We all do it! We wake up in the morning thinking about what we need to accomplish in the hours ahead of us. Or we mull over the details of what happened to us the day before – good and bad. It’s the kids, or an ailing parent, or bills that need to get paid. It’s an inconsiderate manager or coworker, or a nagging headache. Our thoughts become perpetual, forming themselves into full-on entities causing worry, anxiety and stress. At some point, our thoughts become real, the anxiety heightens and we bolt out the door challenged to make something of the day bringing all the heaviness of those worries and anxieties with us.

We now know that, from volumes of research and scientific data, this type of morning is not the morning we should wake up to. This is not the morning that fuels our compassion for ourselves or others. These are not the thoughts that serve our spirit or our health. This type of morning, with the noise from our thoughts, the distractions of television, or a need to engage in all that is digital before breakfast, is not the morning that serves our souls.

So, what to do about this morning, this troublesome morning, this highly kinetic and energetic morning? What do we do about the cumulative affect of these mornings on our inner peace and well-being.

WE STOP.  WE TAKE A DEEP BREATH. AND THEN, WE BREATHE AGAIN.  And with each breath, we release and let go. We suspend those thoughts and the energetic activity for a few minutes to simply be in “the moment”.

Now as simple as this sounds, it is one of great challenge to many of us who think the morning should start in 3rd gear.  This other type of morning, this new morning, is a “no gear” morning. It is a mindful morning.  We start it by doing nothing except to pay attention to the breath. And in that breath, we inhale all of the thoughts we want to turn into realities in that moment, and we release them. We let them go as we exhale. Not to worry, they are our thoughts. They will be back. But this is a new way of taming those thoughts and the many thoughts that will follow. INHALE . . . EXHALE. We may not even get out of bed right away. We may just lay there for a few minutes, breathing and being.

That’s the other morning, simple, unobstructed, undisturbed, unchained and unhooked.

Try it and let me know how your “other morning” feels.