listen to an audiobook as I exercise.

Do whatever exercise works best for you.

Sometimes, if I'm particularly sleepy, I exercise first. This gets my blood pumping and wakes me up. If I pray first thing, as I used to, I often fall asleep.

R--Read
During this time, I read my scriptures and another book or two. Adding this to my mornings has been a huge blessing in my life. I wrote about it here. And here's a post I wrote about how busy Moms can make time for reading.

S--Scribe (i.e., Write--SAVERW isn't as good an acronym is SAVERS)
I write in my journal or write a blog post (it's my miracle morning time right now, and writing this blog post is my scribing for the day). This is also my time to work on a book I'm writing.

 That's it--those are the 6 simple steps to having a miracle morning. The order doesn't really matter--you can do whatever works for you. On busy days, you can spend only a minute on each of these six things. I prefer to spend a bit more time on silence, reading, and writing, so I get up earlier to allow myself the time I need.

 I use the nifty infographic (see bottom of this post) from Want for Wellness to stay on track.

 When I start my morning off this way, I'm ready to face the day when the kids wake up. On the days when I don't have a miracle morning, I check messages first thing in the morning (email, Messenger, Wechat) or get on social media. Or I start working on my never-ending to do list. Then, I'm not ready for the day when the kids wake up. And I usually end up anxious and grumpy. 

 It takes discipline to have a miracle morning, but it's totally worth it!

 But how do you get started? Elrod recommends to begin having Miracle Mornings, wake up 1 hour earlier each morning. I’ve never been a morning person. When I worked full time, rolling out of bed each morning to make it to work at exactly the time I had to start was drudgery and torture every day. I dreaded the sound of my alarm clock. But I did it. And I went all in, and started getting up at 4am. I maintained that for a few months, and then burned out. Now, most mornings I get up at 5 or 5:30, getting up at 4 maybe once or twice a week. But the wakeup time isn't what matters. What matters is that you decide the night before what time you'll get out of bed, choosing a time that will allow you to have a Miracle Morning (before the demands of the day begin). And then stick to your commitment to yourself to get up at that time. 

 But I can't get up any earlier, you may tell yourself. Trust me--you can! It's a gift you can give yourself. And Elrod has some great tips to help you do it:
  1. Set your intentions the night before. Decide on a time, and commit to yourself to get out of bed at that time. A bedtime affirmation can be great to help with this, especially in the beginning. It's also great to put out all the supplies you need (your journal, the book you will read, your clothes, etc.)
  2. Set your alarm clock across the room so you have to get out of bed to turn it off.
  3. Brush your teeth. (I tried it for a while, and decided I didn't like brushing my teeth before breakfast, but it may be great for you. I recommend trying it out for a week or two before deciding.)
  4. Drink some water. This will help you wake up, and is great for your body.
  5. Shower or get dressed (in your clothes for the day or workout clothes).
More details here if you want to read more.

I highly recommend reading the Miracle Morning book. It gives a lot of great examples and inspiration that are super motivating.

I have recommitted to have miracle mornings every day this year. Will you take the Miracle Morning Challenge, and try it for 30 days? Just print the infographic below and hang it somewhere where you can refer to it during your miracle morning. Then set your alarm clock 1 hour earlier than usual.

I promise, you won't regret it!





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