Morning Person

I decided I am now more of a morning person than I ever was.  Despite the fact that I am also more tired in the morning than I ever was : )  Apparently when I wake up, I am like a spark plug.  Start me up and I'm off.  Perhaps its because I have so much going on in my day that I just dive in and start checking things off the list. 

I think that is why morning meditations don't work as well for me.  I know that is the best time for my dad to meditate, he wakes up with it every day.  I prefer to meditate right after I get home from work, and before I have dinner.  I use it as a part of the process to switch gears from sales to teaching.  I leave all the noise from my day behind and sit in a moment of reflection, strength, and clarity before diving into teaching for the evening.  

Last night I skipped meditating, went straight to dinner with a wonderful man, and then had A LOT of teaching to do (grading 2 sets of finals and getting 2 more up and running).  I actually felt like I couldn't breathe for the first time in a long time.  I won't say it was a panic attack, but it was definitely a stress-bucket moment.  My gut instinct was to dive in like I do first thing in the morning and get everything off that teaching list, but I stopped myself.  I turned off the music, and made myself relax and let the list go.  It was very very hard to do with that list ticking away in my head.  Since I had already eaten my body wasn't in meditation mode, but I made myself breathe and forced my mind to quiet.  It took a small army to quiet me, but I got there with the help of an amazing soldier, and I truly believe I was a better teacher last night because of it.

So, if you are like me and get overwhelmed by the list sometimes, remember that diving in may not always be the best choice.  You may get further by taking a beat, calming your soul, and deliberately approaching your day from a place of peace.  Perhaps I need to try morning meditation again after all for this very reason....we shall see how it goes.