We have all heard endlessly about the many benefits of exercise and why we need to do it. It will improve our lives, lengthen them, make us healthier, and so on. It also has many mental health benefits, of course. Those of us who are disinclined to exercise probably are not moved by these benefits, or we would already be doing it. If you do exercise, there are strong reasons for you to consider doing it in the morning. Exercise releases endorphins and other feel-good hormones that lift the mood and improve happiness. Studies show that this burst of mood-altering chemicals lasts almost 24 hours, which means exercising in the…

If you like to read, consider including reading positive material into your morning positivity routine. Reading affects the brain differently than other kinds of sensory input. Studies show that when we read fiction, we hallucinate. When we read nonfiction, we process the material in different centers of our brain than we do for audiovisual material. Some people respond better to this type of stimulus than they do to other kinds. If you are one of them, reading might be the best technique for your morning positivity routine. Positive material will give you all the other benefits of morning positivity and add brain strengthening, vocabulary building, and stress reduction. What kind…

Morning Gratitude Practive Starting any sort of gratitude practice is a great way to improve your life and make it more positive. A morning gratitude practice has extra benefits, however, because it also gives you all the benefits that come from starting your day off with positivity. As with other types of morning positivity, you can choose from several types of morning gratitude practice. One is simply doing affirmations focused on being grateful. If that appeals to you, follow the instructions in the last article for using affirmations. If not, read on. The two most common types of morning gratitude practices are list-making and gratitude journaling. Both work well to…

Affirmations are one of the most popular self-help and personal development techniques because they are easy to do and to integrate into your daily routine. Beyond that, they are popular because they work. Affirmations are one of the most powerful things you can do to help yourself change and grow. Using affirmations is simple. You pick a small number of affirmations that appeal to you. A few examples are offered below. Pick no less than two and no more than five. More will overwhelm you. Each morning, you say your affirmations, aloud or silently, several times each. You can do this before you get out of bed or while going…

You have decided to start your days with morning gratitude and/or positive thinking. That is great. Now you have to decide how to do it. You have nearly endless options to choose from. This series is going to discuss several of them in depth, but here are some tips for deciding what to choose. It Works For You Not every option works for everyone. That is normal and to be expected. Everyone is different, after all. Try a few of the options and see what works for you. If something does not seem to work for you, do not feel bad, and definitely do not try to force yourself to…

Why Should You Start Your Day with Morning Gratitude and Positivity? Did you know that starting your day with positivity and Morning Gratitude is one of the best things you can do to improve your life? It has an immediate, powerful impact on your life. The benefits are numerous, and you start experiencing them from the first day you deliberately begin your day being positive and grateful. These are the top five benefits you gain from a positive start to your day. Better Mood Starting your day with positivity increases your mood and helps you have a better day. Being positive brings you inner peace, lowers your stress levels, increases…

Journaling is also a popular self-improvement technique that integrates well into a morning positivity routine for many people. It does not take a lot of time and confers some unique benefits. Writing, like reading, activates different centers and pathways in the brain than other media and techniques. Writing something down forces you to process it and think about what you are putting on paper. Nothing else has this same effect; it is even less apparent in typing, which is just a different form of the same process! Even if morning reading is not for you, morning journaling might be. Try it and find out. You can journal in many forms.…