How Do We Start The Day

With the arrival of fall I find myself sleeping later into the morning.  My natural sleeping rhythm is to wake up about an hour before sunrise.  I am sure that was driven into me growing up and the ranch.  Personally, I like the rhythm.  That time, the hour before the sun breaks the eastern horizon, is a great time.  It is still and quiet.  It is a perfect time for reflection.  It is a perfect time to linger over a cup of hot coffee and watch the day unfold.  It is a perfect time to decide who you are.

I started this morning with the usual waking routine.  A hot shower, a cup of coffee, a bowl of cereal (today happened to be Special K) and a time of quiet reflection and meditation.  Then, I flipped on the TV, fired up the DVR, and watched the series finale of “Dexter”.  I am not going to give any spoilers here (the web is already full of them), but I am going to simple say - want an incredible show.  I’ve been a Dexter fan since I read “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” years ago. That was one incredible show.  I am going to miss it.

In the shadow of the “Dexter” finale, I drove in to the office.  The commute was pretty normal and I watched my mind wander.  It kind of amazes me in the morning commute how much time my mind can spend thinking about things that have nothing to do with me, that I can only marginally affect, and that, all in all, I really should not spend that much time on, much less that much time worrying on them.

But, this morning, it did lead me to think about the “thought-action” connection.  Sometimes the subconcious rising things up so that we can take action on them.  Not just think about them, but act upon them.  Then, the reason that the mind keeps returning to them is because we haven’t taken action on them.  The mind pulls them back into the forefront when it has some quiet time.  When that happens maybe we should pay a little more attention and perhaps craft a plan of action.

There is a challenging aspect to this line of thought though. Sometimes, what my mind seems to rise up with are things where the core action, the core decisions, are not mine to make.  Where I can think about them, where I can craft imaginative solutions, where I can make solid recommendations - but, in the end, I can’t take the core action, I can’t make the core decision.  Those are difficult circumstances and in those difficult circumstances I wonder what the mind is trying to reveal by repeatedly returning to those instances.

I don’t have any answers this morning except one that is repeatedly presented to me in life. If you need to change your circumstances YOU must change your circumstances. This applies to me as well as anyone else out there.  You have to make the decisions.  You have to take the core actions.  Otherwise, nothing will change.  Or it will change, but you will not have any ability to influence the change.