Part of the morning ritual is curling up in my daughter’s bed with her as she slowly wakes up.  My favourite part is the sweet, sleepy smile she gives me as she comes to – eyes half closed, left arm moving in a slow stretch, right arm curled around her teddy bear.  This morning I said to her, “It’s Monday today.  Do you like Mondays?”

“I absolutely do,” she replied.  “The garbage man comes and takes away our stinky, yucky garbage!”

This is true.  Monday is garbage day on my street.  My daughter used to be afraid of the sputters and squeals of the big trucks, and the yells of the men as they called out to each other.  The only way I knew how to turn it around for her was to remind her that if the trucks and the men didn’t come every week, our house would be filled with garbage!  I guess this stuck with her.

This got me thinking.  It is rather nice to have Mondays be garbage day – to get rid of last week’s trash and start the week with a clean slate.  Maybe Mondays should be our internal garbage day, too.  And Tuesdays, actually.  Hmmmm…how about every day that ends in the word ‘day’?

Imagine if every morning we got rid of our junk?  Imagine if every morning we said to ourselves, “Awesome!  A new day, a clean start!” and just left behind yesterday’s crap.

You’ve heard this a million times.  How has it registered?  Has it triggered you to begin your day with a ritual?

There isn’t one ritual out there that is suited for everyone – some people are inspired by meditation, some by writing, some by drawing.  Others jump out of bed in the morning to greet the day with a run or a walk with their dog, or with a quiet coffee.

Mornings can be a time of rush when we have jobs to get to, children to dress and ship out into the world, and a million things to plan and organize.  You know what I’m going to say.

In order to make my mornings more pleasant and to allow myself the 25 minutes I need for my own personal ritual, I need to wake up 25 minutes earlier than I normally would.  This sounds painful to some and I agree, being more of a morning person is on my side here.

If this is absolutely not do-able for you based on your own rhythms, I respect that and you should too.  Perhaps your clearing time is in the evening or at night before you go to bed.

Well, the evenings can be a time of rush when we have kitchens to clean, children to bathe and put to bed and a million things to plan and organize.  You know what I’m going to say.

Add in the 15 or 20 minutes you might need to write, doodle, dream, sit quietly (minus the electronics!) before you go to bed.  Make it a ritual.  Sometimes it helps to think about how you’re spending your time before bed – is there anything you can cut short to allow for this extra time?  For me, it was T.V. time that got the axe.  I still have my favourite show and my weekly movie night with my hubby, but other than that, once I started cutting shows left, right and centre, I had at least 5 hours a week that normally got sucked into the tube.

So, those are my Monday thoughts.  What are yours?  How did you feel this morning when you stretched in bed, or hit the snooze button and realized it was Monday?  Are you happy with those thoughts, those feelings?  Is it time for a change?

I’ll leave you with these neat quotes I found online:

Find a job you like and you add five days to every week.  ~H. Jackson Brown

When people go to work, they shouldn’t have to leave their hearts at home.  ~Betty Bender

Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.  ~James Matthew Barrie

The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.  ~Arnold Toynbee