We’re starting Week 2 of our Beautiful Mornings Challenge, and this week is about just continuing our gradual change.
But it’s also about savoring the time you’ve created for yourself in the morning.
So the instructions for Week 2 are simple: You pick a second thing to do in the morning, and wake up a little earlier than last week. As before, wake just 5-10 minutes earlier, and ease into it. Pick another small task. Now are (possibly) waking 10-20 minutes earlier each day, and doing two small tasks.
Pick something simple to do, that you can enjoy and that will give you a sense of mindfulness, quiet, and gratitude in this soft, tender morning space.
Be gradual about how you transition to waking earlier — just 5-10 minutes earlier than last week. But if you have been struggling with that, then you don’t even need to wake earlier this week — just wake at the same time you were aiming for last week. Make your two morning tasks even smaller, in that case: just micro versions of what you’d like to do, just to get started.
Beyond these simple instructions, there’s something you can practice this week as well: Savor the deliciousness of this morning space.
Savor the Deliciousness of Mornings
In this small morning space you’ve created, I highly suggest you don’t allow yourself to be connected by phone, tablet or computer. Don’t go online, don’t check messages or email.
Let this space be a time of disconnection, of solitude and quietude.
And savor this beautiful time that you are creating for yourself. It’s an incredible treat, a luxurious gift, this solitude. We don’t often get this kind of space, and you’ve just gone and created it out of nothing!
It is delicious. Quiet, when the world is just waking up, when the light is soft and tentative, when the day is just tenuously deciding what it might be. This is a time of emergence, of possibilities, of contemplation of meaning.
Savor it, as you might an incredibly rich cup of coffee or bowl of berries. Be fully present with it, noticing the particular flavor of this morning, the particular quality of the the light seeping in, the specific tender feeling in your heart right now.
Fall in love with this space, and you will be hooked.
A Few Tips for This Challenge
Some tips for those who might be having some problems:
- If you are not a morning person, you might be tempted to do this in the evenings as well. And that’s completely fine. But it might be interesting to be curious about what it would be like to open yourself to this lovely space in the morning. It’s not better than evenings, or more virtuous, but just different. And absolutely worth another try.
- If you are struggling in the mornings to wake up, I suggest a few things: go to sleep a little earlier (cut yourself off from devices), wake earlier only gradually, put your alarm across the room so you have to get up, then immediately head to the bathroom to wash your face. Drink a glass of water. Do some sun salutations (yoga) – a few Sun Salutation A sequences are better even than coffee for waking you up. Add in a few Sun Salutation B sequences if you have the time or need the extra shot of wake-up juice.
- Don’t overdo it with any of this! Gradual change. More gradual than you’d like. Restrain yourself, and you’ll be more likely to actually create lasting change.