Cold Mornings

Cold mornings: 

cold mornings are difficult, harder to move from under the covers and begin the rituals of my day, joints stiff, an ache of middle age that's growing deeper through the years. There's many reasons to stay in bed a little longer, allowing the day to gain in light and warmth, some extra sleep to help keep me sharp and alert later in the day, or simply to extend the warmth of covers and bed for just a bit more. But there's something special to these colder mornings as well, magical, as it seems a deeper quiet prevails at this hour, life waits to stir until the sun begins to warm the world. 

these cold mornings are completely my own.

that's what draws me from bed, risking the discomfort of that first step from bed and the crisp bite of air that greets me. I wake early, most especially eager on these cold mornings, in order to embrace that deep quiet, knowing that for just longer moments the world will be so private, a sense of aloneness hanging in the air, and not even my own thoughts wish to disturb this silence. 

a deeper quiet prevails.

and so it's the same cold that tempts to remain in bed longer, burrowed in blankets, warm, and yet now it draws me out to face its discomfort, urging me to sit, meditate, listening to the silence that it offers. Cold mornings are difficult, there's little real reason to wake so early, my actual day would be much the same, and perhaps the extra sleep and warmth would serve me well, better, at the very least it would extend my comfort. That's no small thing, being mindful of self-care, offering myself a little kindness in the morning, just an easier way to begin my day. Yet it's the same cold that draws me forward, easing from my bed, a bit slower now in middle years, but know they'll soon be magic, a quiet world, a few hours undisturbed by even my own opinions, thoughts being brief and passing, as if my mind has been cleansed by the cold morning air - and only my soul remains in silence. 

a deeper quiet prevails,

and for this...

I wake early, eager for the morning. 

~

Peace, Eric