9/21/17

A Review Of the Book "The Miracle Morning"


I promised at the bottom of this post a review of the book  The Miracle Morning-The Not So Obvious Secret Guaranteed To Transform Your Life (Before 8 a.m.).

It's a super quick easy read-it took me one night and I read it fast and maybe skimmed some parts.

First off, I love the idea, and felt a difference in my days since I have started. I do think though it IS rather obvious in spite of the title, it's just more difficult to create a habit of it, especially through life transitions.  I'll get to that later.

Second, although I love the idea, it comes across as a really sales-pitchy type of book and maybe more for executives and sales people or those with huge aspirations that way.  Hal's story at the beginning is incredible-he came back from huge injuries after a terrible car accident.  He has a motivating voice, (again maybe for my old ears, a bit too motivating), and many, many good reminders, but I really had to get to the guts of the book and adapt the book's basic message to my life.

SO back to the idea in my own words-

S.A.V.E.R.S is the acronym Hal uses.
Wake up early.  Don't hit snooze (never have in my life, I HATE snooze, it just makes you more tired! I tell this to my older kids all the time and they don't listen.  I also don't ever need an alarm clock because I have one in my head, so who am I to talk.)  We need to carve out time to do this and it needs to be in the morning or something else will suck the time away.  This whole process starts the day out right, in a positive, calm, purposeful, grateful note. (Also if you have a baby that wakes up at the crack of dawn, or all night, just forget about it all until a tiny bit more of sleep is not the most essential thing in your life.)

S-Silence. Take some quiet time by yourself to pray and meditate and breathe or just to be grateful for all that you have.

A-Affirmations.  Remind yourself of who you want to be today to those around you.

V-Visualization. What does it look like to be that person you just affirmed?  It's a mental dress rehearsal.

E-Exercise.

R-Reading.  The Bible, an inspirational book, a self-help book that gives a new perspective. (I think listening can be substituted-a podcast, sermon, book...)

S-Scribing. Journaling-a gratitude journal.

That is super brief, but essentially what the message is.  He talks about the process ideally being an hour in length.

I kill all birds with one stone because I am a mom and that is what we train ourselves to do-be efficient and take what we can get. :)  I can walk in the morning and go through the steps at the same time I'm getting that exercise in.

I think what makes this really work is the time to myself, exercise to get energized and feel good (it's so much about those chemicals in the brain and body and that boost mood), and then being purposeful (reminding myself daily of my purpose!) before the day starts and the house is up and running 100 miles an hour.  It is calming, a ritual, and I feel like when I get that head start, I am more like who I want to be as a person and to my family. This is what I mean when I say it's all obvious, just so obvious we forget how important it can be when we are serving everyone else's needs-spending time being quiet, praying, reminding ourselves of our bigger purpose, exercising our bodies and our minds and being grateful.

As I wrote earlier, I think in the different season of our lives this whole process could look different. Maybe we can't leave the house so we just find a quiet place, and do some stretching.  Maybe we can take the whole hour, maybe we wait until the kid's are at school, and maybe it's a quick read of an inspiring quote and affirmation, or Bible verse, and a little list of gratitude.

Here is a more extensive review if anyone is interested.

9 comments:

  1. I have a love hate relationship with the snooze. Every year for Lent I give up the snooze button. That often gets me through most of year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am definitely a snooze button/kids dragging me out of bed kind of woman. I heard this mantra said by a man I admire: When you wake up, get up. When you get up, wake up! I want to do better at taking back my mornings. Thank you for the motivation!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree. I call this Centering Myself. And, it doesn't look exactly like what he said or how you do it, but all of those things are in it. The best part about this, I tell my children, is that it fills us up with The Goodness of the Lord and that is power you can't get any other way, like filling up your lamp every day directly from the Source.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love this Carolyn! That's a perfect way to describe it.

      Delete
  4. Oh this is so true! Getting up earlier and starting the day with some exercise and mental "centering" has been so effective for me. It seemed counter intuitive at first but now I look forward to this time of the day. I'd add that it is important to balance it off with going to bed reasonably early. If it leaves you sleep deprived, you won't get as much benefit from this habit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really love how you just keep it real! I'd love to be able to get up early and spend a few minutes gathering my thoughts, but the truth of my life right now is that I need that little bit of extra sleep so I don't go crazy with exhaustion - I am firmly in the camp of sleep being the most essential thing in my life! I keep all these things filed away though, for when the seasons of my life change...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have always wondered how does one read the scriptures first thing in the morning if you have many children under the age of 6. Someone said they got up and sat with their kids in the playroom and had scripture study with her children in there. I have 4 children 7, 5, 3 and just turned 1. This would be a way for me to start the day nice, but I don't have a playroom.... One day i will get that hour to myself. So many mothers have said they wake at 5am so they can get that time alone. But then again 5.30 onwards it when our kids are aeake!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Do you go out walking before everyone else gets up? I really want to get into that habit because I feel once the day starts, I don't find the time to do it! I LOVE walking!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is so wonderful to see. Hal and his family were our neighbors and not only is his story inspirational but he is such a nice person too. Anything that gets me moving more easily in the morning is gold to me.

    ReplyDelete