Why I Wake Early

Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety –

best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the hands of light –
good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.
- Mary Oliver

I'm starting a new routine to improve my sleeping pattern. Infants sleep between 12-20 hours a day and the majority of young adults need between 8-9. I like positive moods, accurate memories, and good health. It goes like this: in bed between 9:30 - 10:00pm (read, journal, breathe), lights out by 10:30-11:00pm, sleep until 6:30 - 7:30am.

Ease awake. Practice gratefulness. Plan ahead.

Mary Oliver might be the greatest modern day poet of presencing alive. Let us all find a prayer for being each morning. Please follow this link to another of my favorite poems by her, "Mindful" http://www.panhala.net/Archive/Mindful.html