Mornings: coffee, reading and opening up to the day. I’ve been battling with a wonky sleep pattern lately – too late to bed (or should that be early?), struggling to switch my brain off – or maybe I should just accept that I have been, and always will be, a night owl. Yet there is something about waking early, to the possibilities that a new day brings. Each moment we live is our lifetime, each moment is the present, our lives unfolding. I want to be more present. Sometimes I find myself drifting too far into the future – worrying, planning, imagining – and not attending to here and now, the moment that is. I like mornings suffused with sunlight, with the smell of coffee and toast. The gentle purr of a cat.
I read an article on Philosopher’s Mail about the good points of insomnia – that we often do our ‘big’ thinking at night, whilst day is the time for present, smaller concerns – our ‘doing’ moments: ‘At night, however, the ranking of first and second order questions is reversed. In the dark, one may investigate the meaning of work, the needs behind friendship, the mechanics of love. The topics are far from academic. We become philosophers when we chase the practical issues upstream.’ For me, night can often be a good time for writing – during the day, I’m too concerned with emails, other people, social networking, editing articles and contacting people.
I would, however, like this to change. Doing this happiness project has made me take a look at why my circadian rhythms are back to front – I often stay up until 2am at the earliest, 4am at the latest. This either leads to a lack of sleep, or broken sleep, or it means I miss the best part of the morning. I’ve read that writers often do keep strange hours, as the smaller hours of the morning are the time when everyone is in bed and it seems as if you are able to focus better. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to be a morning person – even when rising early I am distinctly not a morning person, much more like a grumpy bear woken from hibernation.
I comfort myself with the thought that one of these days I’ll get my rhythms back to normal and will be able to rise with the dawn…or at least as close as possible to first light. That image of waking with the dawn, opening the window and breathing in the first breath of a new day fills me with possibility. In the meantime, it’s chamomile tea, reading and writing until sleep overtakes me.
‘We want to arrive, eventually, at a feasible, defensible strategy. But we all have to start with thoughts that look extremely unimpressive and possibly absurd. Night is a friend to the slow process of maturation that every ambitious project demands: it provides us with the cover to grow into our more complete selves.’ – The Philosopher’s Mail, The upsides of insomnia, Part 2.
*All images from Otherwordly (a wonderful Tumblog I could spend hours on).
Cats and Chocolate 
Great post. You’ve taught me two things this morning from your blog (apart from another fellow early morning person who struggles to make it), first is the word “gokotta” which is exactly what I’ll be doing tomorrow morning because I’ve been promising myself to really experience a dawn chorus. The other is that I’ve found someone who’s completed BSL 1 and 2 by the look of things. May I ask how you did that? Was it at a local venue, or did you just learn yourself? It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
Great blog by the way. I look forward to reading future posts. 🙂
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Hi Sophie, I’m glad my post taught you something – I love Otherwordly, I discover all kinds of words for concepts that you don’t find in the English language. I did Level 1 as part of my AS Level at school many years ago because my school was a language college (Hendon School in London), and because I’m deaf thought it was time to study it formally! I did Level 2 locally a couple of years ago, but I can suggest a few different places to do it – there’s Remark!, Teach Me Sign, City Lit in London. The examination website also has more information: http://www.signature.org.uk/british-sign-language I’m not sure if there are places where you can learn it without studying/examination, but there are websites around with vocabulary videos, etc. I wish that BSL was something that could be taught informally, like an evening class or something, because not everyone wants to do the full qualification, plus I know it can be expensive. There are levels that go up to 6 and beyond, where you also learn about BSL linguistics and interpreting etc. Hope that helps 🙂
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I can relate to all these things – I very recently read somewhere that love keeps us awake at night because the reality is better than sleeping which more or less told me not to worry and go with the flow. Enjoyed reading this – carry on being you 🙂 x
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I love that idea – that love keeps us awake at night. Sometimes I think we push too hard with ourselves, maybe some people are more naturally night owls and others are more morning people. I’ll try and go with the flow more often 🙂 xx
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I had never heard the word gökotta, but it’s so beautiful and I’m happy you shared it on your blog. Thank you 🙂
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Thanks to your post that i found one more wonderful website. I think that i’m also a night owl too. It’s easier for me to focus on night rather than day. 😀
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Reblogged this on Writing Out Loud and commented:
Love these words. Now to use them.
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I am an insomniac & a night owl too. I prefer my rhythms though & don’t try to change them. The only time they change for me is when I go on vacation – if I am near the ocean. For some reason my body signals me to wake up naturally in order to see the sun rise over the ocean. This has happened on every vacation near the ocean or a large body of water. Then when I am home again my body goes back to its normal rhythm.
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