See Beyond The Most Heard Hi! A Very Good Morning

This is the most heard and used exclamation. Any idea, why so. Its because we are fresh and energetic at the start of the day and wish anyone and everyone who comes across to us in the morning times. But do we have a structured routine for the start of the day. I remember, once a participant asked me as to what’s my morning routine.

I told him that, I wake up at 4.30 am to the alarm, switch off the alarm and put the phone aside. Make my bed exactly the way it was when I slept. Obviously then I answer the nature’s call, change my attire and go to the meditation room.

Spend approximately 30 minutes in meditation, and then dress up and move out for my walking /cycling expedition. If I walk I ensure a distance of minimum 10 km and if I ride my cycle minimum distance is 25 km. Followed by the stretching exercises and a cup of honey, lime and turmeric water.

The participant was more inquisitive than I thought. He asked me again why so much effort in the morning. Well then, having a routine is always good, but having a morning routine has a different significance. It sets a precedence at the start of the day. It harnesses the subconscious and the instinctive part of the mind.

By following this routine, I tell my body and my mind that I am in charge, so if the mind and body need to do something they need to consult me first. If you wake up in the morning, just responding to whatever is coming your way, then you set the precedence that you are not in command of yourself,

forget the world around. I never say that this an ideal routine and everyone should copy it. You should design your own structure based on your priorities, aims and what you are working towards. One needs to be in command and yes agile towards the emotions.

This brings an important concept to the picture. Concept of emotional agility. We as intellectual human beings are extremely rigid when it comes to emotions. As per Susan David , an renowned psychologist from Harvard university “Emotional agility is a process that allows you to be in the moment, changing or maintaining your behaviors so that you can live in ways that align with your intentions and values". The process isn’t about ignoring difficult emotions and thoughts. It’s about holding those emotions and thoughts loosely, facing them courageously and compassionately, and then moving past them to make big things happen in your life.

We have an online program designed by name “Anandam” which takes one through the entire process, still one can practice it with following 4 steps... The process of gaining emotional agility unfolds in four essential movements:

1. Showing Up: means facing into your thoughts, emotions and behaviors willingly, with curiosity and kindness. For instance, if in the morning, you feel like sleeping, take it as normal. Its fair, nothing wrong in it. Whether accurate reflections of reality or harmful distortions, these

thoughts and emotions are a part of who we are, and we can learn to work with them and move on.

2. Stepping Out: After facing into thoughts and emotions, next step is detaching from and observing them to see them for what they are – just thoughts, just emotions. We can control them better if we detach them from self (remember the advices and options, you have for problems of other, it’s just because you are not attached to those problems)​

3. Walking Your Why: After you’ve uncluttered and calmed your mental processes, and then created the space we need between the thoughts and the thinker, we can begin to focus more on what we’re really all about: our core values, our most important goals. Our core value provides us with the compass that keeps us moving in the right direction. For instance, my purpose for morning routine is to lose 10 kg of weight. Skipping one day might adversely influence my till date efforts.

4. Moving On: A world-class gymnast makes difficult moves look effortless through her agility and the well-developed muscles of her torso – her core. When something throws her off balance, her core helps her correct. But to compete at the highest level, she has to keep pushing beyond her comfort zone to attempt increasingly difficult moves. We too need to find the balance between challenge and competence.

New challenges will force you acquire new competence and hence explore new possibilities....

All the best...