A Morning Ritual I’ve Abandoned

Picture: zeus1001.deviantart.com

What do you do first thing in the morning? No, I am not about to suggest yoga and a glass of lemon and honey – practice before you preach, you see. I have intermittently tried stretching and waking up my sleepy nerves with lukewarm water. But then, the prospect of shutting my eyes to five more minutes of dreams is often very inviting. There is something, however, which you should definitely NOT do immediately after waking up.

Golden Morning Rule We Are Always Told But Never Heed: Don’t stare at, touch or interact with your phone. Just don’t.

Beyond switching off your alarm, that is. If you think hunting up the umpteen notifications from various applications will wake you up, well, it will. But the waking up will be a rude jolt you are better off without. Why find out where who is holidaying and eating and drinking when you have to be trapped in an office cubicle all day? You don’t need the relativity demonstration in your face just now.

Talking of relativity, you must also avoid in-depth analysis about the “other people” in your life. Morning is not the time to figure out what X has been saying about you, how Y feels offended as you haven’t called them up or how Z is going to hijack your long-awaited Sunday afternoon. Kay Sera Sera – whatever will be, will be. Letting all this hog your vulnerable dawn time is a rotten idea. And you bet it is vulnerable. Remember how an imperfect breakfast egg or bedraggled hair make you feel?

Mornings should be about you and how you are planning to spend the day doing something you love. (“Something”, I said, not everything. Be reasonable!) Wake up to a nice alarm tone, look at the sunlit sky, drink some water, kiss your spouse. Every new morning is a new beginning, a new chapter to your story. Even the prettiest of phones or the most important other people are not as central to this story as you are!