Nearly every day, this is what I do when I wake up: I turn on my kettle, scrape my tongue, splash cold water on my face, brush my teeth, drink a quart of warm water, do a few yoga poses, massage my whole body with oil, meditate, do some pranayama (breath practices), eliminate, shower, dress & hit the kitchen to make my green smoothie and to see which of my kids are awake!
When I go on vacation, have a sick kid or stay up past my bedtime at the Sara Bareilles concert, I usually do a modified version of my morning routine. What I have discovered over the last few years is which of these habits I can do without for a few days, and which I can’t.
There is one particular habit that I have discovered that I need and when I don’t do it, usually something crappy happens during the day, involving me losing my patience and saying something that I didn’t mean! It also means that I tend not to do behaviors that I know work for me, such as eating my biggest meal during the middle of the day, mainly eating plants, avoiding cheese, taking exercise & doing something stimulating for my mind. I get into a kind of what-the-hell space where I throw out all of my good behaviors & break my ‘rules’!
Charles Duhigg, in is book, the Power of Habit, identifies this habit as the “soil from which other habits [grow]” – the Keystone Habit. So, make the effort to identify your Keystone Habit, so you can create a change. Start to notice. Pay attention. How does your day go, when you walk your dog every morning and when you don’t? Do you reach for the second cup or coffee & the donut, or do you have a cup of mint tea? What happens when you do & don’t meditate? Do you snap at your room-mates, your spouse, your kids, or do you restrain this impulse? What about drinking water & eliminating? If you don’t do this, do you lose the connection between your mind and your digestive system & fail to nurture your body in the best way?
I can’t tell you what your anchor is, your Keystone Habit, you need to figure this out. So get to it. Make the change. It will be significant. This change will start you on a new path, because you will start to notice differences – in what you say, what you do, what you value & this will lead you somewhere new. This will lead you to a new identity. When you shift your behaviors & choices, you change your identity. This is a good & exciting thing, so embrace it baby, with all you have! Become the new you.
And remember:
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
Tamsin Astor-Jack writes at www.tamsinastor.com
©Tamsin Astor-Jack, Yoga Brained LLC