This Morning Choice Will Improve Your Mood
Choose How You Want To Be
© Joanne Edwards @Purposeful Wellbeing
The alarm has signalled it’s time to get up. Often, it also signals to our brain to immediately begin thinking about all the things we need to do today! Sigh.
Before we have even pulled back those nice warm covers, our minds are already racing ahead to today’s staff meeting, or the unfinished project that’s waiting, or stopping at the supermarket because otherwise there’s no snacks for the kids’ lunchboxes. We can feel stressed within seconds.
Stop.
Breathe.
You have a choice right now.
What you think about in the precious few moments before getting out of bed sets the tone for your whole morning and possibly the rest of your day.
Instead of thinking of what you need to do, try thinking about how you want to be?
It starts by recognising your personal values. How do you want to exist in the world? Do you value kindness? Love? Respect? Honesty? Laughter? Authenticity? If you’re not exactly sure what your personal values are, take some time to consider your own funeral. No, seriously! What kind of words do you want to hear others use to describe you? That you were a kind person? A loving person? A genuine person? Trustworthy? Fun to be around? Adventurous? Faithful?
Life consists of one day at a time. So each morning, take a moment to first consider how you want to be today rather than what you need to do. Tape the reminder next to your bed if you need to. Sure, you will also need to think about what you need to do for the day ahead, but for now, it can wait. Right now, before you pull back the covers and get out, you are choosing to think FIRST about the specific value you want to live by today.
Just one.
For example, perhaps one of your personal values is being a loving person. So before getting out of bed, ask yourself, “How can I be loving today?” What is one specific small actionable thing that I can do to show someone today that I am a loving person? It might be as simple as pausing to give your spouse an unexpected hug, or deciding to forgive a coworker for their mistake rather than holding it against them, or texting an encouragement to a friend.
Or perhaps you value kindness. So before getting out of bed, ask yourself, “How can I be kind today?” What is the one specific small actionable thing I can do to show someone today that I am a kind person? It might be as simple as letting someone merge into your lane of traffic, or bringing a friend a takeaway coffee, or giving the stranger at the checkout a smile.
You get the idea.
A small, simple choice toward values-driven, committed action, before you even get out of bed.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. Just choose one value you want to live by today. Once this choice becomes a morning habit before you get out of bed, it can make a world of difference in improving your mood at the very start of each day.
So I encourage you to choose how you want to be today, and intentionally sprinkle that one specific value into your day.
This concept comes from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and if you’d like to learn more about how values-driven committed action can be implemented to help you live a rich and meaningful life, please reach out to me today! :)