We’re often told that the first meal of the day is the most important—but what about the first activities?

Editing your morning routine to include some magical practices can help lead you to a brighter day. Even if you’re a night owl, there’s some small habits that won’t add much time and will be worth the effort.

Read on to learn 13 ways to create a magical morning routine.

13 Activities Add to Your Magical Morning Routine

The first step to creating your magical morning routine is to select the activities you want to make a habit. Below are some ideas.

Meditating

Meditating has been shown to change the brain. This can lead to better control over your thoughts, which means increased well-being and less stress.

Some people just sit in silence and pay attention to their breathe. Others use music or a guided audio meditation. Some also include visualization and involve goal setting, spirituality and more.

Yoga

Yoga can improve your energy levels, making you feel ready for the day ahead It can also improve strength and heart health and help you manage stress.

You can follow a quick morning mediation on YouTube or learn a few moves to repeat each morning.

Put on a Positive Podcast

As you get ready, listen to an inspirational podcast or audiobook. This can leave you in a good mood before you’ve even really started your day.

Smudging

Smudging is a practice that originated from Native American traditions. It involves lighting a bundle of herbs–usually sage or sweetgrass–and letting the smoke disperse. The belief is that this spiritually cleanses the energy of yourself, the room, an object, etc.

People who practice this hope it will dispel negative energies and revive the aura. You can sage yourself or your space every morning to symbolize entering a new day with renewed energy and intention. This can set the tone and may act as a placebo effect for a good day.

Read a Positive Story

Make it a point to read something uplifting each morning. My favorite book for this is the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. I leave with a lesson before I’ve even got out of bed.

Exercising

Sometimes exercising doesn’t feel like a magical morning routine but honestly, it is. It releases chemicals in your body that make you feel better and less stressed. It can also raise your self-confidence and give you a step up in the day.

Affirmations

Affirmations work for some people and for others, it dampens their day. Research says they work best if you’re already in a good state. If you wake up feeling like everything sucks, you might want to skip it that day.

Another trick is to pick affirmations you actually believe in. Picking phrases too far out of reach could feel unattainable.

Pull a Card

If you like angel or tarot cards, it can be helpful to pull a card every morning. You can use this as a message for your “Higher Self” or spirit guide. But you could also use it as a daily lesson.

Even if you don’t believe in the cards, they represent archetypes and patterns that can help us understand ourselves, others and the world around us.

Visualization

You can use time every morning to visualize something you want to make your reality. This is a trick often used by those that practice the Law of Attraction AKA Manifesting.

You could visualize:

• Living your dream life
• Doing well in your job today
• Attracting money or the right romantic partner
• Happy moments throughout the day
• Just having a good day in general

In your mind, really map out this situation. See it play as a movie in your head.

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was known to use visualization to help him achieve the perfect swim.

Journaling

There’s several different ways to journal that can make your day a lot better. You can brain dump, which is exactly what it sounds like. You can do some morning pages, which is basically anything. You can write diary-style to relieve your stresses. Or you can do some spiritual journaling.

Use Essential Oil

Scent can be a powerful thing. To try to condition yourself to feel reinvigorated each morning, take a whiff of your favorite refreshing essential oil. If you want, dab a bit on the inside of your wrist. Another option: add some to your diffuser to fill the room as you go about your morning routine.

Make Your Beverage a Ritual

Most people drink something hot in the morning and don’t think a thing of it. Take time to put some love into it and consider it a self-care activity. Make matcha. Use a French press instead of a regular drip coffee. Squeeze fresh lemon into your tea instead of the regular bag. Make it something special for yourself.

Manifesting Writing Activities

If you’re someone who believes in the Law of Attraction and who wants to manifest, make it a daily morning habit to speed up the process. You can use writing prompts and a morning script to start your day. For ideas on all that, read 11 Fun Manifestation Writing Exercises To Attract ASAP.

Gratitude List

Keep a notebook by your bed. First thing when you wake up, list 3 to 5 things you’re grateful for. Groggy mornings might make this tough, but refocusing your lens first thing can be healthy.

How to Customize Your Morning Routine

consider the time available to you in the morning. How many activities can you realistically fit add?

If there’s a few practices you want to do but don’t have the time, you can make a “micro routine.” Instead of doing the full version of these practices, you can spend a few minutes on each.

For example, instead of spending 30 minutes reading, 15 meditating and 15 journaling—do what you can.

Maybe that looks like 5 minutes of inspirational reading, 5 minutes of mind dump journaling and a quick 3-minute meditation before you hop in the shower.

Finding what works can take time. You can practice a few different variations of morning routines to see which fit best.

How to Find Time for a Magical Morning Routine

The first thing many people think of when it comes to their mornings is time. Adding all of these activities only lengthens the time it takes for you to get ready or get out the door. So how can you possibly find the time.

First, try to accept your time constraints, even if they’re different than everyone else’s. Some gurus say “you make time for what’s important to you.” While that’s true, it’s also true that some seasons in life just don’t lend themselves to huge morning routines. For example, if you start work very early and you need to also rush 4 kids out the door after walking the dog. In these cases, do what’s possible. Use the tips in the section above to customize your morning routine.

It’s helpful to remember that some “seasons” of life are busy and morning routines need to be short. Other “seasons,” you can afford to add some extra time.

The next thing you can do is consider if you can get up earlier. This might mean going to bed a bit earlier.

You can also consider which activities you can transfer to your night routine to free up time. For example, maybe you can buy yourself 5 minutes for a quick meditation if you pick your clothes out at night.