Diving for Light, Day 2 - Morning Rhythms

“Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings while the dawn is still dark.”
-Rabindranath Tagore, Fireflies

I’ve never been a morning person. It was sheer agony during my 25 years of classroom teaching to get myself up at 6:15 and into school by 7:30 am. My preferred internal wakeup time without an alarm is somewhere around 8:30 am. I find myself guided by the sunrise bringing light into my bedroom, and sunrise is late here in my time zone. 

Habits, though, are funny things. For the last six months of 2019, I woke up in the dark in order to participate in a group meditation with members of my Chakra Class each day. I chose to continue getting up around 7:15 am after the New Year in order to write my blog posts in the “Processing” series during quiet time. And now, I wake up at 7:15 every day without an alarm.
​A consistent behavior I never expected! 

The view from my desk, where I write and meditate.

One recent morning as I laid in bed, trying not to wake my spouse, I found I was missing my morning meditation and writing. To my delight, when stay-home orders began last week, our Chakra alumni decided to get back into group meditation as a way to stay connected. We learned during our class how in sync we are in those moments of meditation. We’ve never valued sensing each other more now that we can’t get together in person. Through meditation, I’ve been strongly called to start writing again. 
 
These days I wake up around 7:15, go into my office, light a candle, do my meditation. Then I go to the kitchen and make a cup of coffee and some breakfast and start writing. I am feeling a serious need for some daily structure, and this is providing it. Otherwise I’d probably still be in my PJs at 4 pm, binge watching “This is Us.” Getting my day started this way centers and grounds me for whatever lies ahead, even if I decide to go back to bed to escape the news.

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Once the pollen dies down and I de-yellow my screen porch, I’ll do my writing out there. I love hearing the dawn chorus of birdsong and it’s a treat to be up early enough to hear it. How long has it been since I’ve had time to listen, and not be rushing off to work? How about you? I read a great article yesterday about the dawn chorus, and about how each time of day a bird’s song changes just a bit, to signal various activity and territory marking. Here’s a link if you’d like to read it yourself. You have time.

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Exercise to try:
Early Morning Awareness - Get up at a consistent, early time this week – maybe the time you’d ordinarily get up to go to work if you were commuting. Set an alarm, set an intention. What would you like that morning time for? Meditation? A walk outside? A cup of coffee by yourself? Journaling? Yoga? Whatever it is, set aside at least your drive time to do it. And then, while doing your quiet-time activity, pay attention as well to the sounds around you. Do you hear the dawn chorus, even through your windows? What else do you hear? What do you sense? What do you notice?

My husband, a wonderful photographer, got up early on a foggy morning and took this beautiful photo of the farm across the street.  Image credit, Dave Marcus 2020