HOW WE BEGIN OUR DAY MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

Most days, most people awake from sleep to the sound of an alarm. 

Some get up peacefully and happily - rested and energized, joyfully anticipating the challenges of the new day. Others get up under protest ... leaving sleep reluctantly and taking some time to allow the grogginess to dissipate. They may even feel full of fear with anxiety clutching at their throat or gut. 

For some, the day brings excitement. 

For others, the only thing that gets them up are the responsibilities they shoulder. And sometimes, even the demands of job and family aren't enough to get their heads out from under the covers. The bliss, the escape of unconsciousness will be their daily temptation. That is until guilt bids them into the world.    

You may be of the first type. If so, you are very lucky - some would say you are naturally skilled like a gifted athlete, musician or artist. You don't know why or how you are able to begin the day so positively. You just do. You may not need to read on. 

But for those of us of the second type, waking up and beginning our day requires some attention - some mindfulness - because it's not easy. 

But why not? Why isn't it easy and exciting for everybody? Who knows? It seems to me that it's a combination of factors including natural inclination based on temperament, the development of habits, circumstances - and, the old stand-by of western thinking - genetics. 

Waking up and getting up well may require some skill development. 

Here's why. 

Based on my own experience and what I hear from others, I'm becoming more convinced that how we wake up and begin our day has a great bearing on our happiness, our sense of well-being, our creativity and our productiveness. The first minutes of the day even have a bearing on the quality of our relationships.

The first few minutes of the day can determine the quality of the whole day. And, as Annie Dillard said, how we spend our days is how we spend our lives. 

Looking at it that way, those first few minutes are pretty important if the quality of your life is a value for you ... 

There are many ways of developing the skill of establishing a good beginning to our day

Recently I came across some advice that I really like and has been a big help to me. It's from a Tibetan lama, Tai Situ Rinpoche:

We should begin our day, with a very clear decision. 
And that should be: I will do one or two or three good things today - at least. 

And with that, if we start our day as a routine then it will stay in our mind.

Also, we should get up as early as possible.

How does it sound, if you have to say  - I have never seen the sun coming up?

It doesn't sound good.

Something is missing. Right?

So, nature is rising. The sun is rising. So you should rise.

And you should be able to see the sun rise. 

In order to do that, you should go to bed as early as possible - so that you can get up early.

These things are interdependent.

And when you get up with nature, the birds, the sun, the plants ... everything together ... then you feel you are part of the universe.

Sounds really simple and straightforward, maybe deceptively so. But experiencing and accepting oneself as a part of the universe is a powerful antidote to the death loneliness of an anxious morning.

You could add, as Rinpoche encourages, some prayers and meditation. 

Then, the day can unfold peacefully and with some serenity.