DAILY BLOOMIFIED is constructed very specifically as a routine foundation. Meaning, sure, if you are able to do these three tasks every single day, with cardio and prayer/meditation in the morning before work, plus writing any time after that, then you are more prone to increasing your level of workouts per day, reading more books related to your meditation and prayer seshes, or writing different forms of works beyond journaling. What I love about Daily Bloomified though, is that once you are able to do the first step, the rest comes naturally. We all know how excruciating it feels to wake up to that alarm clock and face the fact that we actually have to get up out of bed to get the cardio part done. This morning, even though I have trained for marathons, and woken up early as a teacher and barista for most my life, I still struggle to answer to the alarm that rips my literal dreams and subconscious apart. We writhe in pain by the thought of having to face the day; and ironically enough, the more normal the day, the more unwilling we are to face it.
But no. This morning I wasn’t going to let the the thoughts ruin me OR this blog post. I remembered, for a flicker of a second, how much I love that feeling of being at the gym so early in the morning, seeing the sunrise while everyone else is asleep, feeling the crisp, cool morning air while I drive with the window down to the gym, barely awake. These memories are what force me to get up: these memories and these feelings. For others it might be just the sense of accomplishment or the people you meet while working out. But for me, it is the serenity and hope that I feel from being in my own world, running alone.
The remembrance of this world unknown to others is what makes my morning workout feel special. That specialness lures me out of bed, outweighing all the other thoughts and emotions from that typical morning paranoia. This is what I believe makes morning workouts perfect for Step 1. Morning workouts are that lure to get you going and they inspire you everyday to maintain the routine. In some ways, you are now emotionally attached to the First Step of the day. It’s as if there have been tiny drops of irreplaceable feelings associated with morning cardio dropped into that First Step. Scientifically, yes the endorphins are unforgettable and they transform your brain. But that’s not what you’re thinking of in the morning when you’re pressed to get up; that’s not what you’re able to identify when you’re groggy and fighting to take that first step out of bed. Instead, you lie there replaying and reliving all the FEELINGS you had when you worked out the day before, to convince you to do it all over again. Accompanying those feelings are visions from the morning before as well. Visions of the previous day’s workout, to remind us of how good it was to start the day with morning cardio. These tiny feelings and hopeful remembrances are now within you and the beautiful thing is they stay with you forever, even after doing the workout JUST ONCE. This is why it is more likely for many to pick up routines again later down the road in life – their emotional impact is almost greater than the physical.
Despite my love for the outdoors, I have found that the EASIEST way to get my butt moving and inspired for the day is to just keep things simple and go to the gym. At the gym, I have no choice, whereas when I go outside, I immediately get distracted by how beautiful everything is. I’ll start praying, crying, listening, writing and thanking God for everything. Then, next thing you know, it’s time to go to work and all I’ve done is complain or give thanks. Not to say these tasks are not important or inevitable in life, but they are best confronted after being shaken up by morning cardio and put into perspective alongside the endorphins you get from visualizing your life while working out. Therefore, after a looooooot of trial and error, I’ve discovered that for me, when I go to the gym and stick to the same exact machine/class, then I KNOW I will be working out for exactly 30 minutes straight and the task is done. No thinking, no bargaining, no way of getting out of it. I just show up and jump in.
Now, if you have your own version of the gym outdoors or you are powerful enough to do your cardio routine outside to start the day or in your house without getting distracted by the world or your thoughts, go for it! But for some of us, if we make this first step as EASY as possible, then the rest of the routine will just get done without a fight. Not to mention, if you work out at the gym in the wee hours of the morning, your body will naturally crave to workout AGAIN but this time outside and probably later in the day. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. We want to make sure Step 1 gets done for now.
As most of you know, it takes about a month for something to become a habit. But, a routine is not a habit. How about this thought: It only takes 7 days for you to get attached to doing something you like. Where the keyword is ATTACHED. Routines are different from habits and here’s why:
Routines are built in emotionally to your way of living.
Like making coffee. You wake up and you feel emotionally attached to this cup of coffee, or
even down to how you brew it. For some, it is the only quiet moment they get before their kids wake up, or before they head into a grueling day of work and pressure. Just you and your coffee; the quiet haven of hope for you to get ready and face the day. Whereas, washing your hands just has to happen after you go to the bathroom. This is a good habit for many reasons, but you are not emotionally attached to it, or at least you don’t have to be. It has been drilled into you since you were little, by your parents or guardians.
A routine is a choice to adhere to; it is a specific way of living and a GATEWAY for growing more into your passions.
Therefore, routines can be created out of anything you truly enjoy! That is the cool thing about routines. We can manipulate them so that they feed our souls exactly how we want them to be fed. They encourage us to be more of ourselves, or they serve a purpose in self-discovery and contentment, like this one: Daily Bloomified. So, if the routine has running in it, then you will most likely be compelled to train for a half marathon one day or a full marathon. This is obviously more challenging than just 30 minutes of running in the morning (30 minutes is usually around 3 miles btw). Or if your form of prayer is sitting in nature quietly for 30 minutes, then you might sign up for a silent weekend retreat one day in Santa Barbara or Hawaii! You see, Daily Bloomified is simply a foundation, but with built in reinforcements for however you wish to grow, in a hopeful and consistent manner.
And that is exactly what is lacking in our lives – the secret ingredient about routines – consistency and hope.
We get excited about something, but we don’t follow through. We have a million ideas of what we want to do or what we want to pursue, but we don’t go at it consistently. We think of different passions and hobbies, but we are afraid to make them a part of who we truly are. Daily Bloomified is a foundation for teaching you how to beat those odds. It provides you with 3 simple steps that are constructed to pull out of you your deepest desires, your truest identity, your honest cravings in this life. It teaches you along the way how to live them out and admit that they are a part of your journey.
How is Daily Bloomified able to do this? Well, it consists of the three main components to living a joyful life: endorphins, alone time, and reflection (cardio, prayer/meditation, and writing) respectively. When you are able to learn joy, you are able to live life unafraid of what you wish to be and what you wish to accomplish.
Joy eliminates fear, paranoia, anxiety, low self-esteem, and doubt. Joy keeps you focused on what you believe in as the center of the choices you make. Joy inspires you to choose to live life instead of stand by. Joy diminishes all inner aching and unleashes your true spirit. Daily Bloomified can help you create this joy for yourself.
Daily Bloomified is a launchpad for people to find joy, understand it, own it, and use it the way we were all meant to use it in this world.
Let’s see what happens and what comes to the surface on Day 3!
