The Magic of Mindful Morning Routines

How to use your mornings to cultivate mindfulness and accomplish your most important goals

Photo by Manki Kim on Unsplash

I hate to be this guy, but… I was into morning routines before they were cool.

Yes, long before Tim Ferriss first tried meditation, before Andrew Huberman discovered the life-changing magic of morning sunlight, 18-year-old Chris was meditating, journaling, and going for walks.

You probably have quite a bit of experience with morning routines, too—even if your routine is just making a cup of coffee or taking the dog out for a walk. Because that’s all a morning routine is, really: a set sequence of behaviors that you do immediately after getting up in the morning.

For most people, this looks something like:

• Grab phone to hit snooze on alarm

• Repeat 3+ times

• Scroll Instagram or TikTok while still in bed

• Varying degrees of self-recrimination

But what if you want to make your morning routine a little more mindful—or better yet, use your morning routine to cultivate mindfulness?

It starts with intention: take an honest look at what your routine is right now. If you enjoy it as is and it’s aligned with your values and goals, great. If not, consider making one small change at a time.

Look at it as an experiment. What if you took a 10-minute walk first thing in the morning? What about adding in a guided meditation before your morning coffee? Try it for a week, then check in with yourself: was the change worth it? Did it improve your quality of life, or do you need to make some further adjustments?

Personally, I know that if something is important to me, if I really want to make sure that I do it every day, then I need to make it part of my morning routine.

It’s the part of my day that I have the most control over. Later in the day, I have responsibilities to other people. Something unexpected could come up. Or I might just be tired or distracted or not have the willpower to get started on something.

But by taking something I want to do and making it a morning habit, I ensure it gets done.

Right now, my morning routine consists of:

• Making my bed

• Meditation

• Making tea and writing in my Five Minute Journal

• Practicing Spanish with Duolingo

I’m not 100% consistent, and I adjust my routine all the time as my circumstances and priorities change. But it helps me start the day feeling calm, practice gratitude, and identify my priorities for the day. (It’s also helped me reach a 70 day streak in Duolingo!)

If you’d like to use your morning routine to cultivate mindfulness, I have two suggestions for you:

1. Meditate first thing in the morning, if you can. If you’re not currently practicing, I recommend starting with just 5 minutes per day. Here’s an article I wrote on how to start your meditation practice.

2. Choose one other activity to practice mindfully. This could be something like brushing your teeth, washing the dishes, or making a cup of tea. Instead of thinking about other things while doing this activity, try to stay present and focus on the sights, sounds, and body sensations that come with it.

What does your morning routine look like, right now? Are there any changes you want to make? Let me know in the comments, below.

Meditation I’m Enjoying

Stephen Proctor, a meditation teacher in Australia, is known for creating a system of meditation called MIDL, or mindfulness in daily life. It breaks down traditional Buddhist shamatha-vipassana meditation into 52 discreet skills that build on each other, all the way from beginner level to advanced meditator. I’m just beginning to explore this approach, but you if you’re curious, the entire system is free on the MIDL website and Stephen also has a bunch of guided meditations on Insight Timer.

Book I’m Reading

ADHD 2.0 is a new book from Edward Hallowell, MD and John Ratey, MD, the authors of the classic Driven to Distraction. This book introduces the latest science around ADHD and how to treat it and cope with it. They also talk about how even people without ADHD are being affected by similar symptoms due to the influence of smartphones and social media. As usual when I read something ADHD-related, I’m finding it just as helpful for myself as with my clients.

Quote of the Week

“One ought, each day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words.”

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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That’s all for this week! As always, I appreciate your feedback on Mindful Mondays. What was your favorite thing I shared this week? What would you like to learn more about? Let me know by replying to this email or leaving a comment, below.

Thanks for reading,

Chris Cordry, LMFT

PS: Want to turn your most important goals into daily habits and make them part of your morning routine? Great! 1:1 coaching can help you develop your strategy and stay accountable. If you’re interested, just reply to this email with “coaching” and we’ll set up a free 20-minute consultation to see if working together is a good fit.

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