Realistic Morning Routine for Energy

My idea of a realistic morning routine for energy may seem absurdly simple but I swear by it and I know a lot of other people who do this too. Much of our energy comes from feeling confident and calm and having appropriate direction. Much is lost through confusion and worry. This is a way to dramatically my energy levels in less than 10 minutes every morning.

This central part of my realistic morning routine for energy is a simple meditation practice. I started it because I was in the midst of a crisis (of course). As part of my attempts to “recover” I had a counsellor, and when I asked her what I needed to do, she suggested meditation.

My Realistic Morning Routine for Energy Focuses on … Meditation? 

Your first response to the suggestion might be: meditation? What was that going to do? Sitting around going “Ommmm” like one of those Eastern monks in a movie, instead of doing things? Let me tell you: doing things was my success plan. Unfortunately I wasn’t having a lot of success but I figured if I just did *more* things I might get there.

And then the counselor told me that I might benefit if I could slow down and listen to a Higher Power, and submit myself to otherworldly guidance. That made me pretty uneasy. This guidance, after all, might come to nothing. And it also might want me to do stuff I don’t want to do. 

When You’ve Got Nothing, You’ve Got Nothing to Lose

 

“Why don’t you try it,” she said when I resisted. “If it doesn’t work I’m sure all your misery can be refunded.” I think this was just a clever way of echoing Bob Dylan, who sang “when you got nothing you got nothing to lose.”

Another way of putting this is: “Come on, try it, it’s only five minutes a day, and if it works, it helps a lot. If it doesn’t, you can easily quit, no harm done.” 

The mantra she suggested was a simple one. “Let go and let God.” But it was always tricky for me because you started with “Let God” as you breathed in and “Let go” as you breathed out. Since you instinctively start a mantra on the “breathe in,” this starting on the breathe out required concentration. Try it, you’ll see. You want to breathe in and say “Let go” but that’s not what you’re supposed to be doing. You’re supposed to breathe out and let go, then breathe in and think about God bringing you all the things you need. 

I spent a lot of time thinking about God bringing me things I needed as I breathed in. I learned that instead of asking specifically for things, I could think quietly of problems I was facing and ask for help. At first it didn’t make much sense but in time I began to feel better and it began to seem that things were coming to me without the usual level of effort. I was also beginning to see that I didn’t know what I needed, so it was better to just accept what was coming down the path. 

I was, as they say, my own worst enemy. 

 

First, you Let Go:

 

What did I think about when saying let go? Fear, mostly, but also anger at and expectations of other people, and plans for how to control the outcomes of various situations I was involved in. The very idea of controlling people. “If she does this, I’ll do that.” That needed to be let go. 

 

What else did I let go? The past. And I didn’t want to let go of the past. It was emotionally safe for me to remain back there. After all, nothing new could ever happen in the past, it couldn’t get any worse than it already was. The problem was, as long as I was in the past, I wasn’t in now. I couldn’t respond now, and I couldn’t even experience now. The past was safe, but it wasn’t productive.

 

Then, you Let God

Letting God take control of your life is an imperfect exercise. No one, I think, ever does it more than a little. But even doing it a little can be huge. Letting God means, for me, listening to what others say, because spiritual tradition says that God often uses everyday friends and acquaintances to give you ideas. Letting God means saying “yes” to new opportunities even if you’re scared to. Letting God means appreciating what’s already there, for example, the beauty of the canopy of trees in your backyard. (image)

 

And this is my Realistic Morning Routine for Energy?

 

You might say this one step in my realistic morning routine for energy doesn’t really address energy at all but here’s the thing. Even before I started doing this,I had energy. I was just using it on things that were unproductive. Once I let go of unproductive efforts, and concentrated on small things that I could do, I was able to do the things I actually should be doing. Have you ever heard the phrase “Next right thing?” It was like that. Pay the light bill, wash the dishes, water the flowers and call a friend.

 

It’s probably safe to say this mantra changed my life because after thinking for five or six minutes about letting go of all the things I was worried about and angry about and letting the past stay in the past and putting it to God to come up with solutions, I was much more able to do my life. 

 

I was one of those people who couldn’t get out of my own way. A cynic might say “Well, what if God didn’t come up with the solutions?” I would say that with many of the things I worried about, the problem was that I wanted a solution. Or that my solutions were part of the problem. And even when they weren’t, my thinking about solutions was stopping me from doing stuff that was really important such as eating regular meals.

 

You can imagine the effect that not eating enough could have on your energy level. 

 

A lot of people have told me over the years that they can’t meditate. But if meditating is defined as sitting there not allowing yourself to talk and trying to focus on your mantra. The truth is, just about anyone can meditate. They just have to accept that they’re doing it badly. Apparently however there’s still a lot of benefit in meditating badly.

To tell you the truth, I was never a good meditator either. I have to keep bringing myself back and only once or twice did I fall into the abyss as they call it. That’s where you feel like you’ve moved into an infinite space and are somehow connected to the universe in a way you’ve never experienced before. 

 

It’s cool but you can’t rely on it. You can, generally, rely on the positive benefits of doing even a bad five minute meditation. 

 

Nevertheless the effort to stop trying so hard and think about some other entity helping me changed the way I thought and lived. As time went on this practice of sitting by myself alone thinking about my day, eventually asking God for help, and letting go of some of the thoughts that I was going to fix everything, changed my life for the better. 

 

And the rest of my Realistic Morning Routine for Energy

 

Meditation is the core of my deep morning routine. But that doesn’t actually get you out the door. These days my morning routine includes these other steps: 

 

• Weigh myself because if I don’t I just start thinking I can eat things that I can’t actually eat without gaining weight. It keeps me honest.
• Feed the dog. 
• Do needlepoint. I love to spend about 20 minutes every morning listening to a book on tape. Right now I’m listening to G.K. Chesterton, The Innocence of Father Brown. Earlier, I was listening the same author, The Man Who Knew Too Much. This clears my head and helps me relax.
• I make coffee every morning and I drink 16 oz but no more than that. I love this coffee, I buy it from Trader Joe’s and it is called Joe. I make this coffee in a French press.  
• For years now I have had a breakfast of oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar. But just this week I started making a protein shake as part of my diet. The process is the same either way: you cook or prepare your breakfast. 
• I choose my clothes if I haven’t already. I remember what I’m going to do on that day, if I’m going to work, if I’m going to a meeting, if I’m going to go hiking, horseback riding or visit my mother. That figures into my clothing choices. I try to find something that will work through the whole day but I am not above changing clothes at noon if that’s what’s indicated.
• I wash my face using a washcloth and a Neutrogena face bar, the old fashioned one, and I put on face cream and fix my hair and then I brush my teeth, take my medications, which these days includes both multivitamin and iron.
• I put on my makeup, just three things: eyeshadow, eyeliner, and blush. A person should make herself look presentable and should not walk down the street looking like a slob. 

 

And that Concludes my Realistic Morning Routine for Energy

 

I look in the mirror and in the full length mirror. I think to myself ‘well it is what it is,’ and I pick up my coffee, my phone, my backpack. 

I have let go and let God, I have gotten myself put together, taking care of my physical needs, prepared emotionally, taken care of my pet, and now what comes is what will come. I might have a list of things to do, made the night before, or I might not. I might have a schedule, or I might not, but I try to remember that every day is a gift. As one of my friends at school told me one day when I asked him “how are you?”

“Everyday that I wake up on this side of the ground is a good day.” 

And out the door I go.