Pocketful of Mojo
Pocketful of Mojo
Morning Routines Reimagined for Real Life
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After years of struggling to find the perfect morning routine, I discovered a blend of self-compassion and personalization that changed my life, and I'm here to share how it can transform yours too. Embrace the power of mornings with me, Steph, your Mojo Maven, as I guide you through the art of crafting a routine that suits your unique lifestyle. Broadcasting from the beautiful city of Nantes, France, let's explore how the mantra, "I choose to make today count with positivity and grace," can set the tone for every day, allowing you to become the main character in your own life story.
Unlock the secrets to designing a morning routine tailored just for you by drawing inspiration from icons like Oprah and Mel Robbins. We'll explore practical tips and personal anecdotes, emphasizing the importance of gratitude, self-care, and a little morning joy, whether it's a dance party or a mindful moment with a cup of tea. Remember, mornings are whenever you start your day, and perfection isn't the goal—finding what genuinely works for you is. Let's demystify the pressure of celebrity routines and focus on creating a foundation of stability and energy personalized to your needs.
Join me as we dive into the concept of "medicinal mojo" and explore how tools like all-natural mushroom gummies can enhance focus and clarity. Together, we'll navigate life's challenges with resilience and grace, aiming to live each day as the best version of ourselves. Don't forget to engage with our vibrant community on Instagram for daily affirmations and insights. Stay classy, stay kind, and let's infuse love into everything we do.
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Welcome to Pocketful of Mojo, where you're, you and I'm, steph, and we tune in here to tap into some Mojo. And if you're new here and asking what's Mojo, well, mojo is that feeling of unshakable confidence, that booming self-worth where you're like this unstoppable force of nature. You know that feeling you get that makes you just want to strut like a 90s supermodel, and so I'm here to show you how you can have that feeling every single day. You see, I think I've cracked the code to being happy. I'm happy all the freaking time, every day, at least most of the day, possibly to an annoying degree. But hey, you know what? I wasn't always this way and I'm not going to flex, but I have had multiple breakdowns on multiple continents and in two languages. Just three years ago, my whole life was a dumpster fire, and today I'm better than I've ever been. But how, you ask? Well, by paying attention and living with more intention. And I've created the Self-Love First Aid Kit, and it's full of amazing tools that help me level up, navigate life and have that main character energy everyone's talking about. And I'm not here to gatekeep. In fact, it is my mission to help you tap into your best stuff and remember that you already have everything you need to live your life on your own terms. So settle in. We're here for some positive change, so let's dig in to where your mo on your own terms. So settle in. We're here for some positive change, so let's dig in to where your mojo meets the road.
Speaker 1:In today's episode, I'm gonna review our mantra for the week and then we're gonna dig into today's main topic, and that topic is morning mojo how to start the day with mojo intact and how our choices in the morning impact our whole life. Yep, this episode is going to be emotional and a game changer. We're going to take your morning routine and turn it into your superpower. But, plot twist, we're not only taking it on the road, but we are taking this podcast overseas and shaking things up once again. That's right. Today's episode is coming to you in between bites of croissants and sips of wine.
Speaker 1:I'm back in my former hometown of Nantes, france, and I can't wait to tell you about it. So you stick around and I'm going to make sure that you're glad that you did. Let's get started with today's mantra and get tuned in, tapped in and turned on. Hello and welcome to the Ruby episode of Pocketful of Mojo. That is right, it is the 40th episode of Pocketful of Mojo. I'm super pumped.
Speaker 1:Once again, I'm Steph, I am your Mojo Maven, your emotional Sherpa, and I'm so glad you're here Now. Let it be noted am I a therapist? No, I am not. Do I have a degree in psychology? Also, no, I'm a flawed human and a recovering people pleaser, just like you, who's figured out how to tap into our best stuff, and I want to reflect all your awesomeness back to you and hook you up with some inspiration and some motivation so that you can live the life you love. Say it with me and love the life you live.
Speaker 1:So we're going to start by digging into today's mantra, and that mantra is I choose to make today count with positivity and grace. Yes, okay, this is perfect. This is a juicy one, so let's give it a squeeze. I choose to make today count with positivity and grace. Count with positivity and grace. Now, the only thing I love more than an I am. Mantra is an.
Speaker 1:I choose mantra because it instantaneously invokes this act of choices and when it comes to choices, that implies that we are living with awareness, and this is absolutely where we want to be. We are living with awareness, and this is absolutely where we want to be, especially at the top of our day. I choose, I choose Like. This removes our role as a simple actor on the stage of life. We are the main character and we are also the author. So the start of this mantra puts the responsibility, the accountability, the power right in your hands where it belongs, and that's when we're no longer at the whim of life to tell us how things are going to go. It comes with some new feelings. It can be scary being in charge of owning everything that happens, and that's normal to feel. But remember, not everything in this life is in our control. But when it comes to how we start our day, that is 100% in our court. So we get to choose what our first thoughts are, how we center ourselves, how we decide to begin this fresh day void of momentum from everything that happened before we went to sleep. We stopped that. This is our chance to make choices and decisions free of strings and attachments to how things have gone before. Every day, every morning, is a fresh start where we have permission and responsibility to launch our most passionate and positive thoughts and desires right from the jump.
Speaker 1:I choose to make today count with positivity and grace. We would all love to live a life where every single day is a home run. Now, while we intellectually know that that's perhaps unrealistic, who says we can't aim for the bullseye every time? So when we're talking about making it count, let's not get it twisted. We're talking about keeping your eye on the prize and using the power of the morning to anchor yourself in what matters most to you, not to the world, not to your boss, not to your family, not to your friends, to you. Sure, they may be involved in the highlight reel of your day they probably will be, because a good life always includes the people we choose. But when it comes to this mantra, it's important to stay connected to you and your vision of the day. Making today count can really only be measured and adjudicated by you and only you. When you are tuned into your own needs and desires, then you'll be able to show up better in all those other areas of your life, I promise. And this allows you to keep your goals and objectives in the top ranking spot of your priorities and allow you to serve and deliver your gifts to the world, all the while nurturing and supporting what's been most important to you.
Speaker 1:First and foremost, I choose to make today count with positivity and grace. At this point, it's important to start to mindfully and intentionally tune into your first thoughts. In the morning, like when you open your eyes, what's the very first thought that you think? Is it about how you feel? Is it about what's on your plate for the day? Is it where's my phone? What did I miss? And, trust me, I've been guilty as charged on all of the above.
Speaker 1:You can trust and believe, but I heard that Oprah Winfrey once said that she trained herself to begin every day with the very first thought that she consciously thinks being to say to herself thank you. Which is perfect, because I can't remind you enough, tomorrow is not promised. We make plans, we hope, we have faith that there's a whole life ahead of us that are going to be filled with our hopes and our desires. But none of that is guaranteed Not to be throwing doom and gloom into the mix, but more so the idea of starting the day with gratitude. This is the foundation layer for tackling the day with sure-footedness and positivity and grace. I choose to make today count with positivity and grace.
Speaker 1:When it comes to positivity, this is not a fake it till you make it kind of thing. This is looping back to the idea of choice and empowering belief that your thoughts and choices are ingredients that make a direct impact on how your day is going to go. A few years ago I bought a smart car. You know those teeny cars that have room for like one and a half people in them. Great car, highly recommend. But that's not my point. My point is that once I bought that car, I started seeing them everywhere, without going into the neuroscience and tested applications of this.
Speaker 1:The same goes for our thoughts and beliefs. When we choose positivity, we start to see it in more nooks and crannies than when we were just going with the flow and letting whatever enter our consciousness, because we were doing so unconsciously. When we reposition ourselves to start living life with intention and with empowered choices, then we are actively and consciously applying the ingredients to our day that are in alignment with our desires. Now, that is a recipe for a day that looks more like a day that I want to show up for. How about you? I choose to make today count with positivity and grace.
Speaker 1:Now look, I'm the first to admit that the world is chaos and we are all making it up as we go along. That's no secret and it's not breaking news. There are plenty of reasons why we protect ourselves with thoughts of preventative measures and arm our thoughts with what could go wrong, and sometimes we even allow fear to come to the party when we're designing our days and our mindset. We want to protect ourselves and make sure that we have thought through every possible scenario with our wild imaginations in order to be able to navigate the unknowns in our life. And those unknowns, they will find us and they'll catch us off guard, and they will come uninvited.
Speaker 1:But you know what is in your control. It's how much grace you afford the situation, being able to identify with awareness the actuality of the situation. You are going to be able to take your feet out of the fire and step away until you're able to see the situation for what it is and respond with what you need, with what you need. And in trying situations, the only place to start is with grace. Grace to adapt, grace to change the plan. Grace to let yourself off the hook if things haven't turned out the way that you'd hoped. Grace to navigate and respond in the moment to what you need, as these situations often find us caught off guard. Grace is the gift you give yourself, and when the going gets tough, it's time to give yourself a shit ton of grace, as my bestie Leanne put it, because it's only from a place of grace that we can suspend our expectations and really respond to the actuality of the situation that's just landed in front of us. Grace, the gift you give yourself, the companion to help you through.
Speaker 1:As you remember that this too shall pass, I choose to make today count with positivity and grace. You know I love a good mantra and when it comes to mantras, they can be so powerful and so impactful when used first thing in the morning. And if you've been through my seven day mojo makeover, you know how much mantras can be a game changer and how there's this direct relationship between the mantra and when you use it. Mantras can be the actual starting blocks to how you start your day, in addition to being there throughout your day-to-day. And it really gets to be there for the situations that are planned and the ones that aren't. And this one is so cool because it checks so many boxes. It's powerful, it's positive, it's empowering, it's all-encompassing, and the fact that it arms you to be ready for anything, and I don't know about you, but I could use all the armor I can take, and you know that we can make plans as much as we like and sometimes life is just going to life and anything can happen. It's anybody's game Now. That can be terrifying, it can also be super exciting and like.
Speaker 1:There are these days where I sit there and there's just this pull that I feel, where I anchor myself in mantras and meditation and take the time to play a little and ask the universe hey, show me how good it can get, what kind of gift and magic is waiting for me today? And, as we know, when we ask, the universe usually responds. So mind your questions, ladies and gentlemen. So now it's time where we get to go a little bit deeper on the idea of how you start your day and how it guides your life. So to do so today, we're going to take to the streets. I'm going to mic up, we're going to have a little chat about morning routines, the power of intention and how paying attention from the moment you open your eyes can make all the difference. We're going to talk about grace, the ability to adapt and flex, and expose how healthy it is to just sometimes stay in bed. So stick around. You're going to hear all about it on this next edition of Mojo on the Go. You're going to hear all about it on this next edition of Mojo on the Go.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome, this is it. This is another episode. We're doing Mojo on the Go and we're in France. And, yeah, we're talking about morning routines, not something I have been especially expert in. So what I want to share with you today is a little bit about what I've learned and what I've done in trying to crack the code of having a good morning routine, and there's so many good reasons to have a good one. So, as I continue to try to climb that mountain of having a great morning routine, I wanted to just kind of take this mojo on the go to share just some of my insights about it. So we're going to talk about what does a good routine look like. We'll talk about the important ingredients and how to really make it your own, and even some of the things that we can do to navigate when it's off, when we fall out of routine. And it's weird, because I really fundamentally do believe that a good morning routine kind of sets the stage for all of it, and so I find it really interesting that I've got this like adversarial relationship with mornings, because I love mornings.
Speaker 1:I used to well, just in working in the service industry, I mean, I was no stranger to early, early mornings. When I ran Starbucks we would start the day, that's like on the clock, at 5.30 in the morning and it was great. My day was done by two and I had all this like great wake up time, like there's this really special time of the day where everything's just quiet and when I worked at the pub I would come home at like I would finish work at 2.30. I would be home by three or 3.30. And my favorite time and of course you can't go to bed right away Like as soon as I come home, it's not like head on the pillow, I'm out of sleep, I'm still kind of revved up from the day, right. So I would stay up and I would journal or I would do something creative or watch a show, and my favorite time of the day was between three and five and there was just something really magical about those hours. So morning is whenever you start your day.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have to be the Mark Wahlberg get up at 4 am and work out 17 times a day. That's not what we're talking about. I want to talk about what works for you, and talk about it in a way that it's not prescriptive, because you are the one who's going to do the work to make sure that your morning routine works for you, and there's lots of places to go for inspiration. I mean, mel Robbins has got her five second rule where she counts down from five and then you just move. That's it. You know. But one of the best things I've heard is from my girl, oprah, and you know that just saying thank you first thing in the morning boom, that's. That can be an ingredient in your morning routine. So what we want to achieve in this podcast is how to get you from where you are to where you want to be with your morning routine.
Speaker 1:So, when it comes to how to build your morning routine, the one that's perfect for you, the one that's perfect for you, it's not a flip of the switch. That's been my first aha and kind of perfecting my own morning routine is that it's not the flip of a switch. I can't write it out like a recipe and then, just tomorrow, that's my routine. There's going to be some trial and error. There's going to be things that don't work. There's going to be days that you sleep in, going to be some trial and error. There's going to be things that don't work. There's going to be days that you sleep in. There's going to be days that you hit snooze. So the number one ingredient in building your perfect routine is give yourself some grace. Aha moment. Number two what works for somebody else isn't going to work for everybody else. So if we all had the Mark Wahlberg morning routine you can Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about that wouldn't make us all happy or have better days. That works for Mark Wahlberg, clearly. But the homework assignment is what's your perfect morning routine? Because what's good for you is all that matters. Morning routine, because what's good for you is all that matters. Trying to make a morning routine that works for someone else work for you just as well is like trying to make a gin and tonic with white wine. It's just not going to work. There's got to be an element where you tap into what observedly works well for you.
Speaker 1:The morning routine was one of the things that I used as a starting building block when I was crawling out of the depression of grief and loss after I moved back to Canada and I thought a morning routine was a pretty good place to start. If you've listened to the other podcasts, you know I've talked about how I just really committed to the grieving process and just let me and my brain and my body just do whatever it felt it needed to do. But there came a tipping point where I healed myself out of that place and I was ready to start dipping my toe back in the waters of life again. And that's why I thought a morning routine would be a good place to start, because when you start your day on grounded footing, you can't help but take stronger steps from the jump. So I started just by making a list of things that make me happy and things that bring me energy, and I kind of broke it down into mind, body and spirit. And I noticed that when I put on some music and my headphones and I had a two-song dance party in my bedroom before I changed my clothes, before I started my day, oh man, those were really noticeable and recognizable good days. And I could tell that they were good days because I had a really long string of bad days and I knew that was a good one because it got my body moving and it lifted my soul and it made me smile. And again, this may not be for you, but maybe it is. So the next aha moment is just to give it a try, because you know what else I also tried? I also tried getting up and going for a jog. I'm not a jogger. What was I thinking? I had no business thinking that I could just like start being a jogger, but it had worked for other people. So I thought, hey, why not give it a try?
Speaker 1:I think the next key part, kind of at this point of the development process, is to write it down, set the intention the night before of what you want your morning routine to look like the next day and just let like follow your gut, let the inspiration find you and be like you know what I want to do tomorrow morning. I'm just going to take myself out, I'm going to do a coffee and a crossword. I'm just going to wake up. My brain Boom. There you go. There's something that you're setting the intention.
Speaker 1:Speaking of intention, you know how strongly I feel about self-talk and that's where things like affirmations, mantras and gratitude come into, I believe, mantras and gratitude come into, I believe, a universal theme that should weave its way into any good morning routine. So, whether that's an awareness walk or journaling, or having a post-it note of mantras that you regularly look at on your bathroom mirror that you can share with yourself and align yourself with, share with yourself and align yourself with mantras, phrases and sayings that really knock you to the back of your chair and remind you of the greatness. Now, placing that at the top of your day inspires you to maybe repeat it again at lunch, maybe look at it again before bed, and more and more of these thoughts, these mantras, these anchors help to paint your choices and decisions and your feelings as you go forward, because it's all about keeping it well-rounded. Sometimes it's going to be dance parties, sometimes it's going to be brain work, and for me, I do break it into mind, body and spirit right. So I do the crossword and the Sudoku, I have my coffee. That's for my soul. I do the dance party or some Pilates for my body and I do a really intentional like getting ready routine where I really tune into my body and I really intentionally put on my socks. I'm not thinking about anything else other than what it feels like to put on my socks, how grateful I am to be able to walk around every day, and just that doing those kinds of activities just drops you into the now. And when you've dropped into the now, you can't be worried about the future. You can't be regretting things from the past because you are in the now. Now there's going to be times where your morning routine can happen, routine ritual, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:In routines and in rituals, as in life, things are not always linear. You're going to feel sick sometimes. You're going to be have an early work meeting that's going to throw off your schedule. You're going to have an early work meeting that's going to throw off your schedule. You're going to be traveling, you're going to be suffering from jet lag, or maybe just a day of ennui. Whatever, babes, in those moments it's going to be really instinctive to beat yourself up. You know how I feel about that.
Speaker 1:So this is where we go back to the grace, giving yourself a shit ton of grace to just say, okay, today's the day I don't do it. And then, because heaven willing, you're going to have a chance to do it again tomorrow and maybe that gives you a chance to think about. Why didn't I want to do it today? What do I need to focus on? What is taking my attention away from this self-care act? Because time is not always on the old rinse and repeat cycle, and if it is, we maybe want to have a look at that, because life should never be boring and having a great morning routine is just getting you on that good footing so that you can go out and ask the universe hey, universe, how great can this day be and I'm saying this to you from one of the first sunny days in a very long time, so I'm really feeling that how great can this day be?
Speaker 1:Energy, because, if I'm really being honest with you, I've had a really shit week and I've been really struggling with some depression, with dad being in the hospital and being away and not being able to fully be present in this moment here in France. So, yeah, I'm having a bad day, but I'm having a bad day in France, so that takes a little edge off, but that doesn't mean that I'm not also completely consumed with paralyzing sadness. So I only share that, to share with you how, in times of rupture, in times of grief, in times of like uncertainty. These routines can be reminders of us to know where to look when things get super hard. And also, I say that with the caveat that in those really shit moments, these routines are typically going to be the last thing that we want to do, because we love to.
Speaker 1:I don't know self-sabotage Check the notes. I'm not a therapist, I'm not a psychologist. But I think it also gives us permission to just sit in our feelings and the more we do and acknowledge and honor those shit feelings, the faster they go away, because we see them, we respect them, we engage with them. Fuck, if I wanted to feel sad. For these last few days I felt sad. It's not about a fake it till you make it. But now that I'm starting to take steps to be in the now and reject my anxiety by developing these routines, I've given myself the chance to like, reach out for a lifeline, reach out to myself for a lifeline. And that doesn't mean that I have not leaned on friends, and that does not mean that I haven't been journaling, and that doesn't mean that I I don't need support. It just means I'm a little less adrift. And, yeah, I'm gonna have to swim a bit to get to that lifeline, but it's there because I created it. So if I'm wondering, woe is me. I wish I could feel better. I've got concrete and actionable things that I know I can do to save myself a little bit.
Speaker 1:Another way you want to check under the hood if your morning routine just isn't quite clicking and you can't quite get it off the ground is to check in on your night routine, because that was another aha moment for me. And you've heard all the things. No devices an hour before bed. Reading is great. Keep the screen time down. Great time to journal, great time to meditate, great time for prayer, great time.
Speaker 1:One of the things that my mom taught me to do really early on was, if I was ever having trouble sleeping, just start sending love out to all the people that I know. Just list them. Just start listing all your favorite people and just start sending them love. What a great thing to teach your kid and it works every time. What a great way to fall asleep.
Speaker 1:And maybe you're asking why is this important? Well, because you're important. Why can't you just roll out of bed and get into life and put two feet on the ground and wipe the sleep from your eyes and just go out and see what happens. Well, I know, in this life you never know what you're going to get. But, as I say in my intro, with a little attention and a little intention, you can maybe squeeze more juice out of this life than previously thought.
Speaker 1:What if I'm right? What if it's true? What if life does get better when you live with more intention, when you give yourself a running head start on your day, when you make sure that your cup is absolutely full before going out into the world and giving it all away? And what if all that was in your control? What if all that was your choice? How would your life look different and how can you make was in your control? What if all that was your choice? How would your life look different and how can you make it work for you?
Speaker 1:And don't mistake the discomfort of change for it not working. You've got to give yourself and you've got to give these changes a chance. So plan for the hiccups, plan for the day off, promise yourself that you can miss a day but you can't miss two in a row and see what happens and start noticing how the rest of the days go in relationship to how often you do your morning routine, collect that data, look at it objectively, and that's how you're going to find out what works and feel good about doing things on purpose. Feel good about doing things for yourself, and just think of the message that that's sending your higher self. You're sending the message that you are your most important person because you are the focus of the very first part of your day. That is some self-esteem building shit right there, and that's what a good morning routine helps you do.
Speaker 1:So I got to hit the market before she closes. I'm going to make some potato leek soup because there's going to be some rainy, cold days on the way. Today it's 21 and beautiful, so good luck with your morning routines. If there's anything I missed or if there's something that you know works really, really well, I would love to hear from you. So I'm going to shoot it back to the studio and have a great day, and I hope tomorrow you have a lovely morning. Ciao for now. Kobe zoo. Oh man, okay, welcome back.
Speaker 1:I think I got a little bit more personal than I had intended, but I love you guys and I want to thank you for your grace whilst I process this weird part of my journey and I really feel like Mojo isn't just a big part of my life. Mojo is my life, and being able to share that with you and what I'm going through and, more importantly, how I'm going through it, is my way of sharing with you how tuning into your mojo is. That life raft, when things are tough, wasn't prepared for, and all of that on top of my dad taking a huge decline in his health whilst I'm here in France. So it's been a lot and it kind of kicked my ass since I didn't see it coming, but I keep moving forward with love and grace and all the mojo I can muster, and grace and all the mojo I can muster.
Speaker 1:So, ladies and germs, that was Pocketful of Mojo road trip edition. I want you to tune in next week and we'll have a very special episode where we keep it international for one more spooky Halloween episode. So that's right. We're going to be coming back for the last one from France and I really appreciate you tuning in and I really hope it helped you tap into some of that mojo of yours, because girl looks good on you and in the meantime, if you feel like your mojo could use a tune up, then I got a couple of things so that we can do this again sometime. We can do this again sometime.
Speaker 1:First of all, you got to make sure that you like, subscribe and leave a little review on this fabulous little podcast, for wherever you listen to your podcasts or you can follow me on Instagram at moststefinitely, and that's where you'll find some affirmations and some mantras and some good little educational and informational tidbits about mojo and how we use it to navigate life. If medicinal mojo is more of your jam, check the show notes for a 15% off coupon for mojo gummies. That's right, the all natural mushroom gummy which, if you dabble in the ADHD this, is touted as actually being a substitute for Adderall. So if you're looking for some clarity, some help with your focus, I cannot recommend these enough. They're delicious, the customer service is amazing and, most importantly, they really help me with my focus and getting rid of some of that brain fog that is so hard to shake sometimes. So make sure that you come back next week for our next fabulous episode and until then, stay classy, stay kind and put love in everything you do. Ciao, for now, bisous.
