The Importance of Starting Your Day Right

Over the years, one of the things that helped me is starting my day the right way. Starting the day right does not actually begin the moment you wake up in the morning but the moment before you sleep at night. The things you do the night before are very crucial to start the next day right.

In this episode,  I'm talking  about the importance of starting your day right. I will also discuss the things that you need to do to do this. It’s going to benefit all of us to start the day right when we are trying to get new goals. 

Let’s get to learn more in this episode!

Episode 52 at a glance...

• How the way we start our day affects our productivity and mindset throughout the day.
• Being grateful for waking up and paying attention to your breathing
• Hydrating and eating a healthy breakfast
• Choosing the right exercise for your body and mind
• Getting enough and high-quality sleep
• Limiting the time we spend on social media
• The things that disturb your natural sleep cycle
• Getting rid of junk food before bedtime

See you on the next episode!

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Transcript

Mariana Thomas  0:00  

Hello, hello, everyone. Welcome to the Mindfully Recharged Podcast with your host,  Mariana Thomas. Yes, we are still in January and so I wanted to talk about the importance of starting your day right. It’s going to benefit all of us to start the day right when we are trying to get new goals. New year, new us. So without further ado, let's get to it. See you there.

Speaker 2  0:37  

Welcome to Mindfully Recharged with Mariana Thomas. In this podcast, Mariana brings you mindful conversations in people that will develop and recharge you from the inside out so that you can increase productivity in your personal and professional life. This is Mindfully Recharged.

Mariana Thomas  0:58  

Hello, everyone. Welcome, welcome. Super excited about this episode. It’s one of my favorite topics to talk about. The importance of starting your day the correct way. Yes, I know that over the years, one of the things that have helped me is to start my day the right way. I have not always started my day at the right time. I think I used to get up a little bit too early and get a little bit of sleep, you know, sleep quality was not my best when I was in my corporate job and so for that reason, I feel like my day probably was not starting the right way every single time, but one thing that I always have was a strong morning routine that helped me to probably keep the energy up. Even though I did not know that I was actually kind of drowning myself, because of the lack of understanding of what starting the day right really meant, you know, and for me, now these days, starting the day right, starts the day before. It really does. The day before or the night before is going to have a lot to do with how you start your day the next day, every single day. There's no denying that the way you start your day really affects your productivity and mindset throughout your day. It's really important that we remember this-- it’s going to affect our productivity, our mindset, our energy, and even our mood. That is something really important to remember. So no matter what your occupation or ambitions in life, starting your day off on the right foot is crucial, my friends, it’s really crucial. It doesn't matter what you do. If you are an entrepreneur, you work for someone else, or you are a stay-at-home mom, it doesn't matter what you do, starting your day off on the right foot is crucial. This means waking up early enough to have some peace and quiet. Yes, this is one of the things that is so important to me, not only to start the day quiet but also to turn into my breath. My breath is the first thing that comes to mind when I open my eyes in the morning. So one thing that I practice is alternating nostril breath. Okay, and obviously, I cannot teach you that over the podcast, but I want you to think about that one. Maybe I will record a video and put it as a resource for you guys, but the breath is so important in the morning. It’s to kind of clean up our nostrils to remember that our breath is the force of life. You know that without our breath, we really are not alive. So we have to be very grateful for that. So I'm grateful to have the opportunity to wake up every single day and then turn into my breath, to turn into gratitude, because I'm able to breathe, I’m able to exercise my nostrils and in a different way and so I want you to really pay attention to this because when you start your day right, it’s not only going to affect you, it’s also going to affect those around you. When I say that it’s going to affect your mood, trust me on that, really trust me on that, because the lack of sleep is going to affect how you feel in the morning and it may change your chemistry, it may change your hormones and your sleep is so important. 

Mariana Thomas 5:50

So the other thing that I do after I turn into my breath, and I wake up early in the morning, is to drink water. So in the morning, I drink a really big glass of water. Actually, it's not a glass, it's a container that I have right by me. I brush my teeth first, to be honest with you, I kind of like to clean out my mouth and then just to clear out my throat and then to have my water. It's very important that you hydrate in the morning, not just to turn into the breath but also to hydrate your body and your organs. Okay, this is going to help to keep your body in shape throughout the day. It’s going to keep you going. Water is one of those things, they will give you energy. It's almost like for those of you who drink coffee will be your energy drink. For me, water is my energy drink in the morning. I also start my day with my celery juice and 30 minutes after that, I get a big bowl of fruit. You know and I am into watermelon these days. I just absolutely love it. So a bowl of fruit that is part of my breakfast and then some, I’m not saying that it's protein but I will say I'll have another bowl of fruit. There is more to cleanse my liver. So it has a bunch of things including cilantro. I don't know if I have ever had it shake, they have cilantro in it but that is some of the new things I'm doing you guys that have been healing myself for a while now. So eating breakfast within the hour, 45 minutes after having my bowl of fruit is important. So that is something that is going to keep you up with energy and set you up for your day. 

Mariana Thomas 08:16

One other thing that is important to start your day right is exercise. Let's talk about exercising. A lot of people think that they have to, over-exercise, go to the gym 100 times a day, and just run like a crazy person or lift the weights and then go do some other things and then spend two hours at the gym. That used to be me. That used to be me, I used to do several different modalities of exercising and I spent a lot of time moving my body because that is what I thought I needed to do in order to stay in shape, but since the pandemic, it has been almost two years, everything has changed and I had this cover that I don't need that much time to exercise, that I do need to exercise every single day, I need to move my body. I need to breathe and meditate. Remember that I turn into silent as well in the morning, but I don't need two hours, or two and a half hours like I was doing before and what happened is that when you train your body that way, it's really hard to turn your body the other way, where it’s just 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or an hour. Okay, usually it’s an hour where you can really have some quality time moving your body and finding that perfect modality of movement that is going to be beneficial for you, not just for your body, but also for your mind, your heart, your spirit. So now what I do is just, I combine my practice yoga, as you guys know, I'm a yoga teacher and I had been for many, many, many, many, many years, as well as Pilates, and combine those two, within one and so I do this practice, where I'm not only working on my flexibility, my strength, I'm also well, obviously, Pilates works from the inside out. So I'm working on my core strength and at the same time, I do other functional movements that do not require me to go to the gym, and I have some weights at home, so I can do those, but not as crazy as they used to be. Also age, you know, I think the older I get, the more mindful I become of my body, and what my body is asking me to do, and what my body requires to stay healthy and to stay mindful, you know, to stay mindful, that is so, so important. So no matter what you choose to do, if you just choose to go for a walk, maybe go for a run. My daughter, for example, just told me yesterday, “Mom, I just started to practice tennis.” and she hired a trainer that is giving her a one on one lesson, and then she's gonna go into the group and that is what she is finding what she wants to do. You know, as a mom, and as a yoga teacher that has been practicing yoga for so many years and teaching, I wanted her to do more yoga than anything else, more Pilates than anything else, but that's not my body. That's not my mind, my heart, my spirit, you got to do what works for you and so when she shared that, what I said was, “Make sure that you do stay flexible, that you do stay aware of your body because tennis is a one-sided sport.” as you guys know. So it's going to require you to stay equal on both sides of your body. Okay, so finding some harmony on that. So that was just my input, I didn't say, “Hey, you got to do this or that.”. That's another way to do it. So I just step back and say, “Here's what I recommend for you, you should pay attention to them.”,  and she actually listened so that makes my heart sing and it makes me happy and so when you find your exercise modality, go for it, okay, it will help you feel more energized and less stressed throughout the day as well because it's going to release those more than those stress levels that you have on you in your mind or in your heart, something that is bothering you. Exercising definitely is going to help with overall mental health. Okay, so it's not just for the body, but also for the mind. 

Mariana Thomas 14:09

Once again, I want to remind you, the importance of getting enough sleep each night and here I'm talking to the choir and talking to myself because this is something that I need to be more intentional with. Okay, I need to really pay attention to my sleep patterns and especially the time that I'm going to be going to bed okay because sleep is going to help you feel more energized as well. Okay, and sleep is one thing that we don't get enough but this can lead to different issues if we don't pay attention. So it can, it can help to regulate your blood sugar levels, but it can also go the other way or it can damage your weight, it may give you some weight gain, and we don't want that for sure. So sleep is very important, okay and besides that you're going to get up in the morning and feel refreshed and feel beautiful because you are rested.

Mariana Thomas 15:31

The other thing is, don't spend all day on social media, you know, a lot of us sometimes want to go and post something, and we want to add a post that is interesting and then we just keep on scrolling. Until I don't know, we become aware that we have been there for 30 minutes. So very important to pay attention to how much time you spend on social media scrolling down. This is not only time-consuming, but it's also can contribute to feelings of loneliness, and depression, okay, or depression. If you compare your life with other people's posts, how they look or how much they have, look at this and look at that, you know, I'm very aware of those things. I don't like to brag on social media, I'm very intentional, sometimes with the things that I post, because I recognize that sometimes people are scrolling and they compare themselves with others. Now that is your responsibility, but you have to be responsible for you, and part of my responsibility is to make sure that I'm aware of those things. Okay, so sometimes I refrain from posting certain things on my social media, that is number five. 

Mariana Thomas 17:12

Number six, I will say is keep electronics out of the bedroom, and you know, sleeping next to a TV, or laptop or tablet, or your cell phone, any of those things can disturb your natural sleep cycle by imitating the blue light, which mimics daylight, right? So we want to make sure that we keep that awareness when it comes to that. Sometimes, what I do at nighttime, I cover my TV, you know, like maybe I put it to all over or a blanket, you know, and make sure that the lights are covered, you know, the little red light, the TV hands, I’d like to make sure that that is not flushing at nighttime, and I keep my bedroom really dark before going to sleep, and I use my nighttime glasses to maybe look at the things that I need to do the last minute at night. So I'm preparing myself to go to bed, to tell my brain in my subconscious mind that I'm ready to go to bed and ready to go to sleep and it usually works pretty well. So I recommend you to make sure that you pay attention to the electronics, and also the light that you have at that moment.

Mariana Thomas 18:51

One thing that I see a lot of people doing, I don't see but I hear it, is that sometimes they grab that junk food late at night. Okay, so one thing that is important to do is to get rid of the junk food, you know, so you don't have that invasion during the day or night before going to bed, it’s very important. When you eat late, it’s going to disturb in just an instant in your sleep and for that reason, is not going to give you a great result to start your day the right way. Right. So you want to really really prepare for a great day and as you notice a lot of things that we are doing and then I recommend you have to start the day before. So if we do this every single day, it's like you are preparing the day before for the next day. 

Mariana Thomas 20:02

So as you can see, the morning is a key part of any healthy routine and if you follow these steps to make sure your days start off the right one, I want you to have the best of the best energy every single day. So if you follow these steps, you are going to be on your way to do that and if you need help with this, or looking for someone who will be able to provide guidance and support, as well as accountability along the way, just go ahead and DM me support@marianathomas.com and I will be happy to offer my assistance in achieving and even be more mindful in your lifestyle in 2022. Okay, if you follow these simple steps, like those mentioned here, today and beyond, you will be on your way. 

Mariana Thomas 21:14 

So I hope that this helps, I hope that you remember this thing so you can start the day the right way and because it is really important, okay important, because otherwise your productivity, your energy is going to go down. So make sure that you turn into your breath, to drink that water, you're grateful, you eat well and healthy in the morning, you exercise, you get a good night's sleep, don't spend all day scrolling social media, keep your electronics out of the bedroom, and get rid junk food. Okay, so I hope that that helps. Make sure that you head also to our show notes, okay, my show notes, and grab that free Mindful Goal Guide on the show notes and also get on that waitlist for my eight-week program. Okay, coming up, and don't forget to share this episode with friends and family, anyone that you think will resonate with it and you know, not just this episode, but the entire podcast, okay, and download that Mindful Guide. It’s going to be really, really awesome for you. It really is beautiful and it has a space for affirmations for each of your goals that want to make sure you had the best year and 2022 and with that, I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day wherever you are, whenever you are listening to this, I’m sending you the biggest hugs and the biggest, biggest energy ever. Okay, and good energy, and I will see you on the next episode. Have a great day friends. See you soon. 

Mariana Thomas 23:30

Thank you for listening everyone and don't forget to go to the show notes and click to download your FREE Mindful and Energetic living Guide. Also, don't forget to share this podcast with your friends, your families, and everyone out there. I want to get this out there to everyone. So thank you for your support, and I'll see you next week.