A Miracle Morning. What would that be like? What would that do for you?

How many of us start out our days harried, rushed, having dragged ourselves out of bed because we just can’t get excited about the day? Trying to successfully get out the door, running through the list of things that need to get done and feeling just oh so unexcited about it.

What if I told you that you could change that? I mean really change that. Would you be interested?

The Miracle Morning

Months ago I was working with a client and she wanted me to create a banner for the book club she was running, The Miracle Morning. Of course I did that, but I was curious as to what this was all about so I looked it up. “Success before 8 am” it claimed, “Everyday will feel like Christmas”, “Not a morning person, you will be”. Really? I thought, I’d heard many of these claims before, what would make this one any different?

Even with these doubts in mind I decided I would give it a go anyway. I grabbed the book from the library and started reading. Hal Elrod claimed that even if you are not a morning person that you will be bouncing out of bed with enthusiasm each morning. Ok we’ll see, I said, I was not a morning person.

The whole basis of the book is in order to create success in your life and business that you need to be working on yourself personally on a regular basis. If you want to move up to the next level, raise the bar on success, you have develop personally and you have to work on it every day. Because if you are not working on yourself personally you won’t level up no matter how badly you want it.

“Your level of success, will rarely exceed your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become.” Jim Rohn

This made total sense to me. And I could see it, I love my me time, but when life gets busy, guess what goes first? Yup my me time, my workout, my reading, etc. and in fact this book was suggesting I needed to do the opposite. Protect and create that time all the more. Hmmm, made sense. All the times I have felt stuck, like I wasn’t getting anywhere, when I spent a bit of time on me, magically things shifted. Now if I was doing this on a daily basis…

The 6 Pieces

Your life is made up of a variety of components which are both external and internal. External ones are events, people, places. These things can affect you in your world, but they are not who you are.

Internal components are physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual, your inner world. And your inner world is where you create from and creates the basis for how you react or interact with your external world.

With this in mind, Hal has created the Miracle Morning so that you are working on all these internal components on a daily basis. Improving and shifting your inner world on all counts, which then in turn affects your outer world.

Hal calls these 6 internal components the Life SAVERS and they stand for:

S – Silence is one of the best ways to immediately reduce stress. Connecting you to your inner voice, gaining clarity and increasing self awareness. Silence can take a variety of forms and can be anything from meditating, prayer, reflection to deep breathing and gratitude.

A – Affirmations are positive statements that you say over and over in order to support changing your thought patterns, your inner programming. You know those inner voices or even critics. Focusing on changing what you say by creating statements that you repeat over and over to change that negative self talk and bring in the positive. I personally have changed my affirmations to afformations which has made an even bigger difference for me. More on afformations later.

V – Visualization is the process of picturing and focusing on what you want using visual cues, whether they be physical or within your minds eye. It is the practice of imagining specific behaviours and outcomes that you would like to create in your life. Things like vision boards, drawing what you visualize or picturing it in your mind are all forms of visualization.

E – Exercise is simply movement of your body. This can be as simple as doing 10 jumping jacks and a few push ups, some gentle yoga or going for a run. The key here is to get the body moving and the blood circulating. It’s proven that just a few minutes significantly boosts your energy and self confidence, enhances your health, improves your emotional well being and enables you to think clearer and concentrate longer.

R – Reading is one of the fastest ways to improve areas in your life. You can quickly acquire, knowledge, ideas and strategies to achieve what you want. You also have the advantage of learning from experts who have done it before, no need to reinvent the wheel! And it’s limitless there are many books out there to choose from.

S – Scribing (writing) is simply putting pen to paper. Capturing your thoughts, whether they be insights, ideas, breakthroughs or simply just airing things out (that has value to and can be healing). You could write that book you always wanted a few minutes at a time, write your gratitudes, dream, just the art of pen to paper will benefit.

And Your Miracle Morning is simply the first hour of your day divided into 10 minute sections for each of these 6 components. Are you with me yet? Or are you still thinking yeah right.

How It Has Helped Me

I have to admit when I first started my Miracle Morning I was keen to give it a try but I did not think it would transform me into a person who loved mornings. Or that I would bounce out of bed an hour earlier willingly and have it feel like Christmas each day. But I gave it a go because well I wanted change, and I wanted improvements and if Hal assured me that this would make a difference then I thought fine, I’ll give it a fair shake. So I began.

As I got started on my first morning I enjoyed it. I found I was very happy once I got downstairs to start the rest of my day, things that usually bothered me didn’t, and magically we were more on time that morning, in fact I think we might have even been early, then ever before. Huh I thought. Ok I looked forward to day 2.

The next morning same results, and then the next and the next. And then all of a sudden I craved this daily time for me, I got mad if on the odd occasion the alarm didn’t go off and I missed it or had to delay it until after I took the kids to school. I was noticing I was more productive and efficient, happier and super excited about getting up each day. I was wondering which book I was going to choose next for my reading time and what other things was I going to bring in to benefit my life and finally move me forward. Things started to shift, stuff that seemed stuck all of a sudden started moving. I was not only hooked, I had seen proof and I was a believer.

What I think makes a big difference between the Miracle Morning and other morning ritual programs is doing all of these personal development pieces at once. I am sure many of you meditate on a regular basis, and exercise, perhaps read intellectual books, etc. but that most of you do not do these all in one shot. This, I believe, is the key, working on them all a little bit at once nurturing each part, feeding the soul completely before you start the rest of your day.

Ready to Create Your Miracle Morning?

What would it be like if you had this? Ready and willing to get out of bed each more with excitement, starting your day by filling your own bucket. How would your life change? Are you willing to try?

The Miracle Morning is something you can easily do on your own. Get the book read and follow it and you are on your way. And for some people that is perfect. But for others it is helpful to have that community, that support, that accountability when trying something new. Those cheerleaders that have your back and say “You Got This”, no matter what happens. That say if you miss a morning, without judgement, don’t worry about it, start again tomorrow, we all falter sometimes, and that is ok.

Either way, you choose the way that works for you. And that’s another reason why I love the Miracle Morning, it is totally customizable. I love having my full hour, but sometimes I only have 30 minutes or less. Hal says don’t worry, you can do it in as little as 6 minutes on busy days or if you are strapped for time (you will find as you go though that you would like more time and will make the adjustments to create that). Make it fit you, make it fit your time, the key thing is to just do it.

You can also choose to extend your silence time if you want 15 minutes instead of only 10, and really 3 minutes of visualization works, while you might do 20 minutes of writing and 5 of exercise. Whatever works, it does not have to be neat little pockets of equal time necessarily. Just ensure you get in all 6 personal development pieces in your chosen time. That I believe is of the utmost importance.

The Book Club

If you are one of those people who likes to have that community and support consider this – I was so excited about what I had discovered that I knew I had to share this with other people in my life. I knew that many other people could benefit from this and I wanted them to experience it for themselves. It really was creating miracles.

So I created and led my first ever book club with a small group of people last Fall. And I loved it! I was so passionate and excited about the topic and I loved leading a group of people through it, watching their experiences. Seeing them learn and grow, supporting them in creating their own Miracle Morning and how it was benefiting them. It was fun, it was magical and it felt good to know that I contributed to the new benefits that they were now experiencing in their lives. It was a wonderful experience and one that I love to share again and again.

Our Fall group was so successful that I am offering this group experience again starting February 6. We read through the book together and connect on live calls to support and enhance our experience. We share and dive a little deeper into the book through guided questions and reflection – taking what we are reading and bringing that to the next level. It also provides accountability as we connect with each other once we start playing with our Miracle Mornings. If this interests you, join us for this next group by registering here. I look forward to having you!

And if the group thing is not for you right now, then I invite you to seek out the book and do it on your own. The Miracle Morning is an easy read and though, like me, you may read through and go “Yeah right” give it a try for a few days and just notice what differences it will make for you. It really will create miracles.

Decluttering is a big part of our lives. I always seem to be doing it and looking for better and easier ways to do it. There is no doubt about it, we as a society have a lot of ‘stuff’, and in essence a lot of ‘things’ that get us bogged down, and prevent us from doing or creating the things in our lives that we really want.

There are all kinds of articles and guides available on how to declutter your home from top 10 tips to 30 days to a clutter free home, but not many discuss how beneficial decluttering is for our well being.

Have you ever thought of getting rid of something you really didn’t like and then said “No I can’t because my Mom gave it to me”. But you still don’t like it, so you hide it on the bookshelf or put it back in the box. But it’s still there and it takes up space, it’s draining your energy.

Renowned author, storyteller, vibrational healer and six sensory spiritual teacher, Sonia Choquette says that if there is something in your possession that you don’t like to get rid of it. If it doesn’t make you feel joyful and happy then it is a draining force in your life, it is preventing you from getting what you really want. Everything in our lives is made up of energy, we are energy, as are all the other things in our lives. We feel better when we are surrounded by good positive energy, whether it be people or objects, when we have space to move and flow.

Clearing your space is like clearing your mind, opening up and creating space for new things to come in. This weekend I had the opportunity to do a major declutter in my home. I went through toys, clothes, sorted, organized and purged. Anything that was not in use or too small went into a donation bag, anything that was broken into the trash. I organized the toys and put them together in like piles and then into containers. I cleaned and dusted shelves, wiped out baskets. At one point on Saturday night my entire house was piles of things to organize or deal with. I find that when you are doing a big clean up like that that you often have a big mess before you get to the clean, neat and organized part. It’s like the storm before the calm. You have to create the mess and lay everything out so you can see what’s what, then you are better able to deal with it.

By Sunday afternoon my piles were dealt with, donations to the car, garbage was out and things were organized and back on shelves. The house felt calm, clear, clean and spacious. And I felt good, not only that I had accomplished something but that I could live here, sit and relax and not feel like I was in the middle of chaos.

Clearing your space also creates many health benefits such as better sleep, more energy, better physical, emotional and spiritual health as well as improved health overall. It creates the ability to generate fresh energy, a positive mental and physical space as well as allowing us to release negative emotions.

Now I know that with kids and a family you cannot create piles all over the house and then clean up. It just won’t work, kids get into piles. move things around and then you have a larger mess. So start small, work on one area at a time, even if it is only a corner. Set yourself up for success, once you complete an area you’ll notice how good it feels, then move on to another.

5 Tips to Declutter with Ease

Decluttering does take time but it can be done is small amounts with great results not only for your home but for your well being. Here are a few quick decluttering tips to get you started.

Start small – do an area that is manageable and that you can be successful in completing, this will encourage you to do more and not make it feel so overwhelming
Adopt the in with the new out with old mentality – if you buy something new, move at least one old item out. My rule is often 2-3 old items, especially with clothing, as my goal is to create space so I want the new item but I also want a little more space.
Purge before you organize – it is good to organize, but go through and take out the items that are broken, you don’t like or no longer use. Then organize what you have left.
Be ruthless! If you have not worn that sweater in 3 years out it goes. Don’t save it cause you might wear it, you won’t. If it’s still good give it away, there is someone out there who can use it.
Visualize the result – visualize what you want that space, that area, the house to look like. Hold that picture in your mind as you go through everything.

Want a little extra help? Put this diffuser blend on while you clean. It will motivate and inspire you to get that clutter out!

Add the following essential oils to your diffuser:

2 drops Lemongrass

1 drop Lime

1 drop Douglas Fir

Blend by Desiree Mangandog author of I Am Fabulous

Going through things can also be a reflective time for you, a clearing of the mind. It is a way to process thoughts, reminisce and let go. There may be things mentally or emotionally that you have been holding onto that are holding you back from getting what you really want. If you clear it out of your mind, then you create space for what you want to come in.

This morning when I got up I felt great after all the work I’d done. Lighter, freer, happier. Not only was the space in my house clear, I had cleared the space and energy in my mind and body. Is there more decluttering to be done? Yes, but I feel I have made a good start and that I have opened up space for more of what I really want in my life.

So the next time you look at the ugly vase from Auntie Sue and say “Ugh I really don’t like that” maybe it’s time to move it out, as it could be the one thing that is preventing you from having what you really want in your life.