Written by: Ajabeyang Amin, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Snooze, pick up your phone, go on social media, check your email, read or watch the news? You are not alone in doing any of these things. Picking up the phone has especially become a common habit in the morning. In 2016, a Deloitte survey on global mobile usage revealed that 18% of the population reaches for the smartphone immediately upon waking up. This number increased to 43% within 5 minutes and 62% within 15 minutes of waking up. Basically, close to food, water, and air, smartphones are the next best thing. However, many of us know that our morning routine has direct effects on our day.
It makes sense when you consider that whatever captures our attention influences how we feel and what we think about. Thus, reading that text, checking your work email, or reading the highlights on the chaos happening in our world can put you in a frenzy when the day just started. So, how can you ground yourself in the morning so that you are in a more peaceful place to face your day?
The answer is implied in the statement “ground yourself.” It means centering yourself in this present moment without getting lost in the thoughts or feelings of the past or the future. It means rather than being tossed by the worries of life, you spend some time telling God that “my times are in your hands, I surrender this day to you.” How do you do it practically?
1. Plan ahead. Trying to decide what to do in the morning can increase your disorientation because it takes energy and focus to make a decision and, in the morning, many of us are drowsy from sleep. Therefore, plan the day before! Decide what you will do in the morning when you wake up. Will you spend time in silence, meditating, praying, reading, going for a run/walk, going to the gym, drinking a glass of water, stretching? These are all great things. When will you wake up? Do you need to put a glass of water by your bed side the night prior? Do you have a meditation app you can use? What will you read? Where will you go for a run? In what order will you do these things? Answering these questions the day before will ease your morning making you more prepared for a new day.
2. Set your alarm to the time you will actually wake up. Many of us tell ourselves we want to wake up at 6am, but our bodies will wake up at 7am, hence we snooze and snooze till 7am. Then we do the same thing the next day. Instead of this snoozing cycle, set your alarm to 7am so that you will wake up when your body wants to wake up and your sleep won’t be disrupted multiple times by the snooze. This will make you more rested in the morning. If sleep is an issue for you, read this article on eight ways to get better sleep.
3. Decide not to look at your phone until you have done your morning grounding. You’ve probably heard people say when you take care of yourself, you are more able to take care of others. It is true! When you spend the first minutes or hours of your day filling yourself up, you will be more restored to tend to your projects, people, emails, and whatever else comes your way. If you don’t believe me, try it for a week and see what happens. For the next week, come up with a morning grounding plan and decide not to check your phone until you have completed your plan. Notice how your week goes.
Not sure what to do to ground yourself? Here is a quiet time with God that you can follow and three grounding techniques you can incorporate in your routine.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Dr. Ajabeyang!
Ajabeyang Amin, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Dr. Ajabeyang Amin is a psychologist, Christian counselor, and blogger. She founded the blog, African Mind Healer where she writes on mental health, culture, and faith. She is dedicated to helping people heal from their traumas, get unstuck from their past, blossom into authenticity, and do the things they are called to do. She has helped multiple individuals and couples work through various life challenges. She is inspired by her faith, her clients, her experiences living in multiple countries (Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana, France, El-Salvador) and 5 U.S. states, and by being a highly sensitive person. She holds a PsyD in counseling psychology from Northwest University, an MPH from the University of Michigan, and a BS from Penn State University. As you read her writing, her unique background and perspective might just inspire you to take a pause and think about your life.
