Morning is a powerful time. It sets the tone for your day, it’s full of possibility, and it’s a great excuse to stuff your face with cinnamon rolls. But it also has great vibrational power. By altering your morning bit by bit, you can begin to change your life in ways greater than the sum of your actions. Unless of course, your life is already awesome, which is the catch 22 of the law of attraction. Consider this quote:

“If you were already feeling good when you found this book, then by utilizing these materials, your life can now, by your de-liberate intention, spiral toward that which allows you to feel even better. However, if, in this moment, you are feeling less than good—or even if you think your life is as bad as it can possibly get—you can still learn perspectives here that can enable you to allow your life to begin to incrementally improve . . . or, you may be one of those rare ones who, from something you read here, receive a paradigm shift in your Beingness that somehow propels you from a long-term feeling of powerlessness, up into a fresh, long-term joyous alignment with your natural state of Well-Being. And once you reach that state, you will feel like a magnet, attracting to yourself everything—and every relationship—to which you are a Vibrational Match.”

Would if it could be this easy, Abraham. I included this whole passage because I wanted to show how different types of people respond when they discover the law of attraction. More often than not, people tend to simply filter the teachings through their current beliefs. Those who are already successful tend to spiral towards more success, whereas those who feel powerless don’t tend to receive a paradigm shift in their beingness. As a result, many people (including myself) reject the teachings, when in fact they simply attracted the teachings not working. Now that’s a mind f*ck.

As she’s stated at other times, you generally aren’t ready for a quantum leap. This concept has been something I’ve struggled with, since when I feel disempowered the only thing I want is a quantum leap into my dream life.

But the things I’ve thought and the person I’ve been have a momentum to them, so the main part of this quote where I’ve gained value is, “Learn perspectives here that can enable you to allow your life to incrementally improve.” Incremental improvement is what it’s all about – like a video game. If your goal was overnight success, this is kind of a let down.

The only way to gain improvement in something is to practice it. That’s the key with law of attraction. It’s a practice! This makes it seem like eating your vegetables (even though vegetables are delicious!) or doing some kind of chore. At first it can seem like that, but eventually you realize that this is the most important practice of your life.

I know I can sound kind of culty sometimes, but it’s true: Managing your vibrational set point is the most important practice of your life. Is it the most important thing in your life? Probably not, but it’s your most important practice because as you’ve probably heard a million times, “The energy output of one who is aligned is equal to millions who are not.” Practicing getting in alignment sounds more like studying under a meditation master than an actionable piece of advice, but it is very actionable. Not only that, but it’s something you can do daily that immediately benefits your life.

How does practicing alignment immediately benefit your life?

First of all, you feel good. Second of all, you begin to understand your power in little bits at a time. Third of all, you raise your vibrational set point more and more. To put it more finely, you reduce the resistance caused by your negative vibrations.

How can you practice alignment?

I could simply say, “By feeling good” and Abraham says, “By thinking the thoughts that make you feel the most good the most often.”

But, you might misunderstand that. If you try to feel good when you aren’t inherently feeling good, then you might create more resistance than you mean to, which will make you actually feel bad eventually.

By trying too hard to feel good, you might feel bad. This is often the mistake you make if you want a quantum leap right now and you think you just need to concentrate really hard on fluffy pillows and having that super high paying job.

Instead, what Abraham says is to pick an activity in your morning and just deliberately feel a little better while you are doing it. She recommends the segment intending process, the focus wheel process, and a book of positive aspects, to name a few. To start, pick an activity that she describes that resonates with you and do that in your morning routine.

Why your morning routine?

I think of a day like a repeating cycle. I know that’s obvious, but bear with me. You get up in the morning and you have routines. You go to the same kind of job and are subject to similar experiences. On your weekend you do different things but it often follows a similar rhythm. So, by incrementally increasing the quality of your routine, you increase the quality of your habitual life.

Note by this that I mean both increasing the quality of each activity incrementally and increasing the overall routine’s quality. By quality, I’m referring to emotional quality, not the price of your toothpaste.

What do I do?

I started with the focus wheel. I put it right after my shower and eating and before I went to work. It doesn’t matter what you choose to do, just that you deliberately feel better. This means that you choose a time to intend to feel better and then see how much better you feel. By putting it in your morning routine you 1. Are more likely to do it and 2. Make it much easier to continually do it.

The idea is to habitualize your incremental improvement, so then it becomes second nature to sit down and write or meditate, dance to your favorite music, or any small thing that makes you happy. Personally, meditation currently makes me more stressed out than happy, so I elect to write. By taking a few moments in your morning to do what makes you feel good you are staking a vibrational claim amongst whatever else you do. For that moment in time you proclaim that this time is for you and your joy. By doing this you don’t have to worry about the 68 second rule or getting in alignment; by doing something you enjoy doing, you are already there. This alignment will then expand over time because – it must.

In doing this, you’ll find it easier and easier to increase the emotional quality of other parts of your routine and easier to sustain that emotional quality throughout other unrelated tasks. By trying too hard in any individual moment to feel good, you create resistance. By building habits that systematically help you feel good, you put alignment on autopilot. Doing so will naturally build and sustain your momentum over time. Ideas will come to you more and more about how you could improve your morning, which will eventually lead to the rest of your day.

It’s not about being in alignment all the time. It’s about increasing the odds of you getting in alignment more frequently.

What simple thing could you do in a few minutes in the morning to live your joy?