A few weeks ago, I was looking for a GIF and I couldn’t find what I was looking for. GIF aficionados say there’s a GIF for everything, but it turns out they’re wrong.
I did several searches for a GIF that read “I am a morning person,” or “I love mornings” and I found nothing. In fact, when I looked up, “I am a morning person,” I got this instead.
When did “morning” become a bad word?
I feel like we’ve turned mornings into one of the seven levels of hell.
Sharing how tired we are has become a badge of honor. We tell one another stories about how many times we had to snooze before we got out of bed. Or how we’ve managed to turn getting out the door at the last second possible, into an art form.
It’s definitely not cool to be a morning person.
People look at you with suspicion. You are not trustworthy if you don’t need to drink gallons of coffee in order to just feel human in the morning.
Personally, I’ve realized that I’m not interested in being cool.
Ok, that’s not 100% true.
A little part of me wants to be cool.
But I’m pretty sure I lost all rights to cool when I publicly declared my love of Star Trek.
Anyway, cool or not, morning does not have to be a bad word.
From an Ayurvedic standpoint, rising early is important for increasing your mental focus and physical energy.
The last cycle of the Ayurvedic clock is vata time from 2-6am. This is when your mind is most active. It’s when your dreams will be more vibrant. Vata is defined by a quickness, both mentally and physically. Vata is light and dynamic and spacious.
It might seem counterintuitive, but when you rise earlier (aka in vata time), you will have more energy, you’ll be less foggy, and you’ll have more focus.
And if you wake up after 6, you’re waking up in kapha time, which is defined by a slower moving and heavier energy. This means when you wake up later, your mind is less receptive and a little more sluggish. So it can take a lot longer and maybe a lot more coffee to give your mind and body a jump.
How you start your day matters.
Your actions and energy at the start of the day can determine your actions and energy throughout your day.
Scale that even further back to this:
If you think morning is a bad word and you hate all that is morning, how do you think that impacts the rest of your day?
I’m not trying to convert you into a morning person if you don’t love mornings.
You don’t have to “be a morning person” to make the most of your mornings.
What I am interested in is shifting the ideology around mornings.
“Morning” doesn’t have to be a bad word.
You only have to give that story as much weight as you choose.
So let’s hear it. Do you think ” morning” is a bad word? How do you feel about mornings? Do you wish your morning was different?
I want to hear from you.
And if you struggle with mornings, check out this Mornings Don’t Have to Suck bundle of yoga and meditation practices geared towards morning. It’s totally FREE. Get it here.
