Morning Illustrated

Here’s what my perfect morning looks like:

I wake up nice and early, after a refreshing night’s sleep.

First thing I do is write my Morning Pages while sipping a lovely cup of strong tea or coffee. The morning pages are a daily practice taught by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way
. It is three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing, meant to clear out the mind and get the creative muscles warmed up.

Next I get out the mat and do ten or twenty minutes of yoga to get my body activated. The nice yoga ladies on the YouTubes are a huge source of motivation and gentle coaching.

A morning run means I’ll be mentally sharp and energetic for the whole day. While running, I listen to an inspirational podcast like Suitcase Entrepreneur to get me motivated for the day.

My preferred breakfast is a tasty green smoothie.

That’s the perfect version of the beginning of my day.

A more realistic version looks something like this:

Sleep in late with a cat on my head.

I don’t just have some coffee, I take a bath in it.

Watching the news while I rush around getting ready at the last minute makes me anxious and stressed for the rest of the day.

Needless to say, I’m trying to have more of the first kind of mornings and less of the second.