Gerry Hussey: How to start your day the healthy way

Your morning ritual should combine structure with self-care and gratitude, setting you up for what’s ahead

Gerry Hussey

A morning ritual is about structure and self-care, bringing calmness and balance. It helps eliminate the morning rush of a ‘grab-and-go breakfast.’

Here are some practices to incorporate into your day:

Right start

Begin by setting your alarm 20-30 minutes earlier than usual. After a few days of rising earlier, your body will adapt, and you will no longer feel alien to this new set-up, allowing you to wake with ease naturally.

Lemon water: After rising, drink a pint-sized glass of warm water with lemon. It aids digestion and stimulates the liver to start detoxifying. Let this drink be the first thing that enters your body and avoid, if possible, eating anything for 15 to 30 minutes.

Movement: Moving your body is a super way to wake up your system and shake off any tiredness, tension, or stress in your body. Find something that works best for you: walking, running, yoga, swimming, attending a gym class or cycling. Movement in the morning releases endorphins and boosts your happy hormones.

Healthy breakfast: Begin your day with a breakfast that suits you. Listen to your body and eat when you are hungry. Choose foods that are right for you, not what has been recommended by a strict diet plan or what you may have seen on somebody’s Instagram page. Experiment with different foods and see how your body reacts. Add in superfoods, more green veggies, and more fruits. Keep adding the good stuff — eventually, this will crowd out the cravings for processed foods.

Time out

When we meditate, we emit different brain waves. We also receive information at a deeper level than during waking consciousness. When we give ourselves the time and space to stop, to be still and listen, we start to hear the noise we create in our minds.

It helps us become aware of our thoughts and lets us choose wisely the ones we give more energy to.

Energy flows where our thoughts go. As a result, we can begin to see our world differently. It becomes a kinder, more accepting place, where we see love instead of anger and peace instead of war.

Breathing

Breath work or pranayama can reduce stress and anxiety, calm the nervous system, create focus and clarity, and recharge your system (mind and body) for the day ahead. All it takes is ten minutes daily. 

The 4 –7- 8 breath is a simple yet powerful breathing practice. Sit upright, spine long and straight, and begin to inhale to count four. Hold... pause for the count of seven, then exhale for the count of eight. Hold... pause... and repeat.

Doing this gentle breathing exercise helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which triggers the body to rest and digest, calming and grounding the body for the day ahead.

Gratitude

Jot down three things each morning for which you are grateful. Think about them and feel the blessing in your heart.

The deeper our appreciation, the more love we feel in our lives.

By cultivating a morning gratitude ritual, we send a vibration of love into our world, allowing our lives to flow in harmony with the creative power of the universe.

Rituals and routines

Every morning, take a pen and three blank pages and write down whatever needs to be released. This practice is called Morning Pages (created by author Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way), and is a mind dump to eliminate clutter from the brain. 

There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages: They are for your eyes only. Do not overthink things; fill the three pages, then three more pages the next day, and so on. This ritual helps to reduce feeling overwhelmed or panicked. 

They set you up for a calmer, clearer and more productive day.

Visualisation

On waking, take a few brief moments to visualise how you want your day to go. Visualise how you look, walk, and feel. Visualise yourself smiling, laughing, or singing. 

By visualising what you want and focusing on what you have, instead of what you don’t have, you will greatly dictate how your day will run. By developing a ritual of visualising a healthy and happy image, you will begin to create a happy and healthy life.

Self-talk

What is the story you tell yourself? What are the first thoughts that cross your mind in the morning? “I wish I had ten more minutes in bed.”

“Oh, no, it’s raining. The traffic is going to be crazy. I’m going to be so late!”

Sound familiar?

The stories we tell ourselves and the pictures we create in our minds are the biggest dictators of the life we lead.

Choose your words carefully. Consciously say something kind to yourself or a loved-one first thing in the morning. Remember, energy flows where your thoughts go. Changing your story will change your day.

Each morning brings about a new day. Every day has infinite possibilities and opportunities. Creating a morning ritual brings you into the present moment, the present day, which is all we ever have. This ‘present’ day is the greatest gift of all. Embrace it: the healthy way.