This challenge is about simple, loving morning routines, and I’m calling it the Beautiful Mornings Challenge.
It’s about creating some space for meditation, reflection, movement, writing, or anything else you’d like to have room for in your life. And finding some space in the mornings for that, a sacred space that takes advantage of the quiet and beautiful light of the mornings.
Here’s how the challenge works:
- Week 1: You pick one thing to do in the morning and wake up a little earlier to do it. There will be additional instructions for this first week, but the idea is that we’re easing into it. We don’t need to have the “perfect” morning routine to get started. Btw, this week could just be 5-10 minutes earlier than your usual wake time (20 minutes at the most). So pick a small task to fit into that. Things you might pick as your one thing to do: meditation, writing, yoga, journaling, writing, reading, or really anything that you’d like space for in your life. You cannot use the time for going on your phone or browsing the Internet.
- Week 2: You pick a second thing to do in the morning, and wake up a little earlier than last week. Again, wake just 5-10 minutes earlier, and ease into it. Pick another small task. Now we’re waking 10-20 minutes earlier each day, and doing two small tasks.
- Week 3: You make this a mindful, sacred space. Instead of waking earlier and doing a third task, this week you’re going to take some time to adjust to the new wake time, and make this a sacred space where you practice mindfulness. We’ll go more into this in the article for this week.
- Week 4: You wake just a little earlier, and perhaps choose a 3rd thing to do. Like the first two weeks, you’ll wake just a little earlier (5-10 minutes) and choose a third thing to do for your beautiful morning routine. You’ll keep practicing your sacred space and mindfulness from the previous week.
So it’s that simple … slowly wake a little earlier each weeks (for 3 of the weeks) to make space for something you’d like to have in your mornings. And spend a little time making it a sacred space where you practice mindfully.
Bonuses
You can spend a little time each week making your mornings even more beautiful:
- Play some lovely music to make it more enjoyable.
- Brew a nice cup of tea for some added joy.
- Move slowly and savor the beauty of the morning.
- Reflect on what you’re grateful for.
- Write a note or letter to someone you love, and let this quiet time help you connect to them.
- Connect with yourself and create a more loving relationship with yourself.
These are just a few ideas you can choose from. Share your own ideas in the #beautiful-mornings challenge channel! Also feel free to share photos of what you’re doing in your beautiful mornings.
If you’re up for this challenge, commit to it in the #beautiful-mornings challenge channel on our Slack community (join the Sea Change Slack community here)!
Note on the Challenges
Please note that all of these challenges are just invitations — you aren’t obligated to do all of them. If you are feeling behind or overwhelmed with the challenges, feel free to take a break. You can always come back to them.
If you’re feeling rushed with the challenges, feel free to take an extra month to continue working on a habit and to solidify it even more.