Habits for Life
Years ago I discovered what would become one of my favorite quotes; wisdom of Aristotle restated by writer Will Durant:
“We are what we repeatedly do…therefore excellence is not an act but a habit”
At the time that I heard this, I was a new mother, struggling to fit everything into 24 hours, not sleeping enough, let alone practicing any self-care.
I have spent years studying the habits of people successful in their goals. What sets them apart is that they have daily self-care routines, usually scheduled in the morning, as a means to prime the day. When you are able to succeed in even a menial chore like making the bed, it gives you a sense of accomplishment and control over your world and sets you up to move through more challenging tasks.
Rituals and routines are something I enjoy. They are fun to design and regulating in their repetition. Learning experts agree that a few minutes of a daily practice are more powerful than hours long weekly or monthly practices. Life strategist Tony Robbins says that morning routines can be used to adjust our emotional filters and impact the stories we tell ourselves about what we are capable of.
What we fill this routine with is personal but many experts agree that a successful day begins and ends with some of the same ingredients.
Spend Time in the Sun
As I mentioned in a previous article, sun exposure when there is low solar angle (dawn and dusk) has a profound impact on both mood and circadian rhythm. This doesn’t have to be a long stretch of time. Even just 10-15 minutes. It’s ideal to go outside within 30 minutes of waking and again right before sunset.
Breathe!
For thousands of years, in the Indian healing tradition of Ayurveda, healers have stressed the importance of BREATH or Prana (life force). They place the breathing practice of Pranayama among three other pillars of the yogic practice. It is not a surprise that increased levels of circulating oxygen could help the body, mood and sense of alertness and concentration. I sit in the sun and do a short five minute breathing practice before I exercise.
Move your body
As the sun rises the brain sends forth a surge of glucose and the adrenal hormone cortisol so that we have the energy to rise and move through a day. Because of this cortisol rush, many people experience anxiety in the early morning hours. The best way to alleviate this and also to take advantage of the gift of energy, strenuous exercise is best placed in the early morning.
I believe that we hijack our own success by forcing ourselves to do things we hate. So chose exercise you enjoy: Swimming, dance, walking, yoga and Qi Gong are fun options . Consider coupling a tough cardio or weight routine with your favorite podcast, audiobook or music-a hack referred to as “temptation bundling”. Or as one of my former acupuncture patients does: Treat intense exercise as a meditation and be curious about the sensations in your body.
Expose Yourself to Cold
Early organisms existed in harsh environments with stressors such as food scarcity, predation and extreme cold. Adaptive responses promoted survival. In the modern era, our cells have become complacent in the absence of exercise, under the continuous consumption of food and within the temperature controlled environments that we dwell. Choosing to include exercise and short periods of fasting can mildly stress cells, promoting resilience, removal of harmful and dysfunctional materials in the body and stimulate antioxidant defenses. Exposure to cold has the same benefit. Consider a brief cold shower, or even better, a cold plunge in a tub for several minutes after exercise.
Make Wise Choices
In her popular TED talk, author Caroline Myss says that choice is “a fundamental power of the human experience”. She says that it is the daily choices we make, the subtle decisions throughout our day that are truly the BIG choices. She speaks about living with integrity, wisdom and compassion, taking risks, choosing healthy words and realizing that each day is unique and will never come again.
This reflective practice can be integrated into visualization, meditation, positive affirmations or journaling. Take a few minutes to define your day with good intentions.
Eat a Rainbow
Traditional Chinese Medicine emphasizes the importance of including a variety of color on your plate. Colorful foods contain compounds called Polyphenols which mitigate inflammation and oxidative stress. They also act as prebiotics-food for the beneficial microbes in your gut. Scientific research is slowly uncovering the importance of the gut in immunity and brain function. This useful chart from the Institute of Functional Medicine makes tracking your foods easy.
Shift Gears After Sunset
Just as we would get a child ready for bed, our adult nervous systems need the same pre-bed routines to signal that bedtime is near. Blue and white lights confuse the brain into thinking it’s still daytime and can disrupt the circadian rhythm. So choose some cozy gear-changing behaviors and activities:
Switch off overhead lights and use lamps with warm yellow bulbs or light candles
Make a cup of herbal tea
Read a beautiful or inspiring book
Meditate
Practice restorative or “yin” style Yoga
Turn off all screens and devices to sidestep blue and white light sources
As a fun exercise, sit down and write out a fun and enriching morning routine for yourself. Start small and build over time so you don’t derail yourself. Post this somewhere where you’ll see it like your refrigerator or a bathroom mirror.