My Monday Morning Rituals Which Helps Me Write Effortlessly.

A cold morning in Ruaka.

I’m returning from my morning rituals before writing this. What are my morning rituals and how can you make your own?

Well, mine are simple. The first thing I like doing in the morning is raising my heartbeat and breaking a sweat. And then finding some stillness. That is why I started with roadwork this morning.

What is roadwork?

It's simply running, walking, and jogging for an hour.

I returned home, did some push-ups, and entered the bathroom for a cold bath. Afterward black tea and some rice, cabbage, and egg for breakfast. Then I sat down to begin work.

Now. My friend Ledama was telling me yesterday that early mornings are perfect for getting your mind right and planning your day’s activities to avoid useless distractions. Well for me, any form of physical exercise followed up with silence cuts it. You are free to find your own ritual. Something which fires up your mind and body after a restful night and puts you in the best state to tackle the day.

You know what my friend? I feel so good writing this. All because of the rituals! That is why I want to encourage you to get started with a morning ritual that works for you. It can be as simple as stretching, or a glass of water, or silent meditation on the couch. Or drinking coffee, or shaking your body. Lord! It can even be smoking something… your choice.

Anyway, let us get to today's work. In the last letter, I promised to begin on a new topic.

The name of the topic: how to generate endless writing ideas.

You see what my friend? Coming up with writing ideas on the go has proven to be a big challenge to many new internet writers. Yes, you want to get those ideas out of your head but you just can't focus and come up with something worth reading. Then relax. Worry not because this short letter is going to show you out-of-the-box techniques that I'm using to write effortlessly. Like I am doing right now. These ideas are nothing new by the way! And you can start using them immediately after you finish reading this letter. I promise they will help put your mind in a flow state and get you writing effortlessly.

I'm a huge fan of training the human mind to focus and attentiveness because the world is so full of noise. That is why for me, writing happens best in the early morning hours when I'm least distracted and fresh. I like calling it sacred hours. Let me show you.

1. Listening to music.

My favorite artist who is a rapper by the name Nasir Jones dropped a new album last Friday. This morning, I was listening to one of the songs from the album titled Abracadabra. I'm blown away by how creative he is and the amount of work he's produced over the past 3 years. Nasir has created 5 albums in less than 3 years. That's so powerful. Now. For me, inspiration sometimes comes from just listening to Nasir. Because guess what? Nasir is not your average rapper. Nas goes deep. He is so enlightening and so godly. Nas is deeply knowledgeable about ideas cutting across classic subjects like philosophy and psychology and business and storytelling. His album collection is basically audiobooks for writing inspiration.

I could go a day rambling about Nasir so anyway…

What does music really do to improve your writing?

For me, music gets my creative juices flowing. Sometimes all I need is one line from a song to inspire me. And lyrics aside. Some tunes can be very powerful when you listen to them. For example, check out some tunes called solfeggio frequencies. Simply type that in the YouTube search bar and try them out. I like turning on music and listening meditatively. My creative juices begin to flow and then I just want nothing else but to write. Do this and see how it goes.

2. Going outside to walk.

Did you know that the average person is always sitting or lying around? And did you know that your mind is always in motion? That is why to be in the best mental state and get clarity, you need to get up, go out and start walking. This is very serious by the way! Science is supporting the idea that daily walking helps your mind to process the ideas you have been consuming. Let us say you have been reading a book with really interesting ideas that you would like to write about. What you need to do then is simply go for a walk. Put away the phone. If you're carrying it then don’t scroll while walking. Get some sun. Watch and listen to birds. Touch some grass. Step on the ground barefoot. Get some fresh air and allow your mind to process those ideas so that by the time you are sitting down to write, you have this mental clarity that few possess. I see many couch potatoes complaining that they can't write even while knowing exactly what to write. That means they are lacking mental clarity and going outside to walk helps a lot with that. Get outside my friend.

And then lastly….

3. Talk to friends.

On a personal note, I love catching up with my boys face-to-face or over the phone sometimes. And when I'm talking to them, I like assuming that I'm trying to explain something I've just discovered. For example. My good friend Shivachi Shihembekho is a dude that I connect with a lot. What happens when I talk to him is I share some of my thoughts, and he adds his insights and sometimes offers alternative perspectives. In the end, I always come from his calls with a lesson. A lesson that I can write about easily. Now. I'm not saying that merely talking to friends will improve your writing abilities. No. What I'm saying is that your friends are like your guinea pigs to your ideas- in a good way though- With them, you get to practice how to articulate and harmonize your thoughts before writing about them. So when the time to write comes, you find it easier and simple to write because you have already explored your mind on the ideas you want to write about. Go ahead and catch up with your friend and tell them about something you have learned. Listen to their perspective and promise you, your next writing session will be lighter.

There you go, my friend. And I have some interest resolution for you. From today moving forward, this is going to be a weekly newsletter. I'm choosing Monday because the world deserves some powerful message at the beginning of the week. Monday because many people dread this day. And also, let me let you a bit about myself.

Monday is my birthday.

It’s the day I arrived in this physical world. So it's kinda a special day to me but never mind… I'll be writing about interesting insights on designing a meaningful life to help you increase your awareness and life enjoyment. It will no longer be a daily or biweekly thing. Now that means the articles might be a little longer than usual but not long to the boring level. Expect about 1500 to 2000 words on the max. Or even shorter 😄 

Last call. Tell a friend to tell a friend. Until text time.