Monday Morning grouch? Try a mindfulness routine

If you’re like a bear with a sore head first thing in the morning – often an affliction on Mondays –  then a mindfulness routine may help to reduce your level of grouchiness.

This is because your dark mood may well come from the grumpy thoughts about the day ahead that begin circling your mind as you’re on your way out of bed.

Instead of paying attention to these thoughts, try noticing:

• the feeling of your feet against the floor,
• your fingers touching light switches and door handles,
• water splashing on your hands
• the sound of the kettle boiling

and the other experiences that come with morning but which we often screen out of our awareness.

Also, ask yourself if starting a week or day with a series of angry or anxious thoughts, helps you or hinders you. Sometimes they are unavoidable but usually you have a choice about whether to indulge them. Instead you could try giving your awareness to whatever you’re physically doing right now.

If you want to go further you can also notice your breathing and perhaps spend a minute or two doing just that. Even clearing a space in your morning for this simple exercise can make a difference – you’ve done something for yourself instead of being carried along by negativity.

​The basic idea? Get yourself to the front door without putting yourself into a bad mood first thing in the day.

My book Daily Calm, with its quick and simple readings, can form part of a beneficial morning routine and you can get more ideas from my online courses.

This post was originally published 28th July 2016 and was updated on 21st February 2020.