My life’s first happy memory…
I am writing this at 7.30 am on a Tuesday.
After a lot of effort, I have been able to create a good morning routine. It starts with a glass of hot lemon water and ends with my Pranayama practice — almost 2 hours after waking up. Today I thought I’ll spend some time writing.
Before you dive into my words, some basic housekeeping -
First, I’ll be sending this out fortnightly i.e. on the 1st and 16th of every month.
Second, this is the first time I’m writing a newsletter so I’d appreciate it if you comment with what you think about it.
Okay, let’s dive in.
Habits, Skills, Learnings for Growth
Space where I will share about a good habit I built or a new skill I learnt and how. I also plan to invite guest writers here to talk about their habits or a new topic we all can learn from.
I feel waking up early gives you a few extra hours to focus on yourself and start the day consciously. From waking up after 9 am all my life to 7 am now, it feels like 2 bonus hours that I can utilize for myself.
I do my exercise in the morning which includes Jal neti (nasal cleansing), yoga asanas, sometimes dance and pranayama. So I utilize these bonus hours for keeping my health in check.
But even if you spend this time doing something else like, reading, working, side hustle, pursuing hobbies, by the time it’s 11 (when I used to start my day earlier), you feel like you’ve already achieved so much. It’s rewarding.
If you want to become a morning person, here are a few tricks that worked for me
Will — This is the first step. You have to have the will to wake up early. For someone who loves her sleep as much as I do, it is not easy to get out of bed (at any time of the day, haha, but mornings are even worse) so strong willpower is a must.
Tricking the subconscious mind — I talk myself into waking up early before I sleep. Telling your mind a wake-up time tricks the subconscious into believing that and you automatically wake up at that time, without an alarm. Trust me it works if you believe it.
Limited screen time — I don’t use my phone or laptop between 11 pm to 9 am except to check the time. This has been the most difficult of all and the most helpful.
Earlier even when I felt sleepy, I would lie down, mindlessly scroll through Instagram or something and wouldn’t realize where 45 min went by. That affected both the time and quality of my sleep.
Keeping a morning task you really look forward to — If you’re excited about something, make it the first thing you get to do in the morning. That will motivate you to get up.
I got out of bed at 6.35 today because I was really excited to write this newsletter. It can be anything though. Even watching your favourite web series. The idea is to train your mind to wake up early. Once you’ve done it for a few days, for whatever reason, the mind remembers.
These are some things I tried and worked for me. The caveat here is to sleep early to get a good 7-hour sleep at least. That’s the minimum I need.
Let me know how it goes if you try any of these tricks.
If you are a morning person already, I would love to get some tips to wake up even earlier. Please comment with what works for you.
Conscious Content
This segment will have personal recommendations of videos, books, movies, podcasts, articles that I find interesting or lift my mood or inspire me. Hoping to pass on the vibe.
Today, I just want to share one piece and request you to take out 10 minutes to follow it.
Wim Hof Breathing 🌸: Wim Hof is a unique man who has used extremely cold temperatures, breathing techniques and meditation to strengthen his body and mind. Also known as Iceman, he has multiple Guinness Book Records for swimming under ice and keeping full-body contact with ice.
I have been practising his breathing technique for quite a while and I notice a considerable difference in my lung capacity. Just thought to share the exercise with you all.
Fun fact — Did you know we only use about 10% of our lung capacity in our normal lives? 🤯 We can increase it to up to 50% with exercise.
Reflecting Back
I will share incidents, stories, memories or experiences from my life here. The only requirement is that they make you smile and reminisce about your own happy memories.
Before I end this first of many more to come, I wanted to ask you something that a friend asked me recently and I have been thinking about.
What is the first happy memory of your life that you remember?
Think about it.
Mine is running after my brother to hit him after a fight when we were small.
I must have been 9 or 10. He is 4 years older. He used to hit me and run and I used to chase him. But he was bigger and faster.
Our then home had an arrangement like this
He would run down from one side and up from the other. By the time I’d reach down, he would already be up, aagh. We would run in circles until I give up, start crying and go to our mother to complain.
When Mom wouldn’t hit him, I’d cry even more saying that you love him more than you love me. Hahaa! Touche! 🙈
It’s silly how the memory of me crying makes me smile now.
Hope you’re smiling thinking about yours too. I’d love to read it if you can share.
That’s it for today, folks!
If you liked this post, please share it with one friend. Just one is enough!
I look forward to reading your feedback and suggestions. Please comment.
Thank you for reading The Happiness Newsletter today. I will see you again on the 16th with my words.
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