Four years ago, I started a morning ritual that greatly improved the quality of my day.
I wrote before that separating ‘getting up in the morning’ from ‘getting ready for work’ significantly increased my happiness level. I now naturally get up early, not to squeeze more productivity out of the day but rather to get myself into a peaceful state to face whatever the day brings.
Part of my daily morning routine includes processing an emotion that’s up for me at the time, no matter how subtle. However, identifying an exact emotion is not easy on my brain early in the morning. So, a few non-scientific methods exist to get close to the emotion that wants to be processed that day. I use a pendulum because I know how to use it, and it’s fast. But if that is too woo-woo for you, you could use kinesiology. It uses your body for feedback whilst making true / false statements.
Here is how you can use kinesiology on your own:
- Make a circle with your left thumb and left ring finger.
- With each question or statement you pose, use your right index finger to add pressure against the inside of the circle to attempt to break it open.
- Start with a statement that is 100% true: for example – my name is Ute. In my case, this is true.
- Your circle should be able to hold tight and not break.
- Make a statement that is 100% false: for example – my name is John. In my case, this is false.
- You will be surprised how easily the circle breaks open using the same pressure you used for the true statement.
- Note the difference in pressure and use this as a guide to identifying the emotion.
- Go through a list of emotions until you land on the one that doesn’t break the circle. Here you can use the emotional scale I mentioned before, or a great alternative is the Emotion Code Chart by Discover Healing. They explain a fast method to hone in on a group of emotions so you don’t have to go through each one individually. Google it.
- Once I have located the emotion, I get a hunch about the issue or resistance I’m dealing with and process the emotion with whatever technique I’m drawn to. I shared two tools before; another really helpful one is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). There are some excellent explainer videos on YouTube.
- Do this every day, and you will find you won’t get triggered much any more.
This morning routine allows me to greet my day with a smile, no matter what’s up in my life.
What do you do to start your day calm, peaceful and grounded?