rise [and shine]

My Littlest One is an early waker. [oh!yes]. And when I say early, I mean: e-a-r-l-y.

It has been bothering me, I’ve been struggling to get up and feeling cranky about it. And so I have started to think about ways I can shift my experience. At first I thought that maybe I could use the time to go for a walk. But then I thought that that would involve actually going for a walk. In the dark. With a toddler. At 5am. [er, no thanks!]

So then I thought about what else I love about mornings, and in a cliched flash I considered sunrises. Sunrises!

Our house looks out over a big expanse of green and a huge spun sky. Every morning the sun and the clouds are different and ridiculously beautiful. But in my sleepy resentfulness [why am I awake??!] I have been failing to appreciate it.

So now when we wake up, I open the blinds and as we play and sing and snuggle, I soak up the beauty and remind myself how lucky I am: this bundle of deliciousness, chubby fingers curled around mine, sweet-stinky sleep-breath warming my neck, a whole beautiful day ahead of us.

I’m reminded [yet] again, of how powerfully my experiences shift when I adjust my thinking, even just a little bit.

Tags: baby love, choices, gratitude, happiness