Morning Routine Part 1
If I came with care instructions it would say: Operates best in open spaces.
Every morning I watch her walk by on the bike path that runs alongside our house. A few moments after she passes, I hear Dozer, located on the other end of the house, begin to bark. It is just a small piece of the beautiful puzzle that has become my morning routine.
As a child and well into my twenties, I would spend ridiculous amounts of time creating hand drawn spreadsheets that divided out my days and tasks. Yes, I was, and am, a bit of a nerd. I love books and paper and pens, and writing, and somewhere, I don’t remember where, I picked up this notion that I needed to schedule out my days. I left out nothing. Every possible activity was written down and added to the chart, where and when I thought it made the most sense. I went through this process several times throughout the year and EVERY…SINGLE…TIME…I would wake up the next morning, crumple of the chart in a ball and throw it in the trash.
It has only been recently that I finally understood a very important facet of my psyche…I do not work well under too much structure. It isn’t that I did not know it, so much as that I have finally learned to accept it and by doing so, I am finally settling into creating my life. A life that, well…works for me.
I do like organization. I like to color code things and create processes that simplify mundane routines. I’m good at it, but what I really LOVE; is getting lost in day dreaming, wandering backroads and not knowing where I am and then finding my way back home. Working through my day bouncing around from project to project. Letting my heart guide where I go next. You know that term, organized chaos, that’s me. My office may be neat and tidy but my process inside my head…not so much!
That is all well and good and I am grateful to be able to understand and accept me for me, however…yes, there is a however here. While I love my child-like attention span, I am aware that I have responsibilities and that I cannot just flit about on a whim. My life does require a certain amount of structure and as I take the time to implement it into parts of my day, I am finding a realistic balance that works. What has been surprising is that I did not find any of that with charts and graphs and how-to’s. It all started with a simple practice of gratitude.
Anyone who has known me, especially over these last couple of years, knows that gratitude is my foundation. It is in my DNA. Even as a child, in difficult circumstances, I was always aware of my ability to latch onto something good. So, when I started an actual gratitude practice a couple years ago, my only disappointment was that I had done it sooner. Within a couple weeks it was just an automatic response to waking up. Then it worked it’s way into my day, my photography, my relationships and it was the catalyst for what has been a year of learning to forgive and love myself.
While gratitude is only a small part of my morning routine, my morning routine does not function without it. It is the basis of everything else that I incorporate and it is the reason that every morning at some point, no matter what else is happening in my life, I feel this abundant sense of joy and that carries with me throughout my day and brings me more gratitude. It has become this beautiful cycle that has transformed me and my life and the way I am functioning in this world.
Stay with me as I continue to share my gratitude practice over the next few weeks. I would love to encourage you to find your own practice that creates a solid foundation on which to build and create a life that works for you. Here’s a quick question to get you started. When it comes to your routines, what would your care instructions say?
