Eight Steps to a Harmonious Start and Why Mornings Are Sacred
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Sara has a unique ability to quickly shift energy into presence and joy through her work as a mindfulness coach, speaker, and yoga instructor. She is also the author of the book One With Nature (published in 2025) and a popular speaker in the field.
Many ask me why I think early mornings are the best part of the day. It's peaceful, fresh, and quiet. It's the time before people put on their masks for the day. There's something raw and real about it, just like nature itself.
Think about it, nature doesn't wake up with an agenda. The sun doesn't rush. The birds don't scroll through notifications before they sing. Everything unfolds slowly, honestly, in its own rhythm, and for a few precious hours each morning, we have the chance to move at that same pace, before the noise of the world pulls us into performance mode.
In this article, we'll explore why mornings matter for a harmonious, joy-filled life. Nature will be woven through it all. She's both the inspiration and the guide, as you've just read.
I'm also fully aware that not everyone is a morning person, and that's okay. This doesn't mean you have to force yourself out of bed at 6 a.m. if that feels completely unrealistic for you. But it does mean staying curious about what your mornings could look like, and designing them in a way that works for you.
As I wrote in my book, “I always feel that the best time spent in nature is in the morning. Of course, we're all different and have varying levels of energy in the morning. However, it's worth considering your morning routine. What does your morning look like? Mornings are actually the best time to lay the foundation for the day and to cultivate positive thoughts. This will help you move forward through your day and help you fill it with positive energy. It creates good energy that will lead to a day filled with happiness and love.
Find a morning routine that works for you. If you can, go outside and connect with nature. If mornings aren't the best time for you to step outside, bring the essence of nature into your thoughts and let it guide your morning routine.”
With that in mind, here are 8 steps to help you build a morning that feels honest, calm, and truly your own:
1. Avoid your phone for the first hour
The moment you check your phone, you invite in a flood of stimuli, emails, notifications, social media, and news, before your mind has even had the chance to wake up on its own terms. Your brain shifts straight into reactive mode, comparing, worrying, responding. Studies show this constant stream of input raises cortisol and scatters our focus before the day has even begun. Protecting this first hour isn't about discipline, it's about giving your nervous system a chance to find its own rhythm before the world hands you its agenda.
2. Step outside, even for a moment
Open a window, step onto a balcony, or walk barefoot on the grass if you can. Feel the air, notice the temperature, listen to the birds. Nature has a way of slowing us down without effort. She doesn't rush, and simply being near her reminds our bodies to do the same. Instead of stepping straight into stress and demands, this small pause helps you meet the day from a place of calm rather than chaos. It's often in these quiet moments outside that we reconnect with a sense of harmony that stays with us long after we've stepped back inside.
3. Watch the sunrise
There's something deeply grounding about witnessing the sun rise, a reminder that light returns every single day, without effort, without rushing. Natural morning light helps regulate our circadian rhythm, boosts serotonin, and supports better sleep the following night. Unlike the blue light of screens, sunlight tells our body, gently and naturally, that it's time to wake up, not through noise, but through warmth.
4. Take a moment to meditate
You don't need an hour. Five minutes of sitting quietly, breathing, and letting your thoughts settle is enough to create space between you and the noise of the day ahead. Meditation in the morning isn't about emptying the mind completely, it's about creating a small pause before reacting, a moment to notice what's there instead of being swept up by it. Over time, this simple practice trains the nervous system to respond to life with more calm and less urgency, no matter what the day brings.
5. Set an intention
Instead of jumping straight into your to-do list, ask yourself, How do I want to feel today? Let that intention guide your choices.
This is also a beautiful moment to write a short gratitude list, three things you're grateful for, big or small. It might feel simple, but this practice actually helps activate the part of the brain that notices abundance, positivity, and possibility, rather than lack or stress. It can be remarkably healing, especially when done first thing, before the mind has a chance to focus on what's missing instead of what's already good.
6. Treat the morning as sacred, and protect it
For years, when people asked me how to manage stress, I would say meditation, yoga, movement, and nature. I still say that those things matter deeply. But these days, there's one piece of advice I give almost every time, before anything else, put the phone away. It disturbs us more than we realize, often in ways we don't even notice until we take a break from it.
This matters most of all in the morning. The first moments of the day set the tone for everything that follows, and that tone shouldn't be set by social media, emails, or the news. Let the first stretch of your morning belong only to you, before it belongs to the world.
7. Nourish your body mindfully
Whether it's a glass of water, tea, or breakfast, take a moment to actually taste it. Feel the warmth of the cup in your hands, the smell before the first sip. These small moments are easy to rush past, but they're often where real presence lives. Saying a quiet thank you for something as simple as a warm drink is its own small ritual of gratitude. Nature nourishes without hurry, and we can learn to do the same.
8. Let nature move through you, even indoors
If stepping outside isn't possible, close your eyes and picture a forest, the ocean, or a quiet meadow. Notice the details, the sound of leaves, the smell of rain, the light through the trees. Even imagined, nature has a way of softening the nervous system and reminding us of a rhythm slower than the one we often live by. Let your body join in too, stretch slowly, move gently, the way animals do when they wake, arching, reaching, shaking, before the day begins. This mental and physical anchor can be just as grounding as a walk outside, especially on the mornings when time or weather doesn't allow for the real thing.
Where harmony begins
None of these steps requires perfection. You don't need to do all eight every single day. Some mornings will be soft and slow, others will be rushed, and that's alright too. What matters is the intention behind it, choosing, even in small ways, to meet your day with a little more presence and a little less noise.
Nature doesn't strive to be harmonious. She simply is, moving at her own pace, unhurried, honest, whole. In giving ourselves permission to move that way too, even just for a few minutes each morning, we start to build days, and eventually a life, that feels less like something we survive, and more like something we truly live.
So tomorrow, before you reach for your phone, pause. Step outside if you can. Breathe. Let the morning be sacred, in whatever way feels true for you.
If you feel ready to explore how nature can guide you into calmer, more harmonious mornings and a more harmonious life, I warmly invite you to dive deeper into my book One with Nature and connect with me for more inspiration.
Connect with me on Instagram and through my website for more inspiration on meditation, yoga, and inner harmony.
Read more from Sara Brinell
Sara Brinell, Author, Speaker & Awareness Guide
Sara is an expert in inner harmony and the healing power of nature. She carries a profoundly healing story, having experienced depression in her teenage years and, later in life, the early loss of both her parents. These experiences became part of a deeper journey that eventually led her to guide others back to their hearts through her work as a yoga instructor, mindfulness coach, and speaker. She also shares her insights through her book One With Nature. Her mission is to show that loneliness can become a path to deeper connection, and that nature can heal where words are not enough.
