This Morning Choice Will Improve Your Mood

The alarm has signalled it’s time to get up. Do you immediately reach for your phone?

Stop.

Breathe.

If you reach for your phone within the first 15 minutes of waking up, research shows that you are actually interrupting the natural sleep to wake rhythm which your brain needs in order to start the day with a more regulated nervous system.

Even if you don’t reach for the phone, perhaps you mentally reach for all the things you need to do today…make lunches, iron the work uniform, remember to call your mother, and on and on it can go in your mind before your feet have even hit the floor.

Stop.

Breathe.

Use this quiet moment between waking and getting out of bed to try having a lovely stretch, or use your senses to gently notice what you can see, hear, or feel. Practice gratitude for a new day, or offer up a prayer.

There is power in the pausing.

Creating space to begin the day with greater calm, intention, and self-awareness supports your emotional wellbeing and nervous system regulation for the rest of the morning!

So, while still in bed, try asking yourself this profoundly simple question:

“How do I want to exist in the world today?”

Do you want your brain to be harshly activated into wake mode by checking messages, emails, or doom scrolling, or do you want to enter the day by gently pondering what you value most?

What do you value?

Do you value kindness? Love? Respect? Honesty? Laughter? Authenticity? Integrity?

If you’re not exactly sure what your personal values are, consider the adjectives you would like to hear a friend use to describe you. Would you like to hear them say that you are kind? Loving? Genuine? Trustworthy? Fun to be around? Adventurous? Faithful?

Choose a specific value - just one.

And that becomes how you want to exist in the world today.

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 today in order to show someone that I am a loving person?

It might be the decision to give your spouse an unexpected hug, or to text an encouragement to a friend as you eat your breakfast, or to wave at the neighbour over the road whose usually backing out of their driveway at the same time as you.

You get the idea.

A small, simple choice toward values-driven, committed action that you gently play out in your mind 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. This is not the time to beat yourself up over other days when you did not live out that value very well. Be kind to yourself.

Today is the gift of a new day.

I believe that small, intentional practices can make a meaningful difference to our overall personal wellbeing. Sometimes improving our wellbeing does not begin with big, dramatic change, but with learning to slow down and gently care for ourselves in the ordinary moments of everyday life.

If you’re ready to begin your journey into more Purposeful Wellbeing, you can do so here.

I would be honoured to support you.

© Joanne Edwards