How Do You Energize and Tell Yourself Today Is a New Day?

I need to be up & awake before my child.
I hate when I oversleep and were both getting ready for school/work at the same time. That's a recipe for a bad morning in my house.
To me, things (problems) always seem more manageable in the light of a new day.
I try to get to the gym 3 evenings per week and find I have more energy and less stress when I do.
I think working out too close to bedtime is a bad thing though. So I try to aim for finishing by 7:30ish.

I get up. I pee. I let the dogs out. I make coffee. I fill up the dog food bowls. I let the dogs in. They lick my face before attacking their breakfast. I drink coffee while filling the cat food bowls and cleaning the litter boxes. By my fifth cup, I feel like a human being, and I shower and dress.

I have noticed the most effective way to stop focusing on the problems in your life is to focus on helping someone ELSE with THEIR problems.

Which is to say, get over yourself.

I know it sounds preachy, and I don't ALWAYS achieve it, but I know it to be true. Focus on helping others and your own issues will disappear.

Well that and a sense of humor is all a person needs to have peace.

:)

For me, it's just a continual awareness that I'm in control of my attitude, and that my attitude affects everyone around me.

It started when I was in college and was a morning grouch. I had a room mate named Betsy who was always positive and put a smile on everyone's face. One day I was saying to myself that I wished I could be more like Betsy... and immediately asked myself, "Well, what's stopping me from being more like Betsy?"

It wasn't immediate, nor complete. But I practice being aware that I'm in control of how I look at things, how I respond to things, and how I present my attitude. Of course, with children, the stakes are higher. I often think about how my children are going to remember their childhood and their home life when they grow up.

Yeah, I still get grouchy. But it's less frequent and less long lasting.

Update: I can't believe I forgot my favorite morning routine. I make sure, instead of rushing around getting ready for school, to take one minute with each child waking them up. I crawl in bed with them, snuggle, tell them good morning and the things we can look forward to in the day. It's the most important and least negotiable two minutes of my day!

Try having a "quiet time" before you get out of bed. 5 minutes to thank God for another day of opportunities, & to give up everything that is still heavy on your heart.

Sometimes acknowledging that there are things still unresolved helps clear your mind in approaching them.

Once you are out of bed, do a power-stretch workout for another 5 minutes, to refresh you before beginning the rest of your routine.

T.

Julia Cameron has a technique called "Morning Pages", I call it "Puke on Paper." Basically you pour out whatever is going through your head on paper. No censoring, you don't worry about spelling, grammer, punctuation, or if it even makes any sense. You just pour it all out. Usually, if you allow yourself to do no less than 3 pages you will eventually come accross the unconcious information about what is driving "grouchiness." Try this first thing in the morning and see what happens.

I also love to do it before I go to bed to pour all the ick from the day out. This really helps me to sleep much better. It allows me also to gain a lot of insight about what is really driving my days because it allows me to excavate under the surface issues to what is really going on.

isn't that frustrating? i HATE it when i wake up with my monkey brain pawing and mouthing over something crappy from the previous day.
i'm not a morning person anyway, and almost never do my run or weights until afternoon. makes my organized dh crazy, but it's just how i'm wired.
working out absolutely reliably puts my brain on a better track, though. i'm sure i'd have better days if i DID do it earlier!
a friend of mine gave me the wonderful suggestion a few years ago to align my head right away. even before i open my eyes, i lie there for a few moments going 'dang! i woke up again this morning! what an awesome gift!' and so forth. just starting the day with gratitude for the opportunity to fix old stuff and have new adventures makes it better. another 'trick' is to smile, even if i'm feeling pissy. something about putting those facial muscles into that position makes it hard for the brain to counteract the perceived emotion.
i don't do any long rituals or prayers in the morning (not a morning person!) but i do offer a brief prayer, and a libation of my first sip of coffee or water, to certain deities each morning. the prayer consists of the formula of 2 parts gratitude to 1 part love.
i still have grouchy irritable mornings. but fewer of them!
:) khairete
S.

When I remember it, the most constructive thing I do to create a better 'next day' is to get out some paper in the evening and make a list of things I need to do, a list of things I want to do, and plug it into a schedule for tomorrow. This allows me to strategize the night before, so after a crappy day, I feel like I have a plan going forward.

I, too, am rubbish in the mornings, and aside from making a pot of loose leaf Yunnan Fancy (which I absolutely must have by 6:30 or I'm not myself), I can let the day get away from me if I don't plan my objectives (meals, shopping for the meals, household chores, Kiddo's homework/spending some 'fun' time with him, gardening tasks, taking a walk). Seeing where we can put 'fun' into our day really helps and keeps me on task.

Sometimes I'll read from a book on Buddhism about acceptance: today won't be exactly like the awful yesterday, and it won't be perfect- it's just gonna be what it will be. Accepting my limitations (that I can only proactively plan so much, that I can't change certain things which are out of my hands) helps, taking downtime in the evening --when I usually say "well, tomorrow will be a new day, we can strive to make it a better one", and sticking with my routine of getting up a bit earlier than my son-- all of these help me.

And no, no morning workouts for me!

Every single morning I argue with God.

Who thought up THIS brilliant plan??? This whole 'life' thing was probably one of the 12 worst ideas ever made.

BUT... I smile at my son & use "cheerful voice".

Because, for me at least, how I act towards others is a choice.

For a solid half an how after leveraging myself awake, I'm pretty suicidal. I'm not actually joking about "Life is overrated". Its typically my first thought in the morning.

It BEHOOVES me, though, not to take that out on others.

I take care of biological needs.
I make sure my son is eating breakfast (before he got old enough to make his own, Id scramble eggs... I can scame eggs half asleep/ drugged/ one arm tied behind my back. Literally. Except my arm was in a sling in front. Still tied and unusable. But I digress.

I kiss him on the head, ask "Dream anything awesome, sweetheart?" Or similar, and then I wrap a blanket around me'self if its cold & walk outside to sit. This is following a years long smoking habit, that I kept when I quit smoking. I finish griping at God if I feel I haven't made my point. Usuallyove into ridiculous societies that still use the words "up at dawn" to mean early, when school starts BEFORE dawn... Air out all my grievances... Come back in, turn the music on and start my shower.

AT SOME POINT in that process... Life becomes awesome. Its like a switch that flips.

...

I can't work out before I take a shower. Even in the military, the only time I ran before showering was bootcamp. Its morning ritual. Its cleansing both physically & in my head/heart. I am never TRULY awake until Ive sluiced off. Even if life is good, Im not "awake" yet.

I put on my warpaint.

I get dressed.

Then, and only then, can I do anything.

I take at least 2 showers a day. If I work out, I take 3-4. Showers only take 2 minutes, 5 tops. But I don't shave. I wax. So there's that. Point being... I'm not using a ton of water (which is important to me, but not as important as FEELING clean).

...

So that's what I do.

Don't know if it helps at all, but its what this "über cheerful / way too much energy" person does to go from waking up "Misereeeeeee Deeeeespair Hoooooooope-les-nesssssss." To "Oh, yah! Lets rocket! Yeah! Its gonna be AWESOME! today! Whew!!! Lets kick it out

I set my alarm to wake me up an hour before everyone else and sit and read. I also read at night. When I turn the lights out, I have a reading light and spend my last few moments reading. It helps me to "turn off" my brain, so that I don't fret about whatever may be bothering me during the day.

Habit, habit, habit. Plus going to bed a little earlier than one might like to the night before. That's hard when you're raising children, but it sure helps if you can do it.

About the habit business: I have learned that if you have to wait for all your ducks, and all everybody else's ducks, to line up before you can be cheerful, all your days are going to be miserable. I have a worry habit that I have to fight all the time (you know the difference between *solving* things and *worrying* about things!). Learning how to have a positive attitude has actually helped me to fight the worrying; it gives me more energy to get up and go in the morning. At the very least I have enough energy all day that by that night my body says, "Move away, worries - I'm sleepin' tonight!"

This is going to be a long, rambling answer and I apologize in advance.

Some years ago I started doing this: When the brain wakes up, I usually pray, first thing. You go to church, so you've heard this. God has graciously been up all night taking care of you and your problems, even while you've stewed. Tell God good morning, and thank Him for the first couple of things that pop into your head. You have a lot to choose from.

Then. immediately, I get my feet on the floor, get my robe on, and make the bed before I can even *think* about getting back in it and escaping from the day.

Can you can make a little wiggle time (say, five minutes) in your early-morning schedule? Things don't always run smoothly. You've noticed? At least I find it so. I have rather an automatic routine for getting dressed and the other basic things so I don't have to think too much about them. About the only thing that will really deter me is, um, sitting down to check my e-mail and finding myself answering a Mamapedia question this early in the morning.... :^/

A few other thoughts: Refuse to allow the weather to tell you what kind of morning to have. Look out your window and say (out loud, if you dare), "Oh, boy! It's raining cats and dogs!" Yes, you're going to feel stupid. But you're working on a new habit here. Talking that way in the morning is actually no stupider than the way I look doing Zumba at the gym.

Say, "Good morning!" in a cheerful voice to everyone in your family, no matter whether you feel cheerful and no matter what their responses are. Saying, "Good morning!" can actually help make a morning good. I've remembered that ever since I first read "Those Happy Golden Years" by Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was a kid.

If you wake up with worries, make them wait. You have other things to do when you get up. If you don't have to send for an ambulance when you're still in bed, the worries will be happy to wait at least until your day has started.

Eat breakfast! Your body needs it. Figure out what you can fix quickly enough to suit you but that will nourish your body. Don't listen to the "mom" excuse that it's selfish to do this for yourself. That's worrying.

If nightly exercise works for you, do it. If you want to switch to early-morning workouts, it's quite a switch. My husband has taken to getting up before 5 a.m., going to work out, coming back, eating breakfast, changing for the office, and leaving again by 7:30. But he's in bed by 8 p.m. and he doesn't have little ones to tuck in.

But mostly getting unshackled from all the worries and being positive and energetic in the morning is a HABIT you learn, just as being fretful and grumpy is a habit you fall into. I recommend a book called "See You at the Top" by Zig Ziglar. I don't recommend too many books on this site. When you start to look through the pages you're going to think, "Man, how corny is this? It's positively DUMB!" But, amazingly, the corny stuff works for changing the attitudes. And having a better attitude is related to having better energy. My opinion is that worrying, stewing, and hanging on to things cost your body a lot more than they're worth.

http://www.ziglar.com/newsletter/?p=855

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnbaldoni/2012/11/29/zig-zi...

If working out in the AM is not feasible by waking up about 1 hour earlier, try a good sweat at the end of the day to work through and process the day.

Yes, I am in a much better mood when I can get a good run in before the day starts, but I'm an early bird, not a night owl:)

good question. I don't think i wake up grouchy unless dd gets in bed w me and tosses and turns for that last precious hr of sleep before the alarm goes off. but i can get grouchy quick once the day starts rolling out and is just not going ok.

I guess the best suggestions would be, maybe you need a prayer journal, maybe you need to make sure your blood sugar isn't too low in the am. maybe you need to wake up to a happy song on the alarm clock. maybe you need more sleep?

can you take action to do something to change what you are worriing about. like if you are short money can you decide to start couponing or something. just doing something, ya know?

I bought my husband an alarm clock which chirps like a bird. His is set for about 1/2 an hour to an hour before mine. Every morning, I hear his birds chirp, and I wake enough to say, your birds are chirping love. He says thank you love, jumps out of bed, and tucks me in, I go back to sleep till my alarm goes off.

Between the birds, albiet artificial, the gentle wake up, and the extra sleep, I wake up happy and well adjusted. The smell of fresh coffee brewing helps too.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

Morning
This is how I begin each day, I first say the serenity prayer and give thanks for a new day... I even say things like, thanks for this great cup of coffee, a wonderful family, all the lessons I have learned in life and am still learning..etc.. I like to start out grateful..

Then I read a little OA literature..

Now, I still may not be too energized, but thankful I am and I believe starting out with a positive mind set can only lead me down a good path for the day.

I don't usually meditate this early, However, later on in the day I do find that helpful... (can you do it for 10 minutes during your lunch hours)

as for working out, I walk a lot and that too helps me..

If anything, do you have a motivational speaker you like? I LOVE Zig Ziglar and you can check him out online ... many if not all of his quotes are so inspirational... I do find promise in many of his words as they are usually on point.. If you like him (or others) print out some quotes you like and put them where you can see them each morning... I find that surrounding myself with positive sayings/quotes really helps me think better .. and when I think better, I feel better and do better..

have a great day!!

I am a person who is always trying to figure out what to do about it. I don't know if those people have a name, but I'm one. If I can't figure out a solution, I roll it around on my tongue or my pen/keyboard until a solution is stimulated out of me, or I put it on the back burner for when I actually have the energy to do more active figuring.

For work, I make notes at the end of the day...what needs to be done. If I need to make notes about how to do it, then I do that, too. That gets the ball rolling for me because I've put it out there (in the universe) that these are things that I'd like to accomplish. That does two things: 1. Gets the creative juices flowing for solutions and helps to lay out logistics; 2. Gives me a guide for the next day. Throughout the next day, I review and cross off my list.

I also do this for my personal life. I don't believe in crying about things that I either can't fix or am not willing to fix. Sometimes "fixing things" means fixing me. That may or may not yield healthy results, but it's what survivers do--adjust themselves to deal with LIFE.

Oh, and coffee...with lots of whipped cream. You've got to have at least one thing that allows you to take a deep breath.

First decide if you are a morning person or night owl.
Then work WITHIN those constraints to set YOUR best routine.

Make list of YOUR worries an hour before you go to bed then leave them
in the living room before even stepping foot into your bedroom.

Do yoga or meditation if it works for you. That doesn't work for me so I
do other things that work FOR me.

Exercising help me "dump" the bad energy/feelings of life's stresses.
Be whatever it is for you: walking, running, exercise tape, kick boxing
class etc.
It, also, makes my body & mind tired for sleep.

Unplug an 1/2 hour before bed if you can (which means no tv or computer).

Make sure you're getting enough restful sleep. If not, you can wake up
grouchy.

Have something to look forward to in the morning (for me it's my family,
dogs and that first cup of coffee).

Be thankful. I'm always grateful I woke up.

I immediately plan my day so I can SEE that I have something fun to do
or look forward to.

Find what gives YOU energy (vitamins, 30 mins of your fave news show,
a hug from your DS then concentrate on that).

Put up a note in your kitchen that says "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff". It
will be a reminder that most everything is the small stuff.

When you first wake up and you have that 1st grouchy thought or outward
response, tell yourself "Stop, it's going to be a great day!". Repeat this
mantra to yourself several times in a morning. Say it till you believe it.

Put up a sticky note that says "Think Positive". Sounds hokey? It works.

You're getting your nightly workout so that's good.

I tell myself "any day I get out of bed its a great day".

Think of yesterday's worries like a shirt. You wouldn't wear yesterday's shirt to bed & wear it all the next day as well. Leave those worries at the
foot of the clock. At bedtime, they go there & STAY there. Visualize this.

Know that somehow all these little things work out for the best.

Know that worrying does not stop something.
Only action does. So let's say you're worried about money, you put a plan into action by having savings, spending less, cutting corners, finding
discounts etc.

I see some things common to me in the mornings. I wake up and my mind will latch immediately on to a worry. I don't lay there and stew in it. Just get up. It's like a gruve in a record player that won't change so I change the record every morning but by the next morning it's in the same gruve.
I ignore it. If I put energy into it, my day won't be any better for it.

When my kids were younger I made sure I was up 15-20 mins before them. Then do my prayer journal. It's kind of like the idea of puking on paper and arguing with God. But then relinquishing everything to my God from whom all blessings flow and acknowledging that He is God and I am not and I am so OK with that! I am willing to go with His will today.

Then I went ahead with my decision to be cheerful around my kids and be responsible for good memories for them. Be responsible for how they will treat my grandkids in the mornings.

When I first started to prayer journal, I could do one paragraph a day. One sentence of praise, one sentence of confession, one of thanksgiving, one of intercession for others and one for myself. Now I do 2 pages or more.
Looking back I learn about myself. When I first did it, the recurring theme was prayers for protection. Obviously I was dealing with leftover fears from a not so stellar childhood. I have grown into more bold prayers, confident that God will take care of me. Prayer not only changes circumstances but changes the person who prays. It's hard to pray for someone else to be kinder and not be more aware of your lack of kindness.

Hope you can find your reason to get up in the mornings!

I can't tell from personal experiance but second hand. My mom says she has a bible study in the mornings and that helps. And if she's able to excersise when she gets up. good luck

C.,
I don't know you, but based on the many posts I have seen from you... it seems like you have an overactive brain! Constantly thinking, planning, worrying about stuff can affect your ability to enjoy and live in the present moment!

I used to be the same way. Then I was introduced to a therapist who taught me about Mindfulness and it has changed my life. I am a much calmer person. I have been able to stop my constant worrying and obcessing.

I suggest looking into Mindfulness. If you are interested in it, you can read about the practive and/or schedule an appointment with someone who can help you get the basic principles. I see a psychologist in Stillwater, MN that has given me the basics and helps me use it in my life.

You need to slow down you brain and experience the positive things around you. Good luck.

Pray. Sing. Listen to praise and worship music while you're putting on your makeup. Thank God for all the many blessings in your life.

This is pretty much my morning routine. Yes, you can pray while you're blow-drying your hair. :-)