I love the start of the day because it reflects hope for your day. A quote from the movie Hitch: “Start every day, as if it were on purpose.”A great movie and a great quote. When I struggle out of bed in the morning, blindsided by my alarm, I stagger for a few moments. Then, I try my best to remember why I’m waking up instead of going back to sleep and doing nothing.
My morning routine is so habitualized that I don’t really have to think through it, instead I work on reminding myself of my goals: being friendly and open with people, staying patient when things don’t go my way, be willing to take risks.
I usually continue this process through my bike ride commute through an eerily peaceful downtown. The serene feel of the city and the morning in general really helps put me in the right mindset to take on the day.
I also love the end of the day, but because it provides a little bit of time to reflect. At these times, I often turn to a pair of quotes by St. Francis de Sales and Mary Anne Radmacher:
“Have patience with all thing, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Don’t lose courage in considering your own imperfections.”
“Courage does not always roar, sometimes, courage is the quiet voice at the end of the night whispering, I will try again tomorrow.”It’s easy to only see the failures when you recollect on the day: I wish I hadn’t said that, I can’t believe I fell off my bike in front of all those people, I hate that I messed up again! But I think a lot of life is about courage. To accept those failures and to keep on failing. Maybe hoping that one day you’ll get the breaks, but also being ok if you don’t.
At the end of the day, if you can honestly look yourself in the mirror, look at all the high points and low points of you day, and tell yourself that you wouldn’t want to be living any other life, well, that’s a pretty good end to a day!
from ken
Are you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by Vince Alongi
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