The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
Recently I've been really enjoying self-development books and podcasts and was recommended The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. I won't go in to too much detail or back story about the actual process as there are thousands of books, podcasts and blogs dedicated to giving details about it and I don't think any of those are really as good or inspiring as actually reading the book itself - but I'll do my best to give a brief summary.
Hal Elrod has lived an incredible life and experienced his fair share of challenges which he has worked hard to overcome. Through these experiences and leaning on research done in various fields about what the key things are people can do to really take their lives to the next level he came up with the 6 life SAVERS. Hal believes practicing these six disciplines daily can help transform your life and he decided to make it a miracle morning as that was the one time in the day he could create the time in his busy schedule for them by getting up a bit earlier.
The Life Savers
S for Silence
Silence is used for meditation, whether you just sit and concentrate on your breathing, follow a guided meditation or you're already a meditation pro and have your own practice to do in this time.
A for Affirmations
Hal does suggest a specific formula for your affirmations however you can really tailor this to yourself.
V for Visualisation
There's loads of research showing how visualisation can help in our lives, whether it is working towards resolving an issue in your life or a goal you want to achieve visualisation can only help.
E for Exercise
This one is pretty self explanatory, any kind of movement that gets you up and going although Hal does mention to consult with a doctor if there are any health/fitness issues to make sure you don't cause yourself any harm.
R for Reading
Ideally from some form of self development book.
S for Scripting
In this case scripting means journaling but he needed an S for the end of life savers! There are suggestions of what to journal about in the book but again you can really tailor this part to yourself and your interests.
So how did I get on with it?
I'm not an early riser or really a night owl so initially it was a bit of a struggle to get up that bit earlier, I am lucky that with the shifts I work I don't start till 10am at the earliest and I don't have any kids or other commitments that could really derail my new routine I was trying to create, I understand it could be more challenging for people with different circumstances to myself.
Once I got out of bed (using the fabulous 5 second rule by Mel Robbins, there is a book review on here if you're interested) I headed straight to the bathroom, saw to my needs and splashed my face with water as Hal recommends before heading downstairs to get a big glass of water and start my miracle morning.
I have meditated in the past so alternated between my own mini meditations and following some guided ones on the headspace app, there's loads of resources online you can definitely use if you're not sure where to start.
Next I did some affirmations from a board I had created on Pinterest, I'm not great with affirmations so this is definitely something I found a bit difficult.
For the visualisation portion I spent some time the first day writing out my ideal day and then visualised myself living that life every day, trying to really feel it as if I was there.
Exercise I usually headed upstairs to use my spin bike I invested in last year, I'm by no means great on it but a leisurely cycle for 10 minutes minimum definitely got the blood pumping.
Reading I was a bit stricter with myself and only read self development books, I knew that if I read anything off my fiction TBR list I'd end up derailing the whole process and still sitting there when I was meant to be getting ready for work.
And finally scripting, I did start a little journal and tried to do a bit of a brain dump and make notes of anything that was bothering me and how I felt in general. I definitely didn't use this part to it's full potential.
Final Thoughts
This whole process did take me about an hour and I found that if I got up a bit later or skipped any parts of the routine I did miss them. It was definitely a good experience and one I'd like to try on a longer term basis but it just isn't something I was able to continue with. Unfortunately I got ill and had to rest more so I did only test it out for 2 and a bit weeks but I did notice big improvements in my overall energy levels and my physical health as well as mental health definitely improved to.
Since I stopped doing the miracle morning I've definitely found it harder to get out of bed when the alarm goes off, my sleep is worse and I generally have less energy now. I find I'm missing the routine and structure from the start of my day also.
If you're looking to make a change in your life or a new morning routine to try I'd definitely recommend The Miracle Morning and that you read the full book to understand it in more detail. As much as I am not continuing it at the moment I am still practicing aspects of the routine and hope to revisit it soon and potentially try it for a few months to see how my life changes.
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