Sandy Kovach [00:00:03]:
Mornings can have a bad reputation. Admittedly, they can be pretty hectic depending on your circumstances or season of life, but mornings are powerful. They can make or break your day and in turn can have a tremendous impact on your life both in success and in the happiness department. So we're inviting you to join us as we look at morning routines, and you can take a look at yours in light of all this. And we wanna get to a place where mornings can be both productive and enjoyable. And to do that, we're taking a look back at an episode we did in the first season. We'll give you some highlights of this one, the power of mornings. This is Sandy with Lanee for Imagine Yourself podcast.
Lanée Blaise [00:00:50]:
We are imagining ourselves loving and appreciating what mornings really can bring as we strategically set the tone for the entire day.
Sandy Kovach [00:01:02]:
Mornings can make it or break it.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:05]:
Yes.
Sandy Kovach [00:01:05]:
And you know what can make or break mornings is
Lanée Blaise [00:01:08]:
coffee.
Sandy Kovach [00:01:08]:
No. I knew I was gonna say that.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:10]:
I knew I knew you were gonna say coffee. I knew it.
Sandy Kovach [00:01:12]:
But that is not about coffee though, is it?
Lanée Blaise [00:01:14]:
Or can it be? It can be if that helps make your morning better, by all means, bring it on. Alright.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:22]:
Not to the point where you're like jitter and shaking, but enough to make it happy and pleasant. Sip that coffee.
Sandy Kovach [00:01:27]:
I I love my coffee, and I think a lot of other people do too, but there are many other things about mornings or things that we can do that even if we're not morning people. Right. Because not everybody is a morning person.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:38]:
Right. And not everybody gets the opportunity to wake up at the time that they really want to wake up in their ideal life. But like you said, even if you're not a morning person
Sandy Kovach [00:01:47]:
or even if you are okay, working a late shift and you get up at 11 o'clock in the morning, that's still the start of your day. So what we're talking about is the start of your day as you get up out of bed and how that sets the tone.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:59]:
Exactly. How many of you set an alarm clock or your smartphone or you have a rooster nearby that crows to kind of intentionally and strategically set yourself up for an on time productive morning.
Sandy Kovach [00:02:15]:
So I do. I set my alarm when I have to get up. But get this, my husband does not have to set his phone. He just wakes up.
Lanée Blaise [00:02:21]:
At the time that he wants to wake up or at the same time every day?
Sandy Kovach [00:02:24]:
The time he wants to wake up, which is totally insane to me. He has an internal clock. He does. I do not.
Lanée Blaise [00:02:30]:
Maybe he's, like, one of those Android,
Sandy Kovach [00:02:33]:
like, Data from Star Trek or something. Yeah.
Lanée Blaise [00:02:35]:
That's who that's who you've got. Uh-oh. Or maybe maybe he just is blessed with that internal clock. That's a good way.
Sandy Kovach [00:02:42]:
That is a good way. But for the average person, they usually have to use their phone or their alarm clock or whatever they're gonna do. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Lanée Blaise [00:02:49]:
So what if you have a part 2 that goes along with it and how many of you set up something intentionally and strategically to give you such an uplift that you will be equipped that whatever the day brings, you're gonna have a productive and powerful and meaningful day.
Sandy Kovach [00:03:09]:
So beyond the alarm. Beyond the alarm. Yes. And beyond the snooze. I don't hit snooze, though.
Lanée Blaise [00:03:14]:
I do like the snooze.
Sandy Kovach [00:03:15]:
You like snooze.
Lanée Blaise [00:03:16]:
I will push it 2 and 3 times. I like that snooze. That that means I gotta set it, you know That's right. Yeah. So because I don't like to be frazzled. Right. How many people have frazzled, crazy, hot mess mornings?
Sandy Kovach [00:03:30]:
Most people. And depending on how many kids they have or what's going on in their job or many things can contribute to a to a Fravel morning.
Lanée Blaise [00:03:39]:
Fravel morning. What about this though? We did a podcast on Lanee, and we talked about how life can throw things at you. Life can throw you a curveball or give you unexpected situations and ink the rug out of your sense of normal. And we also talked about finding Lanee, podcast on balance and taking just 5 minutes out of your day and how much good that can do. Yeah. What if we merge those today on this episode and we talk about taking like at least 5 minutes every morning to mentally, emotionally, spiritually get yourself fit for your day. Almost like you would do like a little fitness boot camp for your body. Do that for your spirit and your mind and your emotions.
Sandy Kovach [00:04:26]:
So you put that into your schedule just like an alarm whether you snooze it or not. Exactly. And you force yourself to give yourself 5 minutes
Lanée Blaise [00:04:34]:
or more. And you mentioned to, like, some people who do have kids and early jobs or things like that. My wake up routine or my morning routine has changed in my life. Actually used to be terrible. It used to just be, I'd wake up in a mad rush, hit the ground running, try to get my kids off to school, my husband off, try to get myself. It was just very frustrating. And so I had to actually start setting the tone for my day the night before.
Sandy Kovach [00:05:00]:
Okay.
Lanée Blaise [00:05:00]:
You know, but now that my kids are older and then I'm older, I actually have a different routine where I get the luxury. I do get to lay there for a minute. Do you ever just lay there for a minute?
Sandy Kovach [00:05:15]:
No. Well, okay. So you know how I've been in radio for most of my life. Right? Along with the other things that I do. Voice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Sandy Kovach [00:05:24]:
So when I did morning drive for a while in my career, which means you're waking everybody else up, and you have to get up at, like, 3 o'clock in the morning, stuff like that. Yeah. Well, at that point, I knew that I could not hit a snooze because I was afraid I wouldn't get back up.
Lanée Blaise [00:05:37]:
I don't blame you.
Sandy Kovach [00:05:38]:
So I stopped. I refused to snooze. Okay. So you can refuse to snooze If that's a problem for you, hitting
Lanée Blaise [00:05:45]:
the snooze that it's something that's, like, a temptation
Sandy Kovach [00:05:47]:
on this. So I I don't do morning drive anymore, obviously, but it still a habit.
Lanée Blaise [00:05:53]:
You kept that habit, which is good for you. So that one yeah. That's the part where 3 AM, where it's still dark, that really can be a hard factor. But for mine, there is at least some form of daylight. Usually, I can lay there for a minute. I get to quietly thank God and invite him into my day. And then I kinda start off fresh. I do grab my cell phone.
Lanée Blaise [00:06:18]:
I don't know if everybody does that too, but
Sandy Kovach [00:06:20]:
of course you do. Everybody does that. That. Yeah. Are you supposed to? I don't know. But Well, I but here's for you.
Lanée Blaise [00:06:25]:
Here's the thing though. I don't grab it to really check on emails and check on things because that's a little bit too hard. I go on Instagram, and I have an Instagram account that has, like, little pleasant things. So I look at all my little nieces and nephews and see what they're doing, and I look at the little inspirational quotes from little ladies that I follow, and there's this one man that I follow, Spice Adams. Everything on his just makes me laugh.
Sandy Kovach [00:06:52]:
Okay. So you've got humor.
Lanée Blaise [00:06:54]:
Yes.
Sandy Kovach [00:06:54]:
You've got positive stuff, quotations. You've got family from family.
Lanée Blaise [00:06:57]:
Yeah. And the little prayers at first too. That's how I start my day.
Sandy Kovach [00:07:01]:
I like that very much. Now you mentioned when your kids were smaller
Lanée Blaise [00:07:07]:
Yes.
Sandy Kovach [00:07:07]:
That you had to start the night before. And that's one thing that I read about a lot, and I've never really mastered this discipline. But being able to set a routine, like the top three things that you need to accomplish tomorrow or here's what I need to do right after I get out of bed. Those things. You know? Or if you work out, you know, having your workout clothes or whatever you can prepare the night before so that you're not crazy crazy the next day.
Lanée Blaise [00:07:34]:
To help. Yes. Setting out those clothes or having some kind of, like, you kind of alluded to, like, maybe even a written list or something like that, so that you can start with a clearer mindset. And of course, to remember, like I said before, I actually couldn't help it. Every day was just kind of ridiculous. I was okay with that because I had still emotionally prepped myself the night before.
Sandy Kovach [00:08:00]:
Okay. So what did you do the night before?
Lanée Blaise [00:08:02]:
Oh, in that case, I could even take more than 5 minutes because as long as I figured I'd get a good night's sleep, I would read little lovely devotional books or give my mom a little call and talk to her before I went to bed and make sure I sat down and prayed with my kids before they went to bed and really just decompress and unwind and just relax. Knowing that the next morning it was just gonna start up and being okay accepting that the next morning was gonna start up. Boom.
Sandy Kovach [00:08:30]:
Okay. So you're talking about 2 completely different scenarios which both worked well depending on your stage in life. So what people need to figure out is their obligations, their stage in life, and to be realistic. Because when you got little kids and especially if you got little toddlers, you wanna come and wake you up or something like that.
Lanée Blaise [00:08:48]:
Pets do that too.
Sandy Kovach [00:08:49]:
Pets too. Yes.
Lanée Blaise [00:08:50]:
Yes. They do. Lay on your face, smack in your face, pull on your ear. You're dreaming that somebody's pulling on your ear, but it really is unknown.
Sandy Kovach [00:08:58]:
So in that case, you would suggest maybe a little nighttime routine or something.
Lanée Blaise [00:09:03]:
Because Sandy, you and I were kind of talking about this before we even started today. How you said you have to know what works for you, and not everything smooshes into a formula. What works for me and at my age, First of all, it may not have even worked for me personally in a different age, but definitely may not work for you or someone else who's listening.
Sandy Kovach [00:09:21]:
Yeah. Exactly. You kinda have
Lanée Blaise [00:09:23]:
to we love that word tweak, but you have to tweak it, you know, and you have to you said trial and error too, earlier to me this morning.
Sandy Kovach [00:09:30]:
Trial and error. What does work and what work? And as your schedule changes or your lifestyle changes, sometimes you go through different things. That's the big part of today's
Lanée Blaise [00:09:40]:
episode. It doesn't have to be some long outrageous routine, something beautiful to drop down into your life can be all that you need.
Sandy Kovach [00:09:50]:
So one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day is always been one of my favorite quotes. I like that. One more time. One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day. So I think that whether you're talking about if you have the time to lay in bed, look at your Instagram feed, or if you pop right up or you go running or whatever you do, let's say you exercise in the morning. You go work out. Are you going to walk or run listening to like a positive podcast like this?
Lanée Blaise [00:10:24]:
Yeah. Something like that. Yourself.
Sandy Kovach [00:10:25]:
Yeah. So find something like that. Find something that you can incorporate, whether it's exercise or just listening in the background or even driving to work. Get your positivity in there. Now I have something to confess. It's in
Lanée Blaise [00:10:39]:
my head from when I was a little kid, and maybe I am just a little nostalgic softy, but I love thinking about things from the perspective of when we're little kids. Every morning when I was a little kid, I don't even think I had a clock in my bedroom, but let alone not an alarm clock. And I'm definitely old enough where there weren't smartphones. But but every morning, my mother would come into my room and kind of touch my arm and she would sing good morning to you. Good morning to you. And, like, if she was already at work and couldn't do it, my grandmother would come and wake me up like that. And as a little kid, it was so sweet and so happy. Your quote said that one positive thought, that was what I had every morning as a little kid.
Lanée Blaise [00:11:24]:
And it didn't guarantee that my day was just gonna be magnificent, but but it did at least set the tone. It did have a strategy for making me smile and, you know, getting me off beautifully. I have another girlfriend, name is Lily. She would have breakfast cooking and clothes putting on for everybody and getting everybody set. And every day she'd say to her kids, she'd look at them and she'd smile and she'd say, the face you make is the day you make. And she wanted to see some smiles.
Sandy Kovach [00:11:53]:
I love it.
Lanée Blaise [00:11:54]:
Very simple. One simple little phrase that she'd say she didn't do the whole singing like my mom did and grandma did, but one little simple phrase to just get them going off. What about this though, Sandy? What about people who are listening who might be saying that they're tired of the word positive?
Sandy Kovach [00:12:14]:
I hear that sometimes, especially because one of my little hashtags is positive pontificator. Oh. Yeah. I know. Because I like to do all the positive quote stuff, but I know not everybody appreciates that. Sometimes they get sick of my stuff.
Lanée Blaise [00:12:27]:
I don't know that if it's that they're sick of the concept. They just might think that the word positive is maybe becoming overused or whatever. But I do really believe that people deep down inside are looking for beauty and power and perspective and uplift. And those things are never gonna be cliche and overused. Right. Optimistic and positive. The only reason I say this is I don't want anyone out there listening to kinda shut down because they're just thinking that those are overused, but it can be very powerful. Do you understand the power of morning? The power of knowing that the sun is gonna come up yet again every single day for us to enjoy.
Lanée Blaise [00:13:15]:
We're gonna get to embrace a new start, a new fresh way every single day, no matter what happened the day before or the night before.
Sandy Kovach [00:13:23]:
That's absolutely true. But depending on how tired you are when you wake up in the morning, how late you stayed out the night before, how much you've been tossing and turning, the worries that you have rolling around in your mind, you may not be doing that. And that's kind of the elephant in the room. Right? We can we can start out by saying, hey. Be positive. Have a positive thought. Look at your positive Instagram feed. Do all this stuff.
Sandy Kovach [00:13:45]:
But with the worries of the day and being so tired in the morning, very few people wake up and are just like, I've got a ton of energy right now, and I'm gonna go run a marathon, and then I'm gonna, you know
Lanée Blaise [00:13:56]:
Sometimes little kids do
Sandy Kovach [00:13:57]:
to begin. Okay. Right. Yeah. Yep. Grown people.
Lanée Blaise [00:14:00]:
Yes.
Sandy Kovach [00:14:00]:
How many grown people do you know do that? 0. And when they drive you crazy if you knew somebody like that?
Lanée Blaise [00:14:05]:
That's why I say even still I still believe there's something to that 5 minutes, Sandy. Yeah. There is something to it just clicking yourself back in. That whole, you know, pushing through. But just like once again with Lanee the routine, and we talked one time too about that 21 day rule. 21 days of just getting into a habit. Maybe we can retrain ourselves to get in the habit of trying to form a good setting even though we're tired.
Sandy Kovach [00:14:41]:
All right, you know, you're going to be tired, but if you tell yourself I'm going to take these 5 minutes.
Lanée Blaise [00:14:46]:
Yes. And do I still think one of 3 things.
Sandy Kovach [00:14:50]:
Okay.
Lanée Blaise [00:14:50]:
You can go the route of listening to something positive either on the radio or you know, you've got YouTube, Instagram, all kinds of things like that to consciously have something that you know how to click on if necessary to listen to someone else's beautiful message and strong message come through to you if you don't have it in you. Because I
Sandy Kovach [00:15:11]:
don't know if you know,
Lanée Blaise [00:15:11]:
but there's a power of even things going into your brain, whether they're positive or negative that can affect your everything. Yes. Whether you're fully conscious or not, but pushing that good stuff into your brain, either through YouTube or Instagram or reading a little book or if you have a little devotional to start your day or end your day. Humor. We talked about humor is another one that laughing can actually wake you up also. Right? I mean That's true. It has dopamine. It has something that gives you a euphoria.
Lanée Blaise [00:15:41]:
It actually does physical things to your body. So humor and laughing. Funny memes.
Sandy Kovach [00:15:46]:
Just But it yes. There are pages on Facebook or people you can follow on Twitter or Instagram that are just do funny memes. Whatever your style is. Clean funny memes or, you know, it doesn't have to be.
Lanée Blaise [00:15:57]:
Dirty one. No. Or pet ones, you're talking about some of those ones with cats and dogs and stuff that are just hilarious.
Sandy Kovach [00:16:04]:
Exactly. Or just funny cat videos. Come on. Who doesn't love a funny cat video?
Lanée Blaise [00:16:07]:
Exactly. Even if you don't like cats. Yeah. Their ways are Yeah. Interesting. Little things like that. This is not rocket science that we're pushing, but it is something that you might not have thought about as a tool for your own happiness
Sandy Kovach [00:16:20]:
and joy.
Lanée Blaise [00:16:21]:
And then, so that's, you know, that's it, you know, positive affirmations, laughter, humor. The last one is to consider prayer. Prayer is something that is powerful and can make changes in your life or can make changes in you. It can set our minds on a beautiful course in an upward direction, kind of like having a mattress stuffed full of cash and you didn't even realize you could use that resource. It's right there at your fingertips. And the prayer can be as simple as, please, just God be with me today. May I listen well, speak well, eat well, be well, sleep well, love well, live well, do good things, make good choices. Amen.
Lanée Blaise [00:17:01]:
You know, there you go. Thank you, God. You know, just and and again, thanks because I know that that's another one. Prayer can be a cliche if we're not careful, but it can also be a tool if we're genuine with it, if we really believe it. And this is Denzel Washington.
Sandy Kovach [00:17:18]:
Oh, you're talking about Denzel.
Lanée Blaise [00:17:22]:
Denzel Washington had a speech that I got the luxury. I didn't read it. I got to hear him say it on YouTube, and it was just
Sandy Kovach [00:17:31]:
He wasn't talking directly to you.
Lanée Blaise [00:17:33]:
Not this time. His wife be upset. No. My husband be upset. Everybody loses. No. But the way he said it, of course, I cannot do justice, but I am going to go ahead and tell you even if you just listen to this every morning, you are set. What he said in that speech was, when you wake up in the morning, say thank you.
Lanée Blaise [00:17:59]:
Thank you for grace. Thank you for mercy. Thank you for understanding, for wisdom, for parents, for love. Thank you for kindness, for humility, for peace. Thank you for prosperity. Say thank you in advance for what's already yours. That's how I live my life. And one of the reasons why I am where I am today.
Lanée Blaise [00:18:24]:
Wow. Denzel. And you know I didn't do it justice. You know he's got that voice. You know? Well, I
Sandy Kovach [00:18:28]:
was picturing him saying it. I hope you don't mind.
Lanée Blaise [00:18:31]:
But, that's what you have to do. That is inspiration in a bucket right there for you.
Sandy Kovach [00:18:37]:
Yeah.
Lanée Blaise [00:18:38]:
That's the uplift.
Sandy Kovach [00:18:39]:
It's a lot about that gratitude that we have talked about so many times. And we don't wanna make that a cliche, the gratitude thing either. But he is expressing gratitude. Yes. And we need to express gratitude. How many people, like you said, think about I woke up another day? People are thinking about I'm so tired. I wanna go back under the covers. People aren't thinking about, well, I'm awake.
Sandy Kovach [00:18:59]:
Yes. I'm alive. And I'm alive. It's a shift in perspective. We're not promised every day. We don't know. We're all going at some point.
Lanée Blaise [00:19:07]:
That's true. And that's one of those things where, like, a lot of things we've said today, we talk about the fact that it could be taken as a cliche. But I really hope and pray that you start really thinking about them more as building blocks
Sandy Kovach [00:19:21]:
Yeah.
Lanée Blaise [00:19:22]:
And things that are tried and true. And by no means do we wanna say that because you have a positive attitude, you're gonna have a great day. Everything's gonna go well. And at the same token, because there are many times Lanee has gotten up with a negative attitude.
Sandy Kovach [00:19:37]:
Not you.
Lanée Blaise [00:19:37]:
Oh, yes. Oh. And had, how about this? And sometimes I had, I don't want to go there. I don't like that. I don't want to do it. I don't even want to get up. Blah, blah, blah. And do you know that sometimes I was still blessed enough to have had a good day or a good experience even with that nasty attitude? So it doesn't always do like a plus b equals c
Sandy Kovach [00:19:58]:
formula. Magic formula. No. But it definitely is a shift in your attitude that can make you see things differently. That's all we want. And that's the whole again, back to we want to imagine ourselves having a change of perspective and using these little tweaks so we can get through life with whatever it throws at us, whatever fires we need to put out.
Lanée Blaise [00:20:21]:
Yeah. Because there will be some. We know that there will be some. Sometimes too, even, even in the Bible and in Psalms, it says, be still and know that I'm God. Sometimes you just need to be still and not even worry about if you're tired or worry about being positive or worry about all the positive. Just be still and soak in life.
Sandy Kovach [00:20:43]:
Another thing that we just touched on a little bit, I feel like I wanna say before we wrap up here, is the power of movement, the power of exercise in the morning, if you can fit that into, can really change it because that is such a mood booster. And it's so healthy. It's like the healthiest thing that anybody can do for themselves. Right.
Lanée Blaise [00:21:04]:
Getting that blood flowing in your body that you've been given another one. I'm going to tack onto that. Jump on that is stretching. I've told you about I've had the foot surgeries and everything like that. My foot doctor, my podiatrist is like, you have to stretch every single morning for the rest of your life. I'm like, oh my gosh. And I fought it, but now it's a habit, and it honestly takes less than 5 minutes. I guess, technically, since it takes about 5 minutes or less, I can even do the positive thinking and and the affirmations while I'm doing it.
Lanée Blaise [00:21:33]:
Yeah. And stretching and makes my little achy back. I feel so much better. So stretching your body, doing the exercise, getting your blood flowing, stretching your mind, It's just all good.
Sandy Kovach [00:21:45]:
Yes. And making sure that you have that time set aside in your morning for those things you wanna do. The stretching, exercising, positive affirmations, finding funny stuff on Instagram, whatever it is, and also having as much stuff as you can, like, on autopilot in case things do go wrong. Like, you know you have to leave your house in such and such a time in case there's extra traffic or you need to put something right by the door so you can pick it up and walk out, whether it's, you know, your laptop, your phone, your keys, know where everything is.
Lanée Blaise [00:22:18]:
What you're saying is kind of equipping yourself.
Sandy Kovach [00:22:21]:
Equipping yourself. Yeah.
Lanée Blaise [00:22:22]:
If you're gonna get on a motorcycle, what is one thing that you need to do before you get on the motorcycle?
Sandy Kovach [00:22:28]:
Helmet.
Lanée Blaise [00:22:28]:
Thank you.
Sandy Kovach [00:22:29]:
Yeah.
Lanée Blaise [00:22:29]:
Put your helmet on. Equip yourself for if something happens that you didn't expect or want to happen. Right.
Sandy Kovach [00:22:38]:
Because traffic I know.
Lanée Blaise [00:22:40]:
A little pebble in the middle because, you know, a pebble can make a a motorcycle pop wrong. Equipping yourself, strengthening yourself, daily inner strengthening, pushing good stuff into yourself so that, hopefully, the hope is that good stuff will come out and that as much of a good day your chances go up of you having a good day. Right? Your odds go up. Mhmm. You're playing the numbers, and you're pushing good stuff in and believing that that will make your outcome better or stronger, and you'll be ready for things.
Sandy Kovach [00:23:10]:
Alright. Are we ready for takeaway time?
Lanée Blaise [00:23:12]:
Yes, we are. I want it to be a little bit different. I want you to think of this takeaway as what if you had superpowers and you used your superpowers every day. So there's the power of mornings. You kind of alluded to that before the power of that knowingness that you have your fresh start, your new day, your new beginning. And there's a power of inviting love and gratitude and humor and fresh perspective into your day and into your life every single day. These are easy takeaways. It's still getting that same one.
Lanée Blaise [00:23:55]:
5 minutes. You know, we're asking you. And now you might say, well, the name Sandy, now you've asked us for 5 minutes for bringing in uplifting things into your life, and you've asked for 5 minutes for stretching and exercise and things like that. But if you've even talked about merging those 5 minutes into one thing, but it's something. Start with something and continue. And it can become a good, healthy, helpful habit.
Sandy Kovach [00:24:18]:
So that we can imagine ourselves.
Lanée Blaise [00:24:20]:
Imagine ourselves opening our eyes, blinking the sleep away, and really learning to love what mornings represent, which is a new chance to start a new day in a beautiful, blessed, uplifting way.
Sandy Kovach [00:24:38]:
Thanks for sharing your time with us, and we'd love for you to share your thoughts too. Give us a rating or review and hit us up at imagine yourself podcast.com if you've got a chance. Or on our socials. Links are in the show notes. Until next time, when we have something new to imagine. Here's to great mornings leading to awesome days and a satisfying life.