Clover Lane

I promised at the bottom of this post a review of the book  The Miracle Morning-The Not So Obvious Secret Guaranteed To Transform Your Life (Before 8 a.m.).

It's a super quick easy read-it took me one night and I read it fast and maybe skimmed some parts.

First off, I love the idea, and felt a difference in my days since I have started. I do think though it IS rather obvious in spite of the title, it's just more difficult to create a habit of it, especially through life transitions.  I'll get to that later.

Second, although I love the idea, it comes across as a really sales-pitchy type of book and maybe more for executives and sales people or those with huge aspirations that way.  Hal's story at the beginning is incredible-he came back from huge injuries after a terrible car accident.  He has a motivating voice, (again maybe for my old ears, a bit too motivating), and many, many good reminders, but I really had to get to the guts of the book and adapt the book's basic message to my life.

SO back to the idea in my own words-

S.A.V.E.R.S is the acronym Hal uses.
Wake up early.  Don't hit snooze (never have in my life, I HATE snooze, it just makes you more tired! I tell this to my older kids all the time and they don't listen.  I also don't ever need an alarm clock because I have one in my head, so who am I to talk.)  We need to carve out time to do this and it needs to be in the morning or something else will suck the time away.  This whole process starts the day out right, in a positive, calm, purposeful, grateful note. (Also if you have a baby that wakes up at the crack of dawn, or all night, just forget about it all until a tiny bit more of sleep is not the most essential thing in your life.)

S-Silence. Take some quiet time by yourself to pray and meditate and breathe or just to be grateful for all that you have.

A-Affirmations.  Remind yourself of who you want to be today to those around you.

V-Visualization. What does it look like to be that person you just affirmed?  It's a mental dress rehearsal.

E-Exercise.

R-Reading.  The Bible, an inspirational book, a self-help book that gives a new perspective. (I think listening can be substituted-a podcast, sermon, book...)

S-Scribing. Journaling-a gratitude journal.

That is super brief, but essentially what the message is.  He talks about the process ideally being an hour in length.

I kill all birds with one stone because I am a mom and that is what we train ourselves to do-be efficient and take what we can get. :)  I can walk in the morning and go through the steps at the same time I'm getting that exercise in.

I think what makes this really work is the time to myself, exercise to get energized and feel good (it's so much about those chemicals in the brain and body and that boost mood), and then being purposeful (reminding myself daily of my purpose!) before the day starts and the house is up and running 100 miles an hour.  It is calming, a ritual, and I feel like when I get that head start, I am more like who I want to be as a person and to my family. This is what I mean when I say it's all obvious, just so obvious we forget how important it can be when we are serving everyone else's needs-spending time being quiet, praying, reminding ourselves of our bigger purpose, exercising our bodies and our minds and being grateful.

As I wrote earlier, I think in the different season of our lives this whole process could look different. Maybe we can't leave the house so we just find a quiet place, and do some stretching.  Maybe we can take the whole hour, maybe we wait until the kid's are at school, and maybe it's a quick read of an inspiring quote and affirmation, or Bible verse, and a little list of gratitude.

Here is a more extensive review if anyone is interested.