Sunday, February 6, 2011

Organize and Feel GREAT!


Have you ever woken up a little bit late in a state of panic because you know that your morning will now be filled with rushing around and stress? It then seems like the rest of your day ends up being pretty crappy. There is no coincidence there. Stress is stress is stress. Fight or Flight? "I'm late! What do I wear? I forgot to eat!" The stress created on mornings like this will wreak havoc on your day. Your brain knows logically that you are not at risk of death, but your body responds as if it is. That stress will carry on through most of your morning and will be made worse by the hormonal imbalance of not eating a substantial breakfast... not to mention wearing an ugly outfit!

There is a way to make a morning like this avoidable. #1. Get enough sleep. Period. No matter what it takes, go to bed and sleep. #2. Make sure your closet is super organized. Socks folded, clothes arranged by color and usage, shoes easily visible. Sometime I even pick out what I will wear the night before I wake up just to ease myself into my morning. #3. Make sure you have a plan for what you will be eating each week. Make your breakfast extremely nourishing and quick. I make a batch of steel cut oats on Sunday and they keep really well until Wednesday. I'll take 5 minutes to steam Kale while I drink a little coffee. Oatmeal, some blueberries and walnuts added in and some kale. Perfect start for a day of blood sugar heaven. #4. My Yoga teacher taught me this. On the way to work do breathing exercises. I kind of get a little high and it puts me in a really good mood. The simplest one is a 9 breath exercise. From your belly, breath in and out really fast through your nose until you run out of air. Repeat it as many times as you want.. it will make you laugh out loud (and will probably make anyone watching you do the same). Pretty simple stuff, but it makes a big difference.