Make Your World a Beautiful Place to Live

Mornings are my favorite part of the day. Yep, I’m an early bird. Lately, I’ve been going to bed feeling excited to wake up in the morning because I’ve created a morning routine that I cherish. Call me crazy, but it’s been a game changer.

I’m up by 5:30 am most days. Not usually waking up with the zest for life that I felt the night before, but I always drag myself out of the warm, cozy covers, knowing I’ll be glad I did. I start my morning with a 10-15 minute meditation on the living room couch, often wrapped up in blankets and sometimes with Katin (our cat) snuggled in my lap.

After my morning meditation, I take out my notebook and write down:

• A quick journal entry if there’s a lot on my mind
• Five things I’m grateful for (I try to make these different every day)
• One thing I love about myself
• My intention for the day. I take a moment to think about how I want my day to turn out and what I’ve been struggling with. If I’ve been easily agitated lately, my intention may be: bring peace and love to everyone today.
• Five goals. These goals are the same every day and are written in present tense which is super important. It makes my brain believe that my goal will become a reality. When I truly believe in my goals, I’m more likely to take the needed action steps because I’ve written them down so many times. It would feel untrue to who I am as a person if I didn’t actually pursue them.

These 30 minutes of self-reflection time are incredibly important for me. It’s a small part of my day, but it sets the tone for how the rest of my day will go. No matter what else happens, I’m proud knowing I started it off with intention.

While I get ready for work, I listen to a podcast episode (see my Podcasts page!) that gets me excited and motivated for the day. Often times, mid mascara swipe, I’ll have to pause the episode to jot down a note or quote that I loved. At this rate, I’m almost always leaving late for work. Working on that!

Right before I walk out the door, I make myself a thermos of bulletproof coffee. I love prolonging “rewards” and giving myself something to look forward to. My commute to work is about 40 minutes but with my coffee in the cup holder and a podcast playing, I’m thoroughly enjoying my drive. Despite the traffic, it’s more time for self-reflection and inspiration before I get to the office.

Why am I telling you about my morning routine? Because it’s been crucial to my happiness. I realized the other morning that I’ve been happier and less anxious than normal. I believe that focusing on creating an uplifting world for myself has been a big reason for that.

I realize and, of course, have experienced that life sucks sometimes. There’s a lot of pain and suffering in the world. Awful things happen every day that make us wonder, Why? How could this happen? And like I wrote in my post the other week, it’s okay to not feel okay sometimes. We all have off days. We all struggle.

My point is, as much as possible, I try to make my personal world an uplifting, inspiring place to be. That doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to what’s happening in the world. It means to live with compassion and do things that make you feel filled with love. When you’re happy, you’re able to spread that to others.

Curate your world to be what you want it to be. This includes social media. If you have a pit in your stomach after you get done scrolling, take a look at what accounts are making you feel that way. If what you’re consuming makes you feel bad or inadequate, unfollow! There’s no rule that says you have to look at things you don’t want to. I, for one, found myself getting so annoyed every time I looked at the Kardashians’ Instagram accounts that I eventually unfollowed. Like, why keep looking at things that bother you?

Make your world a beautiful place to live. If you’re surrounding yourself with goodness and positivity, that becomes a part of you. Constantly hearing uplifting messages and doing things that feel good changes your lens on life. You naturally begin to see things from a positive angle.

Find happiness in the small moments and make every day feel special in some way. Celebrate all of your wins, big or small. You woke up before 6 am five days this week? I think that calls for a celebratory breakfast burrito, my friend!

Are there areas of your life that you could make a little brighter?

With love,

Alissa