My Morning Magic Hour
Hi friends! I wanted to share with you a little about my morning routine (I call it my MAGIC hour). It’s changed a bit since the last time I wrote about it here. With homeschooling the kids & very little time to myself these days my morning hour to myself IS pure magic and an essential part of my day. I heard it called the Power Hour or Empower Hour before and I know other authors have called it My Morning Power Hour or Hour of Power but Magic Hour seemed right for me. I aim to wake up at least an hour before the kids each morning with an old fashioned alarm clock and not my phone. I’ve been working really hard to NOT pick up my phone first thing in the morning (that is a tough habit to break). I then pour a big glass of water and gulp it down and then start the coffee. I go upstairs to my workout area and light some candles and get seated on my favorite yoga mat & my meditation cushion. I sit and breathe for anywhere from 5-20 minutes. Sometimes I use a guided meditation (I love insight timer app), other times I just listen to my breath or recite a mantra. I then do ~10-15 minutes of a yoga flow practice (whatever feels good that morning) and write in my gratitude journal. If I have time I will do a 30 minute workout (eg. peloton ride). Followed up by another large glass of water and a big cup of coffee and review of my plans & schedule for the day ahead. Then its time to wake up the kids and have a family breakfast together.
If you don’t already have a morning routine, I highly recommend you work on creating one. My morning routine centers me and it gives me undistracted time to work on my goals and take care of myself. I love getting that all important ME time every single morning.
The key for an effective morning routine is to get up earlier than anyone else in your house. This is not easy. I LOVE sleep. I mean, I really love sleep. But if I don’t set my alarm and get myself out of bed the rest of the day can tend to fall apart.
Please note it wasn’t always this way. I didn’t have this amount of morning time to myself when I was working outside of the home or when the kids were little and needed much more help from me (for example help eating, bathing, getting dressed, etc.) So keep in mind this routine is what is working for me now at this stage in our family & work life (and it’s always evolving & changing). It’s important to figure out what works for you.
I will also be the first one to say that I realize this is a wonderfully long morning routine. I acknowledge that those of you with small children or who have to leave the house really early to get to work, or have a long commute, will probably laugh at this, knowing that for you, it is very unlikely if not impossible to commit to this hour. While that is true, I also say to you: do what you can. Even 30 minutes of time to yourself in the morning is worth the early wake-up call.
