It’s a great song.[link] But, does desire help or hinder our lives?
Lifeless and Desires
It is said there are 2 types of people without desires – Saints and people who live inert, passive lives. A saint has transcended his personal desires and may be very dynamic and self giving. He lives not to please himself, but for the benefit of others. Others may have no desires, but, then they have no particular aspiration to do anything – apart from perhaps watching daytime TV.
There was a great Spiritual Teacher called Swami Vivekananda – some very serious seekers came to him asking for spiritual instruction – so the Swami told them to go an play and football, he said they would make more progress playing football than studying spiritual theory. What Vivekananda was trying to inculcate was the necessity of dynamism and a need for balance. It is often only after we have realised the limitations of pursuing desires, that we really are ready to turn inward. Transcending desires does not mean becoming inert and lifeless; it is moving from a selfish perspective to a selfless perspective. In this selflessness there may be great dynamism.
Possession and Detachment
When we desire to possess something or someone we create powerful forces of expectation and attachment. The problem with this kind of desire, is that we are invariably disappointed when we fail to possess what we desire. In relationships we desire to feel that a person belongs to us. With this kind of attitude we can soon become jealous, anxious or miserable when the other person fails to reciprocate our feelings. It is a mistake to feel this kind of emotional attachment is in anyway necessary. Rather than desiring a certain outcome, real love will not have expectations. When we develop this attitude of selflessness – free of desire and expectation we give relationships greater freedom and therefore make them stronger. The secret is to avoid desiring / demanding certain outcomes. It is of course, even a bigger mistake to desire a person changes and becomes what we expect them to be; this is even more damaging than our own desires. Here our desires are being played through someone else.
Never Ending Desires
“There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it.â€
– George Bernard Shaw
The problem with desires is that they feed on themselves. If the Good Lord, did acquiesce to our desires for a new Mercedez Benz, it would probably just encourage us to start asking for a little more. “O Lord, could you also buy my a private helicopter… e.t.c” The point is that desire is never ending and yet the more we get the more empty we can feel. The solution is not to renounce all possessions and live like a wandering sannyasin. But, we do need to make a conscious decision to be happy with less – to appreciate the benefits of simplicity. – see: The Power of Simplicity
Desire and Aspiration
There are of course very different kinds of desires. On the one hand there is the worldly desire for material goods, name and fame, and on the other hand there is the desire to become a better person, to be more self giving and thoughtful. Sri Chinmoy calls this not desire, but aspiration – the desire to grow in something better, more fulfilling and to discover who we really are.
“A desire-intoxicated man, like Julius Caesar, wants to say to the world: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” An aspiring inspiration-man wants to say to the world: “I came, I loved and I am becoming inseparably one with you.”
Sometimes life feels a pull between two forces – on the one hand we have the life of desire – the Mercedez Benz and worldly appreciation – the other life of aspiration, is to live in the heart and become a better person. The one life gives fleeting pleasures, and at times can seem easier because everyone else is doing it. The other seems to require more self effort. But, the more we seek to become a better person, the more we appreciation the benefits of aspiration and the less we feel the necessity for countless desires. Indeed we often look back and say ‘Why did I have such a strong desire to be a famous footballer when young?” – the lives of famous people are rarely more satisfying and fulfilling than normal people.
Photo by Ranjit Swanson, Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
It is easy to love people we like. It is more challenging to love difficult and awkward people. But, it is the nature of real love, that it encompasses all. Love should not be self serving – and in loving difficult people we learn its real meaning. In the words of Shakespeare (Sonnet 116):
“…Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or Bends with the remover to remove.
O, no! It is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.
It is the star to every wandering bark,
whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.”
But how to love difficult people?
Look Beyond Defects
Feel that a person’s defects and weaknesses are only a partial reflection of his real nature. Feel that behind their exterior personality there is their real self trying to break through. Often difficult people are seeking attention / love in irritating ways. They are like a child struggling to know what the right thing to do is. We don’t have to love their weaknesses, we are trying to love the self hidden underneath.
Our Peace of Mind.
Other people may give us reason to dislike them; we may even start hating them, but what do we gain by hating others? When we hate or condemn others we lose something precious in ourselves. When we judge others, it is often because we have that quality within ourselves.
“Hate is often an obverse form of love.
You hate someone whom you really wish to love but whom you cannot love.”
– Sri Chinmoy
When we love others without judgement it brings our own best qualities to the fore. If we love others, if we seek to see the good – even in difficult people, we will benefit tremendously and gain peace of mind. It is one of the great paradoxes – by loving unselfishly and unconditionally we benefit ourselves.
Love does not Mean Acquiescence
We can love people without agreeing with their bad behaviour. Nor do we have to agree with their demands and unreasonable expectations. Because a mother loves her child, the mother will reprimand the child when he places himself in danger. We can love a person whilst at the same time discouraging them from behaving badly. We can love the person whilst at the same time disliking some things they do.
Empathy
In their own way people are trying to do the right thing. At times, it may not feel like it; however, we can gain a lot through sympathetic understanding. We can try to feel that the mistakes they are making are something that we ourselves have done at various time. When there is a feeling of superiority there is no real love and oneness. But, if we can feel the other person as part of ourself then we will naturally have good will towards them. It is this ability to identify with others which enables a real feeling of love to develop.
Don’t Expect to Change Them
If we feel responsible for changing those whom we love, we will always be doomed to disappointment. Even our own kith and kin are responsible for their own lives. The biggest obstacle to loving difficult people is to think – I will love them, but, they have to become better people first. If we wait for people to become better before loving, then we will be doomed to disappointment. It is because people are imperfect that they need our compassion and understanding. If we can accept people as they are, then even difficult people we can appreciate.
Related Posts:
How To Distinguish Between Love and emotional dependence – The word ‘love’ is perhaps one of the most casually used terms in the English language – so much so that it has become an umbrella term for a whole variety of very different emotions!….
Recently, at a public lecture on the theme ‘blueprint for world peace’ I found myself sitting next to a very quiet African man from Burundi. We both took a liking to each other and I gradually learned over the course of several subsequent encounters that he had been one of many refugee children, dispossessed by war and fleeing from murderous armies and tribal militias, that had been the subject of much media attention and outrage. Hounded and decimated by soldiers, killed by wild animals or dying of starvation, these many hundreds of children had dwindled to only a handful of survivors and my new friend whispered of the terrible events that had filled his life and caused the death of his entire family.
Friendships bloom in the unlikeliest of manners and our life paths kept intersecting. On one amusing occasion I invited him to a hotel function that celebrated a happy conclusion to a peace initiative I had been involved with. Nicholai had told me he would be a late arrival, and as his English language was not strong I promised to look out for him. After quite some time had passed I became concerned and began to look for him. Over in an adjacent huge ballroom, corporate types were hosting their own national get-together, a bacchanalian affair where hundreds of suited executives were dining, speech- making and almost climbing over each other to lay siege to a buffet table groaning under mountains of alluring food. A sudden possibility occurred and I scanned their ballroom from the open door – and sure enough there was our lost guest sitting merrily with a group of complete strangers, glass of champagne half-raised to his lips and blithely unaware that he had wandered in to the wrong function and invaded a Civil Engineers soiree. He looked so happy and I wondered whether I should leave him there with his whole new set of friends and dazzling new social possibilities. But I quietly retrieved him and brought him, both of us smiling at life’s vagaries, to our rather less glamorous function.
Nicholai’s heart-rending life had not made him forlorn or melancholy but filled him with gratitude and purpose and a resolve to offer all of himself back to the world to repay his own gift of life. All of the deaths he had seen had deepened him and awakened him spiritually…’death is as close as your breath’ he would tell me. He carried a battered copy of the Dhammapada, the Buddha’s teachings on impermanence, and would whisper to me solemnly : ‘Why are we born? We are born so that we will not have to be born again’. He was speaking of the viewpoint that all life experience, if properly understood, offers us countless opportunities to learn equanimity and end suffering with it’s endless cycles of birth and rebirth.
How much joy we get in the company of those with whom we share an affinity of souls. Nicholai’s life had been stripped of everything that most people spend a lifetime accumulating – in return he had won the great spiritual treasures of desirelessness, simplicity, gratitude and spiritual awakening. He reminded me of a story I had heard from the life of Sri Krishna:
– stopping for a night at the simple cottage of a very poor devotee, whose only worldly possession was a cow, Krishna and his dear disciple Arjuna are treated with care and great kindness by the old lady who does not recognize who they are. In the morning Arjuna requests Krishna to reward their host for her selflessness and sacrifice and He agrees – he will take away the life of her cow! How can you be so cruel, asks Arjuna in dismay. Krishna replies, now she loves both me and her cow, but soon she will only have me and I will be the only thing left to her. She will rely solely on me, and in this way she will soon become one with me and live always in my heart. Then I will take care of her every need.
In our own quest for happiness we so often look to the impermanent and outer things of life – later we come to understand that happiness is not another person or place or circumstance or acquisition but a state of desirelessness, an inner achievement, a life of simplicity or devotion to God, the offering of oneself to a higher cause, egolessness and inner contentment. ‘Simplicity is an advanced course’ wrote my own teacher Sri Chinmoy. Indeed.
Nicholai’s wife died of gunshot wounds and whispered to him- ‘don’t be sad…go far away and start again…’ My own wife died of a lingering illness and I have only a last aphorism she wrote on a piece of paper, the handwriting spidery and wobbling with effort, a quotation by Sri Chinmoy: ‘Obstructions loom large, within, without. Yet, like a kite I shall rise without fail and fly against the wind’.
Death and sadness and loss teach us our life lessons and form an integral, indispensable part of our compassion for others and our own enlightenment. Nicholai makes me smile when he says to me: “I’m not sad any longer when someone dies – his suffering in this life is over. If you want to be sad, be sad when people are born: ’Oh, no, they’ve come again. They’re going to suffer and die again!’ “ He quotes the Thai master Ajanh Chah – “ we don’t meditate to see Heaven, but to end sufferingâ€.
This is a guest post by Jogyata Dallas. Jogyata lives in Auckland, where he frequently gives meditation classes for the Sri Chinmoy Centre. see: Auckland Meditation
The growth of the internet has created many opportunities and also many challenges. Through the internet I have been able to work from home writing about things I enjoy. The internet has also enable an effective outlet for writing such as this blog. Yet, although the internet has many advantages it also presents many difficulties, not least it is easy to waste time when on the internet. In a way I am glad to have had a perspective of life before the invention of the internet / email and even computers. Yes, we really did survive without the internet and computers – it’s hard to imagine now, but I think we were even really quite happy 🙂
The Addictive nature of the Internet
There is something about the internet that makes it difficult to switch off. There is always our email / RSS feed / statistics / games to play / News to check. The problem is that the internet can easily become a time filler. We start off with the intention of doing something productive, but quite soon, we have spent many hours of filling in our time and have nothing to show for it – apart from a slightly guilty conscience. To avoid this I try to follow these steps.
Have a clear purpose when using the computer
Keep a record of what you are actually doing (or not doing as the case may be)
Set fixed periods to switch off the computer.
Not every 10 minutes break has to be filled by turning on the computer.
Take day / weekend off. I often travel at the weekend, I may take a laptop, but, I’m usually grateful for the opportunity to spend a day or two without the computer / internet. When I do turn on the computer on Monday, you realise that it is actually fine not to check your email for a day or two – it certainly isn’t necessary to check every hour or so, which I sometimes end up doing.
Multitasking and getting nothing Done
So often on the computer I am trying to do several things at once. Maybe I have several tabs open, and even 2-3 browsers open. You can flit from one task to another, and you forget what you started. I do my shopping online; recently I created an order but because I was multitasking so much I forgot to send the order – so it was all wasted. If a program is very slow to load, then it is good to open another tab and do more something else. But, there is great power in focus, and this is lost when we try to do several things at once. Part of the problem is that we try chasing super-productivity – trying not to waste even a second. But, this kind of productivity target can be counter productive; we lose focus and don’t do the job as well as we should. It is also stressful to try and do several things at once. Now if a page takes a few seconds to load I try to be patient or think about what I will be doing next. All I know is that when I start multitasking, my brain can’t cope.
The Pseudo Life
The internet encourages instant messaging, discussing on forums e.t.c. There is nothing wrong with these in moderation. But, communicating electronically can never replace the benefit of speaking and meeting people in person. When there is a real connection with people, it is much more powerful than an electronic communication.
Information Overload
The internet has a seemingly infinite quantity of information. One piece of information leads to another. The more information we gain the more we start to seek. Yet, mental information can never give us true satisfaction. We overload our mind with information and opinion, but, it does not give us illumination. The acquisition of information does not change us nor does it change the world. To make effective change we need to be spurred to action, not just read about things that could do with changing. I think one of the keys to happiness is living in the heart and getting away from the judgemental mind. If we spend too much time reading the injustices of the world, we will not be able to change them, and we will not be cultivating happiness.
Regret is nothing but a waste;
Therefore, do not regret.
See the light, feel the light, become the light
Of today’s dawn
And try not, cry not
To see yesterday’s stars, moon and sun.
They are gone.
They should be buried in oblivion-night.
– Sri Chinmoy
It is easy to be burdened with regrets. The mind will offer us innumerable – if only I had…
Yet, regret doesn’t help in any way.
“Non, je ne regrette rien” – The famous refrain of Edith Piaf is also a powerful motto for life. These are some practical tips to live a life without regrets.
1. Live in the Present
If we live completely in the present moment, how can we be regretting the past? It is in the present moment that we can truly live and enjoy life. The problem is that it is easy to say we should live in the present but, to actually do it is not so easy. Living in the present requires constant remembrance. The nature of the mind is to think of the past and speculate on the future. We need to retrain the mind; when we start regretting the past, just gently remind yourself to go back to the present moment.
2. Do What You Can
This simple but effective idea is to do what we can, given our current situation. Regretting the past will not help improve our current situation; in fact it can make it worse. We have to be wise and make the best choices and actions given our present state. We cannot change the past, no matter how bitterly we wish we can. But, if we focus 100% on doing what we can then we may be frequently surprised at how much we can alleviate our current situation.
3. Don’t Live With A Guilty Conscience
Guilt can be a weight around our neck, which does nothing to help us. The great spiritual master, Sri Ramakrishna said something most significant. He said “the person who goes around saying ‘I am a sinner, I am a sinner’ – this person will remain a sinner.” But, why maintain this attitude? Rather than focusing on our past ‘sins’ we have to feel that this is not our real self. If we have the capacity to ‘sin’ we also have the capacity to do the right thing and lead a good life. It is focusing on good things that will make us a better person. Focusing on our past mistakes will just lower our consciousness not make us feel any better. See also: Overcoming persistent guilt
4. Be At Peace With Yourself.
Often our regrets result from the disappointment of others. Maybe we have made our choices but, despite our honest effort, they are displeased with us. Therefore, we are regretting not that we did the wrong thing, but, that we failed to meet other people’s expectations.
We will never be able to please the expectations of others. Therefore, we have to just follow our inner intuition and live the life that we think is best for us. If others don’t agree with our choices, then we have to be detached.
5. Don’t Regret Mistakes.
“The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything.â€
– Theodore Roosevelt
To make progress, mistakes, failure and even humiliation are inevitable. The problem is we only value success. But, this is wrong. Failure is the flip side of success. You cannot have one without the other. Great scientists say how success often comes after 99 failures. It is a good job Einstein didn’t give up with regrets before his eventual success.
Recently I have been helping to prepare some of my students for university interviews. One thing stood out – the importance of confidence. It seems many young people lack a measured confidence in their own abilities and this is one of the biggest things holding them back.
What is Confidence?
Confidence is belief in your self. It means you think of your strong attributes and not your weaknesses – real or imaginary. Confidence is not an arrogant self exertion. It is not the confidence of a Julius Ceasar – “I came, I saw, I conquered” It is a confidence which allows your real self to come forward. Confidence is compatible with modesty and humility. If we really have self confidence we will not feel obliged to try and convince others. When people exert their ego and tell us of their own achievement and greatness, it is often because they actually lack self-confidence. Therefore, they are fishing for complements to boost their fragile ego and self-confidence.
How Can we Build up Our Confidence?
Practise
Some students are so lacking in confidence they want to avoid even the mock interviews. This is the worst thing to do. If we spend our time worrying about potential outcomes our confidence evaporates as we imagine unpleasant scenarios. There is a lot to be said for remaining active and practising what we lack confidence in. When we actually do something, we realise that many of our fears are ungrounded and therefore we can effectively build up our confidence. If we never practise, we will always struggle with confidence. If we lack confidence in speaking with people the best thing is to try and find situations where we can get plenty of practise.
In short to build up confidence – Less thinking more doing!
Learning To Deal With Criticism
On various occasions we will be criticised. But, this should not be the end of our world. The criticism does not apply to our self, but a certain action or aspect of our being. In this sense we should look upon the criticism as just an opportunity to improve and learn. If the criticism has an unpleasant tone, we should pay no attention to that. It is important to keep a balanced attitude, don’t just focus on the criticism of others, remember also the encouragement of others.
Don’t Compare
It is funny how many potential interviewees imagine that everyone else must be the perfect candidate who is able to seamlessly switch between explaining the economics of the credit crunch to discussing the implications of Kantian ethics on issues of euthanasia. The point is by comparing ourselves to others, we are liable to lose our self confidence because it is easy to generate feelings of inadequacy.
The counting shed is on the right, at a 24 hour race organised by Sri Chinmoy M.T.
Happiness can be a strange thing. The things we expect will give us happiness sometimes fail to live up to our expectations. Yet, when we stop chasing happiness, we can find happiness in the most unlikely of situations.
Counting at a 24 Hour Race
For 24 Hours, Runners run around a standard 400 m athletic track. Every 2 minutes or so your runner will pass by and as a counter you note down their time. Now, the first thing people might say is why? Why run around a traffic and isn’t it boring to spend 24 hours counting a couple of runners go past every 2 minutes? The strange thing is that the first hour can pass quite slowly, and you start thinking this 12 hour shift is going to be a long time. But, after a while time starts to slip by. You enter a different world and become absorbed in the fortunes of your runners. You become inspired at the collective efforts at self transcendence. I also enjoy the gentle banter and jokes with the other counters in the counting shed.
If you were thinking of moments of happiness, you wouldn’t expect ‘work’ to be there. The thing is I actually really enjoyed doing the dishes, even though I was working in a ‘Little Chef’. It was a very simple work where you could get into a routine. There was great satisfaction in transforming the dirty plates into clean neat piles. Dishwashing was my domain, I was responsible for keeping it clean. The important thing was the attitude to washing. If I thought about the job I would think – there are many better things I could be doing with my time; I don’t want to be a dishwasher for the rest of my life. However, when I ignored these thoughts, when I just focused on the present moment and the action of washing dishes, time flew past. It became a meditative action because I was just focusing on the act of dishwashing and was concentrated on the job in hand. And I really enjoyed it.
Monty Python Silly Walks
Once a year, with friends from the English Sri Chinmoy Centres, we put on a very informal plays and skits. The idea is to have fun. My contribution is performing Monty Python sketches and in particular the John Cleese silly walk. I love watching Monty Python, but, when you perform it yourself, it offers a much greater level of enjoyment. In a TV age, we are so used to entertainment being passive, that we forget how much entertainment we can have by actually taking part in something. It is innocent fun, and having a good laugh is one of the best medicines for the mind. see: Monty Python Silly Walks at Youtube
Racing up Hills
I do enjoy racing my bike. Sometimes you get frustrated because you are not as fast as you would like. But, generally cycle racing is very good. I love the sense of achievement, the stretching of your own abilities and seeking to see how far you can push yourself. For some strange reason I really love hill climb races – basically races up a hill. Last week was the National Hill climb Championships in Matlock, a 2 minute climb up a hill of 20%. Half way up I felt dizzy in the head, all the blood had drained to my legs. It felt like I was dancing on the limits of my capacity. But, I felt really happy when I finished the race!
Singing
My earliest memories of singing was going to a school choir practice and singing very badly so they would have no chance of asking me to join. Actually, I had no need to try and sing badly, I could have just sang to the best of my abilities and I wouldn’t have been taken. So it was rather surprising that later in life, I would get so much from singing devotional songs composed by Sri Chinmoy and others. Singing can awaken a different part of our being. It can take us out of ourselves an in particular make us feel there is much more to life.
Question for the readers – Do you have any unexpected moments of happiness you would like to share?
Have there ever been times when you thought wow, i can’t believe I enjoyed that!
An easier life does not mean we vegetate in front of the TV trying to avoid reality. An easier life, involves simplifying unnecessary complications; it means being at peace with ourself; it means we learn how to get on with people avoiding interpersonal conflicts. If we have the right attitude life will be easier and more enjoyable no matter how active and dynamic we are.
Life is undoubtedly a challenge, but, at the same time there are several things that we can do to make life easier and more enjoyable.
Mind Your Own Business
Unfortunately, humans have a strong propensity for gossip and meddling, but this is generally undesirable. We have many of our own problems and weaknesses, but, we often fall into a trap of thinking that we can better sort out the problems of others. It is even worse when we have no inclination to even help others, but, we just get a certain pleasure from knowing about the misfortunes of others. When we meddle in the affairs of others, we add needless complications to our own life. It is also a mistake to feel that we are responsible and can change others, when we do this we only add unnecessary complications and worries to our life.
This does not entail an indifference to the fortunes of others, especially close friends and families. It means we don’t get needlessly involved in gossip and affairs where we have no right.
Do Things 100%
An easier life does not mean a lazy life of slouching around. If we are lethargic and lacking in enthusiasm life will seem dull, boring and passes slowly. When we throw ourselves 100% into a project we become energised with focus – it helps to give life meaning. When our life has meaning we feel happier and this is the crucial aspect.
The worst thing is half heartedly trying to do several things at once, but not getting any of them done at all. We are left with a feeling of inadequacy and stress.
Make Time For Yourself
We are very adept at creating pressure for ourselves. We try to do many things and put pressure on ourselves to meet certain standards. When we rush from one thing to the next, we feel under constant strain – there seems no let up in the endless stress and strains of life. There are certain things we really do have to do, but, there are also many things that are unnecessary. With a bit of foresight we can make time for ourselves. For example, rather than wasting 15 mins watching the news in the morning, we can spend 10 minutes for breathing exercises / meditation, then leave for work 5 mins earlier. This extra time means we lose alot of the unnecessary stress of being late.
Be Kind
This is the easiest and most effective strategy for an easier life. When we are kind, we will definitely notice people reciprocate. If we are forgiving and tolerant, we will find people will be more tolerant and forgiving of our mistakes. If we have a compassionate attitude and avoid creating conflict with others, it makes life so much easier and more enjoyable. It is such a simple but effective strategy, it is surprising we don’t give it more focus. Even more important than being kind to others is being kind to yourself.
Humility
If you made a mistake how would you respond? Would you worry over what others thought? Would you feel obliged to defend yourself or push the blame onto others? When we have an attitude of humility we don’t worry over our ego. We don’t feel the overwhelming necessity of impressing others and defending ourselves. The stronger our ego, the more we worry and fear, even if this worry is unconscious.
Don’t Try to Live A Different Life.
The easiest way to get through life, is by living our own life and not trying to be something else. Often we waste a lot of mental energy wishing we had different breaks in life. We think – only if we had different opportunities or could be someone else life would be better. When we start life with acceptance of our current situation then that is the first step to an easier life. We should definitely try to improve our life situation, but, we don’t waste time complaining about how we got to our present situation.
In theory, the morning is a wonderful time. It is a fresh start, the atmosphere is calm, there is chance for a new beginning. But, often this chance is for a fresh start is lost, because we jump straight into our old anxieties and worries. If we wish to cultivate greater peace of mind, the best place to start is first thing in the morning. This is true even if you are not a ‘morning person’ like me!
These are some suggestions for making the most of the morning.
Regular time of Rising.
If we can keep regular hours of sleep / waking it becomes much easier to get up. If we lie in, it throws the body clock out. Even if we had a late night, it is good to try and get up at the usual time. The worst thing is to lie in bed, kind of dosing. We are not getting the benefits of proper sleep, but, we are losing precious time.
The Morning sets the day.
On awakening in the morning, the first few minutes should be seen as a golden opportunity to set the tone for the day. Keep the mind calm, don’t start worrying about the problems of yesterday or what might happen later. Hold positive thoughts about what you would like to achieve in the day. If you have good intentions about what you would like to do, it becomes easier to actually do them.
Newness.
Feel every day is an opportunity to do something new, to become a better person. Don’t think of the monotony of your routine. Even in the most regular routine, you have the opportunity to be of service to others and improve your mind. Cultivate a sense of gratitude for the new opportunity and new day.
Leave Your Computer / Mobile Phone.
Modern technology is undoubtedly a boon in some ways, but, there is a danger of becoming a slave to it. At least, for the first hour don’t check your email, or starting texting. Most of the day, we are immersed in the activities of the world; for an hour try to be away from technology and the news. Give yourself a chance to be detached from the endless information of the internet and TV. Give space to yourself. If possible find time to walk in nature, meditate or some other activity than inspires you. Give yourself something to look forward to when waking up. You don’t have to get immersed in work activities as soon as you rise.
Exercise.
If you struggle to get going in the morning; exercise is an excellent way to get the blood circulation going. Exercise can also help to clear the mind.
