If you don’t change your habits, how can you change your life?
I was listening to a podcast with Rachel Rodgers and she said something along these lines.
It wasn’t quite this, but it was close.
Basically she was saying that if you keep doing things the same way all the time, how could you expect to grow in your business or your life?
No surprise, this got me thinking about habits.
I’ve always had a thing for habits and habit change. I find the subject of habits fascinating.
I’ve spent the past decade studying habits, implementing habit change in my own life, and teaching about the power of habits.
I’ve even taught this particular idea lots of times over the years.
So what Rachel said wasn’t news to me.
I just needed to hear it from someone else.
That’s the point of having a teacher, right?
You can’t always tell yourself what you need.
You have to let someone else point the way or give you directions or even walk with you on the path.
What she said sparked something in me.
I’d been feeling really stuck in my mornings and mornings are my jam.
Despite my best efforts, I hadn’t been getting as much sleep as I wanted to and it was affecting my mornings.
Usually I start my mornings with writing, which I’ve loved for the past year or so. Unfortunately, Nettie has been waking up several times in the night to nurse and hang out, as soon as I start to write, my eyes would get heavy. I’d start to drift off sitting upright.
I’d even use my meditation practice that followed my writing, to rest.
Intuitively I knew that my body needed to move first thing, but I felt deeply resistant to it.
In some ways, I knew that moving would mean I couldn’t rest more and that’s what I want and need.
Still, most days, I can’t sleep as late as my body might want so I needed a way to energize my body quickly.
So I flipped my whole morning routine around and reordered everything.
Instead of starting with writing, which was basically putting me back to sleep, I’m starting with movement.
I feel less tired and I get to move my body more.
And yes, I also need to go to bed earlier at night. I am working on that, too.
The best part of this new morning routine shift is that I have more time to sit in meditation and write.
Those are the things that are easier to do with other people around, anyway.
Like this morning, I’d already moved and nursed Nettie while meditating.
She was still cranky though and she was hungry for non-boob food.
So I did my morning writing while she ate bananas and peanut butter in her highchair.
Everyone was happy.
A simple shift.
Movement first instead of last and my whole day is different.
Change your habits and you will change your life.
It’s easy to get stuck in familiar patterns. Most people like being comfortable and actively seek out ways they can be more comfortable all the time.
If you’re into Ayurveda, you might know this as a Kapha problem.
Comfort itself isn’t the problem.
The problem is only when we get so attached to the comfort that we’re not growing or feel held back.
Or in my case, too sleepy to do the things I loved.
The small shift of reordering my morning has made a huge improvement in my energy and my actions.
I’m only a week or so into this new pattern, so I still need to remind myself every morning to move first. And I have to actively talk back to the voices in my head telling me that lying down on the couch to “meditate” would feel really nice.
And also, it feels really good to move first, so I’m glad to shed that small bit of comfort for an overall better feeling throughout the day.
What small shift can you make so that you are actively changing your life to be more like you want it to be?
Do you struggle with movement first thing in the morning? Let me help you with that.
I created a bundle of yoga practices and meditations that are great for getting you moving in the mornings, even when you don’t have a lot of time.
Get the MORNINGS DON’T HAVE TO SUCK bundle here:
https://bit.ly/36Y4JZH
