How we spend our time matters.

The morning is when we start the day. We go from a state of rest to a state of action. This transition time is a unique context.

It was okay, even great, to be doing nothing at all but resting... and now as you're awake at some point you likely will take external action.

What action will you take and why?

Exercise? Creative work? Prayer? Meditation? Sex? Shower? Go to the bathroom? Drink? Eat? What comes first?

Compounding interest is great for the bank account.

Continually applied interest is great for everything else.

What does it mean to wake up?

Who are you today?

What is the body?

How's the energy? How're you holding up? How did you sleep? What did you dream? What's on your mind?

What can you do now to best achieve or experience what you want? And who should make that decision?

Should you, in that moment, make the decision on the spot? Should you have made the decision prior? What factors come in to play?

Context is a powerful thing.

When you just wake up, you mostly feel your body. Hopefully you feel refreshed and good... but you may feel tired and in pain. Perhaps you wake to an unpleasant alarm and immediately have the sense that you must coerce yourself to go through a ritual you'd rather not be doing at the moment if you could choose.

But let's say you wake up, and you have time... and you feel your body... things are reasonably good... it physically simply feels good to be alive... and then perhaps you start thinking.

What do you think about? Do your thoughts matter?

You have goals. Whether you consciously strive towards them or away from them... you have them. Some things help you more and some things hinder you more... and we might not really know the significance of each little thing... but there are clues.

Does scrolling on social media immediately upon waking tend to make you happier? More productive? More fit? It MIGHT! I recall, when I was more active on social media and getting engagement from people I really was excited to communicate with... I liked opening my phone to a bunch of notifications! But when I wasn't really doing much, not trying to do much, and the scrolling just was mostly people I'm not that connected with talking about news and social narratives... and it clearly wasn't moving my life forward... I'd feel sort of depressed scrolling... and then finding myself continuing to scroll... despite those sensations!

Screens and images and words and communication on social media are all very powerful things.

Just an image itself is powerful. For most of human history, we did not have access to a photograph of a beautiful person seemingly looking at us with a sultry stare. We also didn't have access to video footage of violence or other super stimulating imagery... But even without the modern technology aspect, if you wake up and the first thing you do is read about war or the economy or anything that's enormous and not related directly to your action, but seems sort of to put a context on your life... can make a huge impact on your focus and thus your productivity.

Either way, let's just consider that you can basically think about one thing at a time.

Now... what's a thing really? We don't even know! But let's stay practical.

Want to improve your relationships? What will help you?

Want to improve your health? What will help you?

Want to improve your finances/career/skills? What will help you?

How often does random scrolling online or checking your e-mail do that for you?

Because you can be simply doing a few things that are directly related to advancing on all those areas.

Person wakes up, instead of social media, they look at a journal that has goals written down, instead of social media looking at other people's stunning and rare physiques... they do some movement that improves their own! Instead of just reading about other people's successful businesses or acumen... they do something that advances their own.

Why not make that a habit? To wake up and get to winning. You wake up, take account of your agency in life, and then put things in play that you can expect to be worthwhile.

Plant seeds, tend to plants, and harvest when ready.

I put the Heraclitus quote because on the one hand we can't really have a routine because everything changes. Every day is another day. Conditions are changing like it or not. I remember my dreams nearly every night, so when I wake up I am thinking of them. My dreams vary greatly, though I almost never have nightmares for a long time. Although I do have some repeated themes in my dreams, it's hardly routine other than the fact that I dreamt. I personally think that dreams have great value, so as a habit, I wish to honor that value and that part of myself that creates or receives dreams. The morning seems best for this, so dreams are part of my morning routine (and sometimes part of my night routine). My body is also usually in a more relaxed state and both available for deeper relaxation and stretching/range of motion work, and for more vigorous exercise like cardio/bodyweight exercise etc...

Lately, I have been working a physical job that has been perhaps pushing me a fair deal greater than I recognized (developed sciatica), so I gave myself a pass recently on doing morning exercises.

However, I was doing a vinyasa yoga flow of a sun salutation routine that I was following and innovating with and that was fantastic.

My sun salutation flow took between 6-11 minutes and gave me a good heart rate pump, improved my breathing, range of motion, balance, focus, self control, strength, discipline, and more.

It wasn't one of those things where you have to gear up hard and get ready to go. Just a natural movement flow that felt like it was nourishing the body all the way through.

That said, it's still difficult and confronts me with the reality that my coordination could improve as well as my general health...

But how beautiful is that to just find yourself doing something that accomplishes those things to at least the degree of positive momentum every morning!

So I would feel that things are getting better on a very deep physical level... on a daily basis! Amazing!

Only 6-11 minutes too.

You don't even need to not scroll social media in the morning. Just make sure you want to be doing what you're doing, unless you've got a good reason to be doing it.

Anyhow, it should at least be clear to everyone that they theoretically COULD routinely do something in the morning that improves their physical quality of life.

Sufficient high quality sleep.

More high quality physical movement.

More high quality nutrition.

Making appropriate use of your mind.

Will continue this topic soon.

Here's a 27 minute monologue meditation/contemplation discussing use of the mind: