Wild Card: The "Drink Your Tea" Mantra

I don't know if yall remember this guy right here, but his name is Oswald and I think he is the perfect example of what it means to start your day with a calm and steady pace. Seriously this guy moves at the pace of someone with nowhere to be, and it is both aggravating and inspiring. For most of us in the morning, we are off to start our day and get sucked into the vortex of life's endless to-do list. Shifting to being a "morning person" has given me so much time and a routine, but as we all know it is not easy. It has taken me about twenty-two years of my life to appreciate mornings, and twenty-four to actually commit to enjoying them. Now I am the last person to sit here and preach about "committing to the 6 am wake up call of the sun", but I do want to touch on the way we start our day and how these actions are built on throughout the rest of our day.

"Intentions are for squares!"

Take a second and think with a curious and non-judgemental mind about the first three things you did as soon as you opened your eyes today. Now think about the reactions that came from those three things, were they positive or negative? How did the rest of your day go because of these simple tasks? Did you fly out the door on clouds or were you screaming at your keys for not locking the door fast enough? The first three things I do in the morning are turn off the alarm/check the time, check my snap/clear my notifications, and use the bathroom. Sounds as uneventful and normal as wet toilet paper and the same thing probably goes for your list too. Waking up isn't supposed to be eventful, so why do we make it this big to-do? What is all the fuss?

When I started this quest of turning inward rather than outward, I discovered this habitual pattern and immediately blamed my unhappiness on technology. At that moment I almost lept out the door, bought an alarm clock, and vowed to always put my phone on the other side of the room, all this crazy stuff. But as I sat there and started to dig deeper, I reflected on the fact that this habit has been years in the making yet it never had made me feel this way before. In high school, I'd wake up at 5 am and not feel this gripping feeling for the day ahead but instead an acceptance. I had one of those really cool clocks with the dock for your iPod so whatever song I set on my iPod the night before would set the mood for how I woke up. Without even realizing it, I was setting my intention for the whole day and faced it with youthful optimism. This tiny shift, among many other tiny shifts, changed how I start my day forever.

The flip side to this is when we fall off of our routines and intentions, our days become derailed and our body and mind feel the shift from calm to chaos. This morning was one of those mornings and it is why I decided to talk about this today in the first place. It is so important that we set peaceful, positive intentions when we wake up and not get sucked into the vortex of life's problems. I start my day with a nice cup of tea and meditation in order to ground me into who I chose to be today. Instead of being the cranky, short-tempered Lil- bitch baby I could be, I chose to be someone who is calm in the face of adversity. I tell myself "Sit your ass down and drink your tea!" so I don't wander off and start decluttering the table and falling into the pitfalls of aggravation. Does it always work? Absolutely not. But it is worth practicing. The more you commit to it, the more natural it becomes.

Here are a few mantras you can use to end your day to build good habits for when you wake up:

Tomorrow is a new day

All of life's problems will still be there, but they don't define me

The first minutes I wake up are precious

The first five minutes are meant to be calm

I deserve peace

I will make time for peace in the first five minutes of my day

I will set the intention of joy when I wake up.

No matter what time your day starts, start it with joy! This "article" was written in the spirit of play and the wish that we all have peaceful and joyous starts to our day. See ya next week!