I hope when you open your eyes, the very first thing you think is “thank you.” Thank you to whatever you call the thing that gave you one more day. I hope you feel the warmth of your bed and I hope you feel like you’re snuggled in on a cloud. Then I hope you stretch your arms over your head and your legs out long and notice that a smile spreads across your face at the thought of a new beginning.

As you lay there for a moment, I hope you dream about something magical that could happen today. Then I hope you stand up and thank your legs for holding you. I hope you take a long, deep breath and let out a loud “ahhh.” I hope you go right to the shades and let the light in. I hope you marvel at how perfectly consistent the sun is; something you can count on every single day to break through the darkness.

I hope you move through a morning routine that connects you to your soul. I hope that whether that means getting outside, meditating, journaling, exercising, or some combination of the above, you choose the activities that set you up for the best day of your life. I hope you tune into your body, move how it wants to move. I hope you tune into your heart, do what it wants to do.

I hope that as you shower and get ready for the day, you realize how rich you are to be able to do so; you may know somebody with a fancier shower and higher end products, but your stuff is pretty damn nice. Then I hope, as you look in the mirror, you look at yourself like you look at someone you’re falling in love with. I hope you look at yourself with the googly eyes of a fool, blown away by your beauty, inside and out.

Then it will be time to nourish that body. As you peruse your cabinets and fridge, I hope you realize you have more in your self-proclaimed “empty” fridge than some have in entire communities, and I hope that makes you beam with gratitude. As you sit down with that nutritious meal, whether it spreads across multiple dishes or is a piece of fruit you can hold in your hand, I hope you just eat. No phone, no TV, no email, no podcast. I hope you actually enjoy it. I hope you realize that this is your privilege, and if you can’t take the time to enjoy this meal, how will you ever enjoy your life?

Your morning routine may be more or less than what I’ve described. It may be similar; it may be totally different. My hope is not that you do this exactly. My hope is that whatever your morning routine looks like, however you start your day, you make it enjoyable. Appreciate it. Make it something you love so much that you can’t wait to get to.

I’ve learned that when you start the day on a cloud with a thank you and a smile, when you do what you’re doing with all of your attention and all of your heart, not with your mind on what’s to come or your face buried in a device, you take that same aliveness into the day with you. As you move through your day, you notice you smile a bit more, your spirit gets a little lighter, your soul feels a little deeper.

People will notice that you’re shining a little brighter, and they’ll want to know what happened, because for some reason, when people are happy, we think that something is wrong with them. But you know that what was wrong was how you were living before: head down, trudging through the motions, sprinting from task to task, taking everything and everyone for granted. No, that’s not for you anymore. Because when you start your morning this way and you keep moving through the day, spirit light and soul deep, that is exactly how you will live your whole life.