woke up got out of bed
beat the clock this morning, woke up at 5 to 5, unaware of that for the moment, and felt that big burst of awakening that comes upon me sometimes when i wake up early enough. and as i had previously set my phone to wake me up at five, and left it on the charger in my office, i got up to check the time and lo and behold! all that integration practice i’ve been putting my students though finally paid off. early rising at last.
the primary question of my early morning pages was what the heck am i going ot do at 6am? the what to do at 5am question having been answered already.
- 5am wake up
- 5:05 write morning pages
- 5:30 heart meditation
- 6am now what?
this has been the question that has been pretty much unspoken, and which has been blocking my efforts to be an early riser. what the heck to do at that early time that will convince my head to wake up and my body to get out of bed?
the pages had no answer, and after a few minutes of pondering i set the timer and got into the heart meditation, which was equally silent on this particular subject.
found my way downstairs and had a cup
so here’s the quandary that has been plaguing my efforts to get up and raise that cup. i love the early morning,
- the quiet
- the darkness turning to light
- the early morning affection of kitty sabina
- the freshness of the atmosphere
and yet i’m not really up for getting anything real done before 7am, and by that time i’ve slipped into “how late can i wake up and survive my lift off?” mode. and of course the lack of what to do at 6am.
so today i just got to basics. i boiled the water. i cooked the oats, which i have to admit, i hate mushy and gooey, preferring them to be chewy and, well, oat-like. with apple and yogurt and pumpkin seeds. and i steeped the ginger tea.
looking up, i noticed i was late
that took a bit of time, as i’m a bit of a dawdler. i enjoy simple things like washing dishes and boiling water. and so by the time i had cooked, eaten, and washed up, it was time to head over to mocha java to write this post.
and at that point time began to work in my favor…i know that if i don’t start the post by 7:30 i won’t finish it in time to teach my 9:30 class over at yoga now, and in general, given driving time, it’s best to arrive at mocha java by 7:15 and leave at 9:15.
now, if i’d slept ’til 6 still could have made all this happen. the challenge is that if i sleep til six it’s going to be harder to wake up. i’ll come up with more creative timing ideas and end up rushing the whole way, and probably writing my morning post at 11:30am!
found my coat, and grabbed my hat
and so there was the motivation i was looking for! that lovely hour from 6 to 7, taking my time making breakfast and washing up and sliding out the door without a crazy sense of rushing to be late. and in that leisurely movement from meditation on the couch to meditation in the car, as i was packing up the laptop, i noticed that today is the last day of the celtic month of luis, aka rowan, which i have to wonder, why did it take me all month to notice this? too much rushing to be late, methinks!
made the bus in seconds flat
one of the qualities of the rowan month, named for the rowan tree, is a sense of quickening, getting the year ramped up from the icy slow cold and dark of january. which very quality is perhaps why i never noticed it until the last day of it!
and still, it is also my son’s namesake month, and so there is a bit of sadness at having neglected to consciously observe it. which brings us to another quality of the rowan, and also to my healing quality of the week.
rowan is the sustainer.
found my way upstairs and had a smoke
now, i may have mentioned before my reverence for hanuman, the smiling happy incredibly powerful and limber monkey from hindu mythology, who had a crazy habit of popping in to save the day, and that hanuman is especially reverent toward lord ram, the sustainer. and that hanuman is an avatar of shiva the destroyer, while lord ram is an avatar of vishnu the sustainer. now that relationship is a story for another day, and yet how strange to learn that rowan is another variation on the theme of ram and vishnu, a sustainer to my destroyer.
somebody spoke and i went into a dream
and so this week i’m theming on a few things, hopefully related enough to function together organically and spontaneously.
- early rising 5am
- taking that extra time after mp’s and heart meditation to enjoy the process of starting my day
- doing less and enjoying it more
- focusing (once again!) on sustaining what is already in my life as opposed to starting new projects
i’m thinking that taking more time, getting rid of the rush blasting out the busy, will make the early rising thing, ahem, sustainable, and increase my efficiency at the same time. we shall see!
{ 0 comments… add one now }