Reinventing the Slow Morning
It’s all about how and with whom you spend your time.
What is your ideal slow morning?
Maybe it’s staying in bed with no alarm to rouse you from that awesome dream where you’re flying. Maybe it’s making your favorite breakfast and staying in your comfy pants all day. Or perhaps it’s savoring the sun’s awakening process as it touches each leaf sleepily; rousing birds to sing.
I love slow mornings, but rarely do they resemble even the options I have suggested. They are also much fewer than I would like.
While at a good friend’s house, I realized that a slow morning doesn’t have to be instagram perfect or many hours long. A slow morning is an intentional decision to live slowly and deeply in a certain block of time.
Okay, if I sound like Inception bear with me.
Slow mornings for me happen in the home of one of my dear friends. When I wake up in her house — most often it’s naturally or to the hushed, excited chatter of her seven-year-old — I feel rested regardless of the hour. The light pouring into their kitchen warms my just-awake body. She doesn’t feel pressure to play host and ask me questions about my morning needs. By opening her home to me, she grants me access to what is hers. She offers and I can accept. She goes about her morning welcoming me into the rhythm. Or, I am free to simply be.
That has taken the form of some much needed journaling time amidst the twitter of bird song and the protestations of a seven-year-old one subtraction problem away from backyard freedom. It’s also taken the form of having someone older and wiser than me answering my half-formed questions on life and identity.
It may be only for an hour or even twenty minutes, but by being aware, observant and silent, that amount of time can feel like hours. Having a space for your mind to unravel and day dream can turn fifteen minutes into an hour.
When I am at my friend’s house, it reminds me of how I have found truth in the words of poet and philosopher John O’Donohue:
“Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.”
Taken from his Book of Blessings. O’Donohue’s words prove that ease is intentional choice. You don’t need money for it, just community. I believe every morning can be the slow morning that we all need to renew our spirits before a full day. Try and find that person or that space that will allow you to wake up to yourself.
