“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”
Growing up as a runner this was one of my favorite quotes.
Sadly this quote illustrates the way many of my clients wake up in the mornings. They wake up in a pure survival state, that sends them off running. Below I will share a simple strategy that has helped my clients not get chased by lions. 😉
Survival is not sustainable
When I say survival is not sustainable, what I mean is if you wish to have good health, happiness, function optimally you can not operate under this state of emergency. Think about the hustle of your morning ritual. For most people it starts off with the sound of an alarm.
The dictionary has this to say about Alarm:
1. a sudden fear or distressing suspense caused by an awareness of danger; apprehension; fright.
2. any sound, outcry, or information intended to warn of approaching danger:
3. an automatic device that serves to call attention, to rouse from sleep, or to warn of fire, smoke, an intruder, etc.
Primitively, these alarms were as a result of imminent danger, like a lion was about to attack. Our body’s briefly undergo the same physiological reactions when we wake up this way. We continue diving deeper as the morning continues.
Let’s move on to breakfast.
Most people skip it or opt for the coffee and some high sugar doughnut or danish that spikes the insulin and drains the adrenal glands. If they do eat breakfast, it is in such a hurry that that body can’t properly digest it causing more alarms go off in the body.
Now we get in the car to be greeted by a sea of stressed out, caffeine pumped individuals in survival state, trying to get to work before the next alarm bell rings.
Do you see the pattern?
We’ve allowed ourselves to be trained like Pavlov’s dog moving from alarm to alarm.
It’s time to take control of your mornings and break the Pavlovian chains by creating a morning ritual that serves you, your health, and those around you.
Morning Ritual Challenge.
Perform this morning ritual for 1 week and see how your day and week goes. Don’t judge it for the result initially just stay consistent with the challenge. Make up your mind at the end. Enjoy.
1. Wake up 5 minutes earlier
2. Take 20 deep breaths with a smile
3. Say 20 things you are thankful for.
4. Prepare a green juice the night before so you have more time in the morning.
5. Don’t listen to the radio. Put on a self development CD or a meditation CD. If you are taking the kids to school ask them 10 things they are thankful for. Alternate between each of you until you each say 10 things.
These are not time consuming nor really difficult things to do. Here is the secret.
“Success doesn’t lie in the complex, rather, it resides in the consistency of simplicity.”
Said different, don’t complicate things, do the easy things consistently and you’d be amazed at the results. 🙂
Have an amazing day!
Cheers,
AC
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