Do you have simple morning and evening rituals which you follow every day? Over and above the standard hygiene and clothing routines we all (hopefully!) follow, adding some short rituals to the start and end of your day will help you feel fab. Katrine Horn, life coach, TEDx speaker and self-love activist, shares some simple ways to biohack* your routine to help you unlock your potential.
Benefits of simple morning and evening rituals
“You’ve probably heard of the benefits of having solid morning and evening rituals in place. All the famous people are doing it, all the most successful. So what’s stopping you from putting some in place? My guess is TIME.
If you’re like most people, you’ve probably already got an overfull schedule. You’re probably already wondering how you can fit in all the things you have to do TODAY before you run out of TODAY. So how on earth are you going to fit in rituals?
The answer is simple: by making them short and sweet, by creating a fab return on TIME Investment.
To me that spells: maximum benefits for minimum time investment.
Are you with me so far?
Invest five minutes in your wellbeing
If you are, read on to find out how you can put in place short rituals that will nonetheless allow you to reap all the benefits of a calm mind, a clear intention and deep, restorative sleep.
When you’ve got short rituals in place, you actually do them.
Why? Because you can: you don’t have to set aside 30 minutes or an hour or 2. If your ritual is only 5 minutes long, you’ll have no excuse for not doing it.
Come on, who hasn’t got 5 minutes to invest in their wellbeing?
Simple morning rituals
So here’s what you can do in the morning:
Morning Ritual One:
Upon waking up, stretch: put your arms over your head and wiggle your toes. Delicious. This is a way for you to ask your body how it’s feeling. I pay great attention to what my body tells me so that I can keep it in mind as I go through the day. (1 minute)
Morning Ritual Two:
Then grab your diary from the comfort of your bed to write down your intention for the day. I love setting intentions: it gives me direction and allows me to concentrate on what I really want to experience. It seems silly to leave that to chance. My intention can be: Today I intend to have fun with creating and planning my next online course so that all the attendees can reap the maximum benefits from it and allow their lives to transform. This or something even better for the highest good of all concerned.
Or it could go: Today I intend to interact with everybody I meet feeling the deepest love, compassion and acceptance so that they can freely express who they are in all their magnitude, unhindered by expectations and judgements. This or something even better for the highest good of all concerned. (2 minutes) Leave some wiggling space for the Universe to bring you not what you desire but what you require.
Morning Ritual Three:
You can then hop out of bed and go to the bathroom and do what you need to do. Then, look at yourself in the mirror and connect. Say something encouraging, loving, flattering or comforting to yourself, making sure to connect with your mirror image through eye contact. Something flattering could go: You just look fantastic today. Thank you for taking such good care of your skin. Or comforting: How are you feeling today? Is there anything you want me to be aware of? Don’t worry, you’ll understand it all later; just keep doing your best. (2 minutes)
Now, how do you think you FEEL after this ritual? Would fantastic be the word? Would fabulous sum it up? The more you practise, the better you get at it.
Simple evening rituals
It’s equally important to have an evening ritual in place so that you can wind down after a hectic day, too much screen and perhaps a sugar-overload. Again, 5 minutes can suffice, if you put your mind to it. Here’s how you do it:
Once you’ve finished brushing your teeth and whatever else you do before going to bed, take your diary and head for bed.
Evening Ritual One:
Write down 3 positive experiences from the day. Take 3 precious minutes to really feel the emotion you had when experiencing them. It could be catching your favourite song playing on the radio, saying hello to your husband with a kiss, hugging your child, looking at a beautiful outfit that might soon be yours. You get the idea. It doesn’t have to be massive like gifting yourself flowers or coffee at a chic café, although I’m all for that too.
Evening Ritual Two:
Once you’ve dialed in your 3 positive experiences on your brainwaves, think of something you’d like an answer to. If you had a wise woman sitting at your side, what would you ask her? Well, you do have that woman; it’s you. So ask your intuition the question that’s trotting around in your head. Write it down. That’ll set your intuition or your subconscious, whatever you like to call it, to work on it. If you pay attention the following day as you stretch in bed, the answer might just pop into your head.
Now, they don’t have to be existential questions, they can be simple and mundane like: What would Sally most like to get for her birthday? Or: How can I easily and elegantly get the dishwasher fixed? What would be a load off your mind? Go to sleep knowing that you’ve got somebody working on it. Your intuition/subconscious never sleeps: direct its activity.
Why make simple morning and evening rituals a habit?
When these rituals become habit, you will feel yourself grounded, aligned with your purpose and full of energy. Try it out and let us know how it went and how it made you feel.”
Find out more about Katrine and how you can work with her via www.katrinehorn.com.
