Multi-best selling author Hal Elrod of Dripping Springs, TX, self-published his first edition of “The Miracle Morning” on December 12, 2012. Since then, his book has sold over two million copies and with the recent release of his updated and expanded edition of “The Miracle Morning (BenBella Books),” Elrod shares insight on his new book as well as opening up about personal experiences.

In Elrod’s book, he includes six practices to achieve “The Miracle Morning:” meditation, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and journaling.

Among the six practices he provides, Elrod mentioned that he often hears how people don’t have an hour to spare for the practices, so in his updated edition, he introduces The Six Minute Miracle Morning. In this modified version of his traditional hour-long practice, he recommends only 60-second blocks of various activities that help achieve the benefits one would normally receive doing the full hour.

“[You] really set yourself up for a great day because you start the day in a peak mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual state,” Elrod said.

Elrod offers additional insight on how sleeping earlier rather than cutting out time can help create more time in the morning that people often find themselves lacking. He said rather than just watching one more episode of TV before bed, replace it with an earlier bedtime to have more time to start your morning.

“The whole premise of The Miracle Morning is that arguably the most important decision you can make in your life is how you start your day,” he said. “Because how you start your day sets the tone, the context, and the direction for the rest of the day. So when you win the morning, you put yourself in the best position to show up at your best for yourself, for those you love [and] for those you lead. And so that’s why the morning is so crucial.”

Elrod’s new edition includes 70 pages of additional content; 25 of those pages feature his new “SAVERS” section. By compiling his six practices into a cohesive acronym, it allows for easy memorization for use.

“S” stands for silence. Rather than solely meditation, strive for any kind of silent time. It can be prayer, meditation or both.

“A”stands for Affirmations.

“V” stands for Visualization.

“E” stands for Exercise.

“R” stands for Reading.

“S” stands for scribing, replacing journaling.

An additional two chapters new to the book include his Miracle Evening. They provide strategies to improve bedtime and sleeping habits. Elrod produced this addition to his book when he struggled with sleep and anxiety while going through chemotherapy. After polling community members and realizing many of them also struggled with sleep, he decided to share how he overcame sleep deprivation to get a good night’s sleep.

Utilizing another acronym, “SLUMBERS,” Elrod provides a series of steps leading up to bedtime to help improve one’s sleep. He elaborates on his acronym in his Miracle Evening section of his new book.

Elrod confirms he does practice the Miracle Morning daily, and admits he modifies it depending on how much time he has. While his time dedicated to the practice can range from half an hour to two hours, he admits that he doesn’t necessarily complete all six practices each day. He encourages those new to the practice to complete all six every day for 30 days until they become proficient. 

“Once you have them, now they’re tools in your tool belt,” he said. “Then you can go, okay, which one do I need today?”

Elrod also encourages teens to adopt these practices and use it to improve their daily lives. While he believes nobody really stops improving on themselves, he is glad people can utilize the practice and start early in life.

“One of my favorite affirmations is foundational for me,” Elrod said. “And I am just as worthy, deserving and capable of everything I want as any other person and I will prove it today with my actions. And to me, the beauty of that affirmation is that we all struggle with self worth and we all struggle with insecurity of ‘Am I capable? We compare ourselves to other people. And so that first piece is reminding us that we are all just as inherently worthy.”

Elrod continues by emphasizing how he believes that there is no human being on the planet who is not worthy, deserving and capable. 

“Wherever you are in your life right now, it’s temporary and I have faith that you can commit to do the things, to become the person, to go where you want to go,” Elrod said.

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 Cover photo courtesy Hal Elrod

Rachel Chiang is an intern for Texas Lifestyle Magazine. Outside of writing, she loves movies, books, and crocheting, and often finds herself doing multiple of those things at once. While she enjoys a nice cozy night at home, she is always up for new adventures and opportunities. You can follow up with her adventures @rachie_chiang on all socials.