What a funny feeling to have woken up at 5:30AM on my own accord. I am so excited for the day! I have been working on waking up early, I prefer it. I am a closeted morning person. I can accomplish so much when the world is quiet around me, it puts such a jive in my jaunt  to rise with the sun. Today, I woke early. I made coffee, took a short walk with Bowie the dog, wrote for a while to clear my head and set my day off in the right direction, studied my script in a hammock in our city backyard, and witnessed the sun’s light greeting the Bay.

I have not always been an early riser. I thought people who were early risers were crazy, why not just sleep? I can remember my first encounter with Mary Oliver, the Pulitzer Prize winning poet, on the shelf at the Winston-Salem Borders or Barnes and Noble, wherever it was that my classmate Cedric worked. I was browsing around and came across the title “Why I Wake Early.” Intrigued, I peeked inside.

Why I Wake Early

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who made 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 great hands of light –

good morning, good morning, good morning.

 

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

 

~ Mary Oliver ~

 

(Why I Wake Early, 2004)

At the time, I considered the poem far-fetched and “naturey” – I mean, does this lady really believe herself? Some inkling urged me to buy it anyway. It could have been the Pulitzer Prize award on the cover. Like it could become useful even if it wasn’t immediately so. As time progresses, I recognize more and more the power of waking early. Each day, new opportunities. Each day, the witness grows in power. In passion. In love. It may have taken almost a decade, but now I thrive on the energy of morning. Thank you, sunrise. Thank you, today.

Try it, you’ll like it: Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages. I usually start mine with “Good morning, good morning, good morning, thank you.” Julia starts hers with “Good Morning, I’m tired.” There are no rules. Write 3 pages. In the morning. A vacuum cleaner for the mind. A release. An focus establisher for the day. Open your brain to your thoughts. A solid tool.

Would you like help getting out of bed? Develop Pavlovian response to alarm through rehearsal.