Set a creative tone for the day with morning habits that help you achieve your creative goals and support well-being.
How do you start your day? Are you excited for what’s ahead, or do you feel anxious and restless? Do you begin with mindfulness and purpose? Or hit the snooze button and have to rush through the day to catch up? Mornings are important. How you prepare for the day can make a difference in achieving your creative goals and living a healthy lifestyle. Here are some of the best morning habits to boost creativity and inspire healthy living.
Wake Up With The Sun
“O, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth.”
― Roman Payne
One of the first morning habits to inspire creativity is catching the sunrise. What is more inspiring than nature’s own creative expression of waking up? As Douglas Adams once said, “There is a moment in every dawn when light floats, there is the possibility of magic. Creation holds its breath.” When you start waking up to catch the sunrise, every day starts with a stillness that explodes into beauty. It is hard to not be grounded in the moment and grateful for the day ahead when you experience a sunrise. They are healing and pure unadulterated joy. Not only are you starting the day with a positive note, but you’re also absorbing Vitamin D and supporting your circadian rhythm for energy and well-being.
Tips
- Time your meditation with the sunrise, so when you finish your moment of stillness, you open your eyes to inspiring beauty
- Take a morning walk with your sunrise experience
- Let your goal of catching the sunrise motivate better sleeping habits
- Use sunrise apps like Lumy and SolarWatch to track sunrise time and placement in the sky
Ground Yourself With Meditation
“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.”
―
Life can be stressful and fast-paced. And unfortunately, many companies and lifestyles are still telling us we need to be as productive as possible. As research continues to grow and demonstrate the benefits of slow living, the best skill to begin practicing to unlearn bad habits that lead to stress and anxiety is meditation.
Mornings shouldn’t be a fleeting moment from our eyes opening to racing out the door. They should be slow and focused. Mornings are a time for stillness, where we establish habits for health, wealth, and wisdom. Starting your day with meditation will reduce stress, improve self-awareness, promote emotional health, strengthen focus, and more for a healthier and more productive day.
Tips
Morning Journaling to Guide Self-Actualization
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
― William Wordsworth
Journaling in the morning isn’t just for writers. The benefits of writing in the morning can have lasting effects throughout your day and build a healthier and more creative lifestyle. If you wake up with a racing mind, getting those thoughts onto paper can give you control over your day and establish better focus when you move onto your goals of the day. Like meditation, journaling helps you center yourself and claim the morning as your own. The longer you practice this morning habit and turn it into a routine, the more benefits you will experience from improved self-expression to self-actualization.
Tips
- Experiencing a creative block? Try a creative prompt to get you started
- Write three things you’re grateful for
- Write three Most Important Things (MITs) you want to do today
- Track your meditation process
- Do you have racing thoughts and anxiety for the day ahead? Get it out of your head and onto the page for a new perspective, and let go
- Best Notebooks for Creatives
Wake up the Body With Exercise and Stretching
“Don’t count the days, make the days count.”
― Muhammad Ali
Exercising and stretching first thing in the morning not only relieves tension, boosts energy, and increases blood flow but also relaxes the mind. When the body relaxes, the mind naturally follows. Even if you wake up anxious, this morning habit can turn that mood around. When you exercise and stretch, your body releases “feel-good” neurotransmitters that fuel your brain with endorphins that can give you an optimistic outlook for the day. You can also stack this habit with other habits to get even more benefits to inspire creativity, like getting outside.
Tips
- Don’t rush out of bed. Stretch for joy and feel every muscle warming up
- Stack healthy habits like stretching, exercise, catching the sunrise, getting outside, and more to build lasting routines
- Best Apps to Stay Healthy and Creative
Hydrate for Health, Balance, and Brain Fuel
“I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man.”
― Henry David Thoreau
The body needs water, and after 7 to 9 hours of sleep, this is especially true. We all know that groggy and sluggish feeling in the morning. Drinking a glass or two of water right when you wake up rehydrates the body for nutrient transportation, lubricates joints for better movement, jump-starts your metabolism, clears toxin build-up from the night, supports your immune system, and fuels the brain for better focus and mental health.
To add even more benefits, add lemon, honey, and heat. This can stimulate healthy digestion, Vitamin C for a healthy immune system, boost memory, energy, healthy skin, weight loss, and more.
Tips
- Save coffee for later in the morning, start the day with water
- Add lemon, honey, ginger, and heat for increased benefits and taste
- Drink before bedtime as well to stay hydrated while sleeping
- Use fun water tracking apps to motivate and track healthy habits
Morning Walks in Nature for Energy and Creative Thinking
“The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh
Throughout time creative minds have sought nature for inspiration and well-being. Japanese culture has long practiced this in what is known as forest bathing, and now science can back up the health and creative benefits of time in nature. Plants can lower stress, boost mood, make you more productive, and increase focus. One study even found nature can directly enhance creative ways of thinking and developing ideas.
Tips
- Change your walking routes for an additional boost to creativity, curiosity, and learning
- Practice mindfulness and boost awareness skills by soaking up details of the world around you
- Pair journaling and drawing with your walks by capturing your experience.
- Turn a walk into a run for more benefits
- Incorporate healthy apps into your walks for motivation and tracking health progress
- Best Plants to Improve Well-Being and Inspire Creativity
Stay Focused and Disconnected With Phone-Free Mornings
“We’re plugged in 24 hours a day now. We’re all part of one big machine, whether we are conscious of that or not. And if we can’t unplug from that machine, eventually we’re going to become mindless.”
― Alan Lightman
A 2017 study from IDC found that 80% of smartphone users check their phone within 15 minutes of waking up. Why is this bad for you and your creativity? Starting your day with notifications actually elevates stress levels and leads to a tortuous cycle of work and distraction that will make you feel behind before the day even begins.
When you stop going to your phone first thing in the morning, you will feel more mindful and present to the moment. You can replace this habit with healthier habits, as mentioned above, to inspire a healthier and more creative day.
Tips
- Set screen time limits and do not disturb modes to encourage time away from your phone
- Keep your phone away from your bed, so you don’t reach for it in the morning
- This can also improve sleep quality and help you get out of bed to establish better waking-up habits
- Turn on your phone’s grayscale feature to make it less visually appealing
- Stay accountable with apps that track your phone habits, like QualityTime or Moment
Spend Time On Creative Projects
“Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.”
― Bruce Garrabrandt
Mornings are your time. The day ahead may be stressful and busy, but the mornings are for you. If you’re still working a day job but dreaming of following your creative dreams, use mornings to work on these projects. Especially when you start your day with stillness, you will find you have more energy in the morning to focus on self-expression.
Tips
- Do you have trouble waking up? Start with creative goals and purpose to drive your motivation to wake up and be creative
- Find prompts on Creative Enso’s Pinterest Board
Cook a Hearty Breakfast for Health and Creativity
“Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors—it’s how you combine them that sets you apart.”
– Wolfgang Puck
No doubt you’ve heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Eating a healthy breakfast replenishes energy, nutrients like essential vitamins and minerals and establishes better food choices that can benefit weight loss and healthy living.
What you might not know are the creative benefits of cooking itself. Cooking engages the senses, boosts mindfulness, play, fosters an environment that is open to the creative process, teaches collaboration, promotes experimentation, and inspires continuous learning.
Tips
- Try unique recipes from creative cookbooks
- Learn new and healthy recipes that support creativity
- Cook foods that boost creativity
Read for Imagination, Inspiration, and Knowledge
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
― Voltaire
Another great way to claim the morning as your own and find stillness is with reading. Explore new worlds and perspectives or learn something new can kick start your day and even lead to ideas later in the day when you start reading in the morning. Instead of thinking about all the things you need to do later, take some time to dive into a book and ground yourself in the moment.
Tips
Listen To Music
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”
― Plato
Low on energy? Thinking about all the things you have to do that day? Or maybe a vivid dream has thrown your focus off. Start your day with some music and even some dance to shake off invading thoughts trying to distract you. Putting yourself in the moment with music sets you free. Studies have even shown that listening to music can “beneficially impact health via stress-reducing effects.” Another study found that listening to ‘happy music’ can boost divergent creativity.
Tips
- If you’re feeling stressed and losing focus, take a break with some uplifting music and dance
- Instead of hitting the snooze button, hit the play button and wake up with some happy tunes
- Creative Enso Playlists on Spotify:
Zach is an international writer, photographer, filmmaker, martial artist, and creator of Creative Enso, the Zen art of creative living. His goal is to empower and inspire creatives to live healthier, happier, and more creative lifestyles.
