What Is It Like to Wake Up in the Morning?
MORNING ROUTINES AND WAKING THE PSYCHE
Q: What Is It Like to Wake Up in the Morning?
A: Maybe it is because I am waking up in one place now for the foreseeable future after a year of travel and spontaneous adventures. Perhaps it is because I adore my bed so much and the way my skin feels perfectly supported by my super soft sheets. Or maybe I’ve been thinking about morning routines and how they shape our days ahead. I think all three to be honest, and I am deeply curious as to how your morning looks on you.
Now that I am on east coast time there is a sense that so many of the people I love and care about are still nestled in their beds when I wake up in the morning. This thought alone instills a type of sweetness that only visions of curled-up humans and animals alike bring when they are asleep and in this state of softness of mind and body.
Also, I am still swimming in amniotic fluid as far as materialization is concerned. No plans, zero clarity; with faith, as well as curiosity, as my trusted companions. I have no routine due to an external necessity or responsibility at this moment. I am arriving, I am settling in, I am unwinding from one life and preparing for the next. Every day is different from the one before and the only constant is my very own presence. I am here, although I am also in deep inquiry about the “I am” part. The question of “Who am I?” is a fairly consistent guest in my inner dialogue and “Who are we?” in more broad sweeping terms. Also, I’d like to ask “Who are you?” In all honesty, what is the answer? I would love to know.
INTROVERTED EXTROVERSION
One thing I have been doing to attempt to satiate the above questions is meeting people. And meeting people in ways that I never have. Maybe my ear is attuning to a deeper listening, or perhaps my curiosity is stronger than it has ever been. Maybe I am more open, more porous, or simply ready to receive others in certain ways that I haven’t been previously. Whatever the reasons, I am really enjoying the process. There is such magic in connecting with others and the possibilities of reflections feel endless.
As a social introvert, I am still amazed at how much energy I have to engage. I love the sociality and psychology that exist in meetings and how one person can change your life in an instant on certain occasions. And yet, there is no greater charge than solitude for me. Especially after a day of extroversion, to come home and return to those soft sheets.
MORNING ROUTINE
This morning I was lying awake aware of my new practice of sleeping with earplugs. Although I initially started to wear them to neutralize the forces of living in one of the most upbeat of the East Village neighborhoods, I now adore the portals of internal focus they provide. It feels as if I am underwater and can hear my own heartbeat, calling me into a deeply relaxed state. So I was there, drifting between sleep and this new day, luxuriating in my bed. At first, I didn’t want to shift from the comfort of my chosen position, but then a cool landscape of untouched terrain called to me as I extended my legs one by one. The sheer joy of stretching my muscles first thing as I remained in my horizontal state began to transform into the observation of my waking mind.
I asked myself, “if waking up feels this good (as a metaphor of course) then perhaps could I bring even more of myself to the inner work of waking up my psyche?” Run-on Sentence Warning: The answer first is obvious, I can always bring more of myself to self-actualization, and secondly, unnecessary for me to respond in this playful rhetorical set-up of comparing inner work to the pleasure of not getting out of bed. Rather, the more likely comparison of working on oneself internally could be equivalent to making your bed first thing in the morning and getting organized for the day– externally. But hey…I digress in the name of trying to stretch out my morning as long as I possibly can because it feels. so. good.
For those of you out there who find yourself in new routines or perhaps without one as you traverse the changes of your life, I invite you to observe yourself in the morning as you wake up. You are different now in ways you never thought you would be. Notice your thoughts, your emotions, what inspires you, and what tires you. You may not be here for long so take it in. The waves of transformation are powerful and ebb and flow without cessation. If you have opted to ask yourself “Who am I…are we…are you? You may very well be in the tumult of reassessment, revaluation, reconstruction, remembrance, recognition, and other “re’s” that this very retrograde moment in time has gifted us (astrologically we’ve had six planets retrograde until today. Happy Mercury Stationing Direct). I’ll end here as I head to bed, looking forward to another morning of inquiry and possibility, especially that of staying in it for as long as I can in the name of (re)joicing, (re)st, and (re)flection.
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We cannot change the world until we accept we are the world. This is the new conversation.