What's Your Morning Ritual?

I have always struggled with sticking to a healthy morning routine and have gone through phases where I've made no conscious effort to even practice one. My main issue is allowing the day's tasks, responsibilities, worries, etc. flood my brain directly upon waking up or reaching over to grab my cell phone to unnecessarily check in with the world. I am an easily distracted person so removing distractions has helped me immensely. Recently I've begun rethinking my morning ritual and have, for the first time in my life, decided to commit myself to a set morning practice for 1 month in an attempt to form a good habit (I started this morning!). I want to first share with you my personal morning ritual plan and a recent source of inspiration that gave me the push I needed to refocus on this most important part of the day, and then invite you to share what your morning routine is! FYI, there will certainly be days when I miss one of these. I'm just aiming to complete at least 3 of them. I'm not perfect...

My 1-month morning ritual commitment:

1. Relax! Upon waking, do not just leap out of bed. Lay still with eyelids closed and practice some breathing/relaxation techniques before getting out of bed. TIP: I removed my cell phone from my night stand to eliminate this unwholesome source of distraction. I've formed the bad habit of rolling over to reach for it as soon as I wake up. Time to cut that out!
   
2. Hydrate. I keep a full 16-oz glass of water on my night stand to drink following my relaxation practice. Your body needs this right away!
   
3. Make the bed. I will complete this first small task of the day to give myself encouragement to perform other tasks. I also do a bit of tidying up at this point to remove external distractions. “If you see distraction externally, you end up creating an internally distracted state.” – Tim Ferriss
   
4. Take a cold shower. The benefits of taking cold showers is something I learned about several years ago and have mainly been taking them to recover from intense workouts but lately I've experienced the benefits of starting my day with one. It really gets you up and running! No joke. The best coffee replacement I've found. Here are some of the benefits: www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/surprising-ben...
   
5. Break the fast. Juice first! I'm a big proponent of morning juicing so this needs to be on the list. I don't rush into it in the morning but I do consume it on an empty stomach which allows the vitamins and minerals in the juice to go straight to your bloodstream. This is such a great way to start the day right with a noticeable boost in energy among all the other powerful benefits. An hour or so later I consume a huge healthy breakfast!
6. I'm still working out the tail-end of my morning practice but it mainly involves sitting down with my fresh juice (or tea) to simply do some distraction-free writing whether it be writing down some goals, setting new ones, or just writing whatever comes to mind. I find this to be a therapeutic way of working out any issues and just getting my thoughts visible. It also helps me refine my ideas and stimulates me to thoroughly explore a line of thought.

Now check out Tim Ferriss's podcast on his 5 morning rituals that help him win the day. It's this podcast that gave me the fresh enthusiasm to recommit to a healthy morning routine. I really needed that and hope this gets others back on track too! http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/09/18/5-morning-r...

So what's your current morning routine or what would you like it to be?