Starting Right

The sun was shining brightly through our bedroom window when I awoke today, a day on which I vowed I’d be Starting Right with Morning Pages.   Sundays I often open the patio blinds and do them sitting at the kitchen table so I can look into the yard.  But when I pulled the blinds today, I saw as perfect a morning as Socal is likely to produce, clear blue skies and the sunlight, unimpeded by the haze or fog for which the L.A. Basin is known, brightening the colors in our yard in a way that would make Photoshop envious.  I decided I’d settle in a chair outside instead.  Houses are close together here and I’m a curmudgeon about neighbor-noise, so our yard usually isn’t a peaceful enclave for contemplation.  But this Sunday morning, we could have been the only ones home in the neighborhood.    Scrub jays bounced around the yard, debating who was next at the feeding stations while quail pecked and scratched like little chickens, gossiping with each other in their peculiar calls.   A cool breeze tempered the already warm sun, adding the rustling of leaves and palm fronds to nature’s meditation sound track.   At one point, I looked up, startled by a buzzing sound, expecting a bee or a wasp.   Instead, a hummingbird was hovering four feet away, considering whether to sample the flowers that were on the table in front of me.  He decided against it.

So, my Morning Pages are done and a long list of Things To Do await in the margins of my notebook.  I am continually frustrated by my willingness to skip practices that I know improve my day.  Practices like Starting Right with beauty, contemplation, and gratitude.  We’ll leave meditation for another day.

Have a lovely Sunday.

Explore posts in the same categories: spirituality

Tags: gratitude, journalling, meditation, mindfulness, Morning Pages, nature, postaday, spirituality

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.