Demystifying The 4:00 am Morning Routine

What happens when you get up early?

That’s a question I have researched many times. I like getting up early and knowing that it does good for my body & mood; I get that extra strength to keep this habit. In this article, I explore some of the deeper mysteries of how the mind works when it is activated earlier than usual. Hope you feel as inspired reading it as much as I loved writing it.

Making the morning routine

To those who can get up early without setting alarm, I say you are blessed. Not many have that much of control over the self. To me, the greatest thing that made me develop this habit was reframing my idea of it. I had tried everything. From putting up a running gear in bed for the morning to setting puzzles as the alarm on the phone, I did it all. Some days I got up before the alarm even rang, but other days were a pain. I slogged out of bed, put down the alarm, and slept again. The intoxicating morning sleep had me in its ever-long grasps. Every night I would go to sleep while making a promise to myself about getting up early, and most times I bailed when the actual moment of the test arose.

Then I began a routine. I started writing a gratitude journal. Every night, I wrote 3 things I was grateful for. I never repeated. I thought of different things for every day. And when I slept, those pointers started getting registered in my mind. I did this for about 21 days, which is the time a person takes to develop a new habit

Then I began noticing change in my happiness level

This was the changing point, because it gave me the motivation to carry on. Being a freelancer, I need high energy throughout the day. In my work there is no one else to talk. I am alone every day, working on with words to create sentences that someday become part of a story. I can’t afford to be spiritless. It directly affects my work quality and reduces my client retention capability.

The amount of energy each one has is the same. You can learn to save it by not plugging into activities that drain it out. I call it Maintaining The Higher Connection. During the day, I take a moment away from work to sit in absolute silence. During this minute, I feel myself as a being who is in touch with the Higher Power. It is just like charging a phone. If a phone is not charged when its battery is about to end, it dies. When a non-living being thing needs energy to work, don’t we – the most beautiful creation of God? I use this as a basis to converse with the Higher Energy, sharing my thoughts and observation of that hour. This relaxes me, gives me new perspective on  the projects I am working on and removes negativity. This is a fun thing to do. Doesn’t take much time, but has hell lot of benefits.

You don’t need extra time to meditate. You have it already.

Meditation has to do more with state of mind than anything else. When I began getting up at 4:00 am, I realized I have more time on my hands than the rest. It made me happy. I had extra hours because others were sleeping. The whole world around me was still in dreams. I could go for a jog, write, do yoga/stretching and use that time better than others. I did all of it, making sure that I did not repeat any activity for a week. That ways, I always had diversity in my morning routine. This gave me a reason to get up before sunrise and build up a consistency that I still take pride in.

Like anything you read? Want to experience meditation? I am one crazy-about-meditation kind of person who likes to experiment it as much as I can. Give me a shout at sood(dot)nitima(at)gmail(dot)com & I’d love to share! 

Love,

Nitima

www.writingroutes.com