How Mornings Can Give You a Gift

Hi there and welcome back,

On the day the clocks change, may I offer you a gift?

How would you like to be given one extra hour each day? Sixty minutes, just for you to do exactly what you’d like?

Sound impossible, even though the clocks have gone forward to welcome light into your life earlier?

Then let me encourage you to read Allan Jenkins’ book Morning: How to Make Time. In this brief but powerful book Jenkins encourages readers to set their alarm one hour earlier than the rest of their household (or wake then on their own if possible). This is the time before the light is strong, time most of us don’t even realise is there.

When no one else is yet awake, the world can be your own. You can do whatever you choose. These are extra minutes, so there’s no need to use them to do chores or fulfil obligations. Simply spend that time exactly as you wish.

If you had 60 extra minutes each day, you could try doing something you’ve always intended to try but never felt you had the time. Perhaps you’ll do some sketching, or try your hand at writing a short story. Or you could plant some seeds. Or listen to the birds waking up with the dawn. Or slowly and thoughtfully make yourself a cup of coffee, then cuddle up with your dog and sip it slowly, taking time to savour the scent and taste.

Jenkins explains how he uses his own early morning time, then interviews a number of other people who share his enthusiasm. It’s such a magical idea: here is an opportunity to do exactly what we want, despite the busyness of our lives. And it’s totally accessible to anyone who chooses it.

If you’re not already persuaded to discover this ‘before the light’ time, let me leave you with an excerpt from his book (page 8), because Jenkins argues his case more eloquently than I can:

‘I will make the case for being alert at first light. To wake in the quiet moments when the day inhales and the night fails. Just you and the stuff that surrounds you. To be extra alive in a way that near silence allows, sensitive to minute moments of change. To be able to gather yourself, your thoughts and feelings, whether it is to sit, to write, to walk, to read, to be inside or outside, to be sowing seed, to garden, to be saturated in experience. The gift of more time in the morning, so easily given and so easily missed. The simple opportunity to start the working day refreshed, renewed.’

Extra time, just for you.

Give it a go.

Warmest wishes and until next time,

Linda