Quiet of the Morning

copyright Rhonda Davis

One of the things I treasure daily is having time to get up and sit quietly while drinking coffee and listening to the birds. I was doing an artist's residency last year in Washington last summer and it occurred to me that the birds were an important and beautiful element there. I honestly thought I had never seen and heard so many birds. But once I got back home to Kansas, I realized that the birds were there, I simply had not been listening.

Most mornings I take the time to open the doors in the kitchen, light a candle and spend some quiet time writing morning pages and clearing my head in preparation for the upcoming day. Sometimes this ritual has to be put aside because life gets in the way, but I have discovered that having this time to myself is extremely important to me. I need this time to just "be".

I think taking time to just sit and carve out consistent ritual of quiet time is important for everyone. I know the word "ritual" sounds "new agey" and flighty, but it is an important action that is actually something that helps us find ourselves in the mad rush and constant noise of the world. We are battered daily with the noise and chatter of the internet/television/radio, the opinions and arguments of others and general noise that gets in the way of our ability to hear our needs. A lot of times, we court and create this noise ourselves to avoid confronting the fact that we have something that needs to be addressed. After a while, we wonder why we feel disconnected, nervous and unfulfilled.

It is because we are engaged in the noise and the noise making and not ourselves.

So my morning ritual is getting up, opening the doors to the patio and the windows (when it is warm and not bitter cold), taking the time to make coffee (if my husband has not already done this) and taking the time to actually NOTICE as I add the raw sugar and the cream to my coffee. I light a candle and then sit down to drink and write in my notebook. Three pages of just plain mind vomit. All my gripes, all my frustrations, hopes, dreams, good times and just anything that comes to my mind. This is what Julia Cameron wrote about in  'The Artist's Way" and called "morning pages" and a lot of people swear by it so I started doing it last year. I have a set of parameters for it too. A plain notebook with heavy weight paper that can take a fountain pen -- 5 star and wired brands are the best--and my favorite fountain pen of the moment. Right now it is a TWSBI Eco with a lime green top filled with Diamine Shimmer ink. The paper is a standard 5 subject notebook. It is not fancy or precious, so I don't feel bad about ruining a page with griping or crappy diagrams. It is a workhorse for my mind that allows me to get out the petty, bitchy or even the good thoughts of the moment so that I can have them out in the open and not hiding in the back of my mind where they bug me but don't get resolved. Try it. It works.

Little moments that allow me to sit, listen and get myself together before engaging in the noise of the world.

What are your calming rituals?