New Morning Routine

How wonderful to see the sun shining today! This morning, I tried a new thing to wake myself up. Attached to my phone's alarm clock app is a feature that lets me play a new episode of a podcast of my choosing. This happens after the phone tells me my day's agenda and the weather for the day. 

For a brief moment, I considered selecting a news podcast. I am a recovering news addict - having spent many years in the frantic environment that is a newsroom in both New Jersey and New York. Then, I decided that might not give me the best message to start my day. 

I chose, instead something called "The Quote of the Day" podcast. And I'm glad I shifted toward that genre - because it gave me something positive on which to focus as I began my morning routine. 

I would love to be able to say I start my day with meditation or pranayama practice, but I have yet to cultivate that into my day to day. So it is my hope that this new routine, read: VERY NEW as in, started TODAY - will give way to a daily morning meditation and pranayama practice.

The QOTD podcast featured a talk from Jay Morrison, a 3-time felon who turned his life around, eventually becoming a multi-millionaire real estate mogul. He admits to falling prey to the "get rich or die trying" method for navigating his life. When he shifted the focus to his real purpose, things changed for him. He thought about what drives him, what motivates him, what you would choose to do to contribute to the world if money were completely removed from the equation. What thing would you do for free?

For me, that answer is TEACH YOGA! I love to teach yoga. While I do get paid and am super grateful for it, the money is not the driver or motivator for me.

So I left my house with this message reverberating in my head and went to teach yoga. I taught a group of beautiful and energetic yogis. I left the studio feeling fulfilled and happy.

Here's to new morning routines and finding your purpose!