What's Your Morning Routine?

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Now that I've improved my quality of sleep at night, I find myself waking earlier in the morning. Okay, that might have something to do with the sun rising at 5:30 AM. But I consistently find myself waking at six a.m. every morning feeling refreshed and ready to go.

What to do? In the past, I would have taken Coco outside for her morning constitutional (i.e. outside and back in as quickly as possible), then gone back to bed. Instead, I've developed some lovely new rituals that start my day off right. Allow me to elaborate.... that I'm going to bed earlier, I wake earlier. Not only that, I feel better. To begin with, Coco now enjoys an actual walk. In fact, I've found that I really enjoy walking in the morning, it's quiet, sometimes I take an audio book with me if I'm going on a longer walk, it's cooler, and I often see deer or elk.

Then question became, what to do with myself after I returned to the house? In the past I would simply turn on the television and watch the morning news. Now, I've started a new routine which not only leaves me feeling better, it's more productive.

Now, after our longer walk around the neighborhood, I usually make coffee, grab my journal, a book of devotions, or some other inspirational reading, and head out onto the deck. I spend about an hour, writing my Morning Pages, reading a chapter, and just enjoying the play of the hummingbirds that have found the pots of flowers that we have on the deck.

It's a peaceful way to spend the first hour of the morning, and I find that afterwards I'm ready to get to work on the computer. I certainly feel 100% better than I did with my old routine of returning to bed and watching the morning news.

Of course, I'm wondering how this will change once autumn and winter arrive with darkness and cold that keeps me off the deck. I'll have to develop a new routine, then.

So, how about you? What's your morning routine like?