Just about every morning I wake up and do the same things. It was not always this way. Until less than a year ago I had never actively and consciously engaged in establishing a pattern of habitual behavior to begin the day. But at some point I became convinced this would be a good idea. I am still convinced that starting the day with a series of small “rituals” is beneficial and I see no reason on the horizon to discontinue the practice.
The day begins when I finally get out of bed. I am not overly concerned about leaving bed right away. Sometimes I just chill for a while because it feels good. The various things I do for a living rarely dictate that I set an alarm so I am typically only in a hurry to leave the bed if I have a trip planned or if I have an appointment somewhere for my car or my self.
Once I leave bed and accomplish what needs to be accomplished in the bathroom I head to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. The stove is turned on. There is already water in the kettle. While it boils I put a spoonful of sugar in my mug and put a filter and coffee beans in my pour over coffee maker that sits on top of the mug.
I then begin to prepare breakfast. Choices are typically blueberry pancakes, yogurt and fruit, or every so often I will prepare something like eggs and home fries. About once per week I take a walk over to the bakery before doing just about anything else and get a loaf of bread and also pick up some flavor of chocolatey croissant to have with my coffee.
Typically sooner rather than later, I take the day’s first bong rip of cannabis. This morning, it was right after I poured the pancake batter on to my electric griddle. Sometimes I don’t wait so long. Every now and then it doesn’t enter my mind until after I’ve finished my breakfast and coffee. There is no set order for these things, generally speaking. And cannabis is the wild card in terms of how it falls into the temporal schematic.
I savor my breakfast and coffee and then it is time to stretch and meditate. Before doing so, I almost always light a stick of Nag Champa incense which burns by the window. This is my meditation timer. I typically sit and meditate, ponder, stretch, and/or do breathing exercises until the stick burns to its very end.
It is now time to take a shower, which is a highlight in a morning of highlights. I opt for a contrast shower every morning. In other words, I get in the shower with hot water running and alternate a few times between cold and hot. This is both physically and psychologically stimulating and I highly recommend trying it out for a while.
This is essentially the end of my morning ritual, though sometimes I get the desire to write (as I am doing now) or jam on the guitar, and unless there is a good reason I rarely reject the inner call to engage in some creative pursuits.