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Miracle Morning

My husband is crafty in finding fascinating books and ideas people have come up with. One day I saw he got a book from the library called the Miracle Morning. I immediately went over to him and took the  book out of his hands and began reading it. Yes‚ this is an aggressive move towards my husband. He tells me this all the time but he also laughs and thinks it is funny. As I began the book I knew I was sold from the beginning. This little treasure is about having a morning regimen that will make your life better. Before I was skeptical of the self-help books and I would think what do these people know anyway. Then I thought well they do have a best selling book. They must be doing something right. As I began to follow the life savers as Hal Elrod called them‚ I began to see how it was affecting my life and helping me. In the book it talks about setting up the miracle morning according to what will work for the individual. I can be a perfectionist and will make myself do it the way the book does it. However‚ life doesn’t always flow in that direction. After a few days of being a tyrant to myself I tailored the miracle morning to what would be good for me.

Hal describes the miracle morning as your life savers. Each words stands for a part of the daily ritual. S stands for silence. One can pick how many minutes a person wants to meditate a day. Hal talks about it in the book that a lot of successful people meditate and it has helped them in their life. A is for affirmations. It May seem silly at first writing down that you are awesome. Then I thought what have I got to lose? I gotta be my number one fan. V stands for vision. The author explains in the novel that a lot of successful people have created vision boards with pictures cut out from magazines that show dreams and goals they are striving for. I love this part and found it helpful. E stands for exercise. I have had a battle with working out my whole life. It is hard for most people to do it and stick to a regimen. The book says you pick ten minutes or 20 minutes a morning to do whatever kind of movement you prefer.  I picked walking my dog for twenty minutes in the morning. Next is R which stands for reading. Hal has heard from noteworthy humans that reading ten to twenty minutes a day will enrich your life. My reading comes out to about fifteen minutes a day. Right now I read a positive passage out of six daily meditation books that I have collected over the years. The last one stands for scribing or journal. I have the five minute journal that I write in every morning and I love it. You can learn more about the five minute journal from my one of my posts here. GET INSPIRED BY THE “THE FIVE-MINUTE JOURNAL”

I have stuck through and have done the miracle morning for thirty days. I used to never be able to stick to a plan or a goal. This miracle morning has helped me write consistently everyday. I also have been exercising everyday which is a huge milestone for me. I would say I was going to write everyday so I could finish my novel. Then life would happen and I would need to run errands or need to do something else. I always had an excuse waiting so I could put it off for one more day.  What this daily ritual showed me is I can make goals that I will be able to meet. For one‚ I said I would write five pages a day. It could be on my blog or on my novel I am working on. I would fail before because I would set the bar too high‚ not make it ‚ and then beat myself up for it. I can find any reason to be hard on myself and say I am not doing enough. With the exercise part of the miracle morning I know I am not going to go lift weights or run five miles. I like to walk or hike and enjoy nature. That is what works for me. I am only meditating for ten minutes and that is all I can stand. The committee in my mind will not be quiet and will keep telling me all the things I need to do while I am meditating. What I have found out from this experiment is it is progress not perfection.

My husband noticed the change in me first because he sees me everyday. He told me that I seemed less stressed‚ happier‚ laughed more‚ and relaxed. I had a hunger for finally having some discipline in my life. When my husband sees me sticking to something he will want to reward me. Which what girl doesn’t love that . That is an incentive in itself. If I keep it up for six months then he will buy me a laptop and I am all about that like white on rice. While white knuckling it through meditation every morning I became aware that I was worrying the whole ten minutes. I was not staying in the moment. That gave me insight and now I try to focus on the moment. At first the affirmations felt uncomfortable. As the days went by I kept getting bolder in my affirmations. At first the ones I used where “I am helpful‚ responsible‚ kind‚ and smart.” Now I have spiced it up and I write down‚ “I am fearless‚ I am a masterpiece‚ I am courageous‚ I am risk taker‚  and explosive blessings are coming my way.” It seems silly but it works. The vision board is wonderful because I get to in-vision what a fulfilling life entails for me. I would always want to go after my goals but I got stuck in procrastination and I am not good enough mentality. A shift happens when you focus on the positive everyday. You start saying to yourself‚ ” alright I got something to bring to this world and I am worthy of seeing it come into fruition.”

I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t say some days I wake up and I want to turn the TV on and watch reruns of the Office all day. However‚ I know if I do that I will crawl into the bitter barn and be mad at myself for not doing it. I would always make fun of positive people and think “they are so cheesy. How can they possibly be that happy?” Then I though well I am irritable and discontent so I probably should not take my own advice. If you haven’t noticed I talk to myself a lot. lol It helps me work it all out. There is something to this miracle morning. I just had to be willing to stick to it‚ do it the way it works for me‚ and sit back and let it change me.

Do you have a daily regimen that helps you?

You can find Hal Elrod’s book at amazon.com . 

You can find out about the author and his story at halerod.com .