Morning | Chapter 3, Simple Practice

The morning mist cloaked my face as my feet hit the pavement. Briskly I walked knowing soon the cold would settle down as I woke up my heart, my legs, my mind.

A few cars drove past me, making their daily commutes to work or sending children off to school. A neighbor or two passed me, most walking dogs, as we muttered “Good mornings” watching our breath connect between us.

This beloved and often broken ritual of rising early to walk is often met with resistance. The lure of my warm bed keeps me still, but on the days I fight the temptation to sleep and instead bundle up, coffee in hand, to embrace the morning I never regret it.

Walking has always been therapy for me. There is something that connects movement to heart for me. As I walk I am able to process what I often want to leave unprocessed. Psychologists say dreams are usually the means where our brains can go through the days events and heart’s anxieties, but I find this happens for me in the time right after sleep, in the half hour I am bundled up and praying for warmth.

Recently I read words that comforted me: even if all my spiritual practice for the day is a half hour walk that will be enough. When my heart tells me I must do more and be more I try to remember this. That even if I have just a simple practice each morning (or afternoon, or evening, or night) to ground me, to help me quiet the noise, to allow me to process and think and dream, this is enough.

In the midst of winter when the melancholy clouds cover us, ushering us indoors, when the hope of spring begins to wane and we wonder when warmth will break in and we will awake again to birds singing. When the holidays have ended and we are left with a new year only to find ourselves with dreams unfulfilled, desires still met with longing, and the resolutions of last year unresolved. When the mountain of all we want to do and all we want to be leaves us standing at the bottom despairing and desperate for rest, I pray we will allow winter to invite us to slow. I hope the morning does not become a routine we must fulfill in order to feel good about ourselves. I hope even if we don’t go to the gym, drink a smoothie, read for an hour, and have all the kids ready for school all before the day begins we will remind ourselves perhaps there is more for us. That we can find solace in one simple practice, in one restful act.

What is your simple morning practice?

Article by, Savannah Morgan | Photography by, Hilary Hyland