Why seeking God first each day is good for your brain

Seeking God first thing in the morning is like priming the pump of our spiritual "heart."  

The result:  "Living Water" that permeates everything we do!  

But why is this good for our brains?

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The first thing that many of us do when we awaken is grab our cellphones. This immediately thrusts us into REACTION mode where we busy our brains with tidbits of information to which we respond.  It's as if our phones are controlling us and our minds.  Our phones direct us and not the other way around.

Someone comments on our post.  We reply.

We see we have email notifications.  We bump over to our inbox to scroll and reply.

We glance at the news headlines, processing that information in small "bytes." 

A few friends have sent us messages; we quickly get back to them.

We count our likes on our recent post.  

What's the weather like today?

Who's tweeting?

Oh, I forgot to text her!

​He sent me a voice note.

We scroll through our feeds, liking and commenting, wondering and wandering goes our brain like the marvelous machine it is.

The problem? 

Jim Kwik, of Kwik Brain Podcast, says we give away our power first thing in the morning if we go to our phones.  And in return, we get our dopamine fixes and are rewiring our brains and training ourselves to be distracted all the time.  Essentially, we learn to react to everyone else's "demands." 

Also, we may experience digital depression, mental fatigue, or fall victim to the comparison trap right off the bat.

Further, some research suggests there is a finite number of "good" decisions we can make each day - when we "popcorn" focus kinda mindlessly right out of the gate, we may be compromising ourselves later in the day.

Why  not harness the mighty power of our brains, inside-out, not let the outside flood our brains and beg for attention?

Monitoring our cell phone usage in the morning will certainly help.

Although penned centuries ago,  Matthew writes: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you (6:33, NASB20). 

"Seek FIRST." 

Admittedly, I have to resist the temptation to grab my phone.  I am training my brain instead to follow this morning routine which is generally the first hour and a half of my day:

1) Awaken with joy in my heart and anticipation for the day God has made -- I usually say this aloud: "Father, today is the day that You have made. I will rejoice and be glad in You and in this day. I will rise, shine, and glorify.  Thank you for this day!"
2) Prepare my coffee, take Rico outside, do a few stretches and deep knee bends, deep breaths
3) Go to office and grab my Bible devotional 
4) Enter into prayer time
5) Grab my listening journal and be still to listen
6) Write at least 2 devotionals for the book I am currently penning :)  - this involves Bible and brain research, I also write my blogs during this time as well as podcast scripts
7) Sometimes if I awaken a bit troubled, I spend more time doing a brain dump, analyzing my thoughts and feelings, and processing them all with the Lord

This PRIME THE PUMP routine sets me up to be more in charge of my day, deliberate with my time, and on a mission to serve instead of allowing all the externals to control my actions. It stimulates and feeds my brain in healthy ways. 

What about you?  What is your morning routine like?  Let me know in the comments below. :) 

THERE IS A BONUS AWAITING THE FIRST 3 LISTENERS TO THIS EPISODE!  Don't miss it! 

Listen to the full episode here