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Creating our Day


Our first waking moments are probably the most
important part of our day, for it is here that we engage with
our new day's opportunity, having been hopefully refreshed and
renewed overnight.


The process of sleep is still a huge mystery to science, and we are still a way off from understanding how and why we sleep. A good analogy for how we can begin to understand it is to look at the principle of a battery–powered motorcar. The car runs freely during the day, drawing its energy andpropulsion from its inbuilt heavy–duty batteries.
At the end of the day, the batteries are depleted or low in power and have to be re–charged through the mains. In the human case we also run on a kind of battery system, where the energy supply we run on each day is stored and housed in various reservoirs and warehouses – this is to do with the skeletal and bone structure of our body. As we go through our day we draw upon the reserves we need and begin to empty the available stores. Some days our activities mean that we use less energy than others, and in some cases we can even re–charge during the day by engaging in things that draw new supplies of energy to us.
At the end of the day, we lie down and bring our body into a horizontal position, and enter a sleep state. One of the purposes of the sleep process is that we connect ourselves into a kind of mains system that allows our batteries to re–charge, refreshing us for the new day. When we emerge out of the sleep state we are momentarily disconnected from our daily active state and a process of reconnection begins, wherein we link back to the hopes, fears, anxieties, troubles, passions and so on, that are awaiting us. It is in the first hour of our day that we have a real opportunity to affect our day, as we can insert into this open and vulnerable state some seeds for what we want our day to be governed by and how we want its nature to be. This is the prime time for creating our day for real!

Here are some suggested thoughts and practices for this crucial part of the day:

  • Try to give yourself a little more time in the morning. Even fifteen minutes can help – half an hour is better. If you usually need an hour to get ready to leave for work or to get into the business of the day, wake fifteen minutes (or more) earlier.

  • Avoid making any decisions in the first hour of your day, because this is the time of the day that is prime for aligning yourself to what is important to you. Also try to avoid in this initial period engaging in what you have to do today, any problems or challenges you are facing, and any of the practicalities the day holds in store.

  • To help call over what is important and of value to you, you might want to give yourself prompts, such as: What are the important values in my life? What do I champion and uphold, or want to support, in this world? If so, maybe spend a couple of minutes on each point in a light pondering way. If nothing occurs, don't worry – you have to prime this process and it may take time to get your faculty used to doing it. You might even want to buy yourself a particular notebook or notepad for the process for this call-over part of creating your day.

    This call–over time can be done anywhere in the home where you feel comfortable, even in bed. You might want to build a link into the process – have a favourite picture or item nearby, or light a candle, etc. You also might want to include one of the Think2Create contemplations to make a difference to the world as part of this process, or perhaps read the T2C Morning Contemplation. It is important to not put yourself under any pressure within the call–over process. It is not a question of coming to something definite or impressive; the importance of this process is from you to you.

  • It can be very useful to also ask yourself: ‘How do I feel today?’ This involves running a quick check process on yourself – how are your mind, senses, emotions, body and so on. This is simply a way of gathering yourself together for the day, rather like a pilot in an aeroplane checking his equipment.

  • Now, at this point in the process you’ll be much better placed to think about what lies in store for you today. So on your piece of paper or notebook, or using the T2C Diary Plan, make a note of areas that are important for you to tackle today. Don't go into details - rather write the general areas. This is a process of putting in front of you today’s requirements without immediately rushing into details or worries. As an example, you may need to call your friend Jim who you haven't seen for a while. Note down ‘Jim’ on your piece of paper – perhaps with the word next to it ‘re–connect’. Or you may have to chair a meeting to look at future directions of the company today and you may simply put down ‘Future cast up/facilitation’. This vital aspect of creating your outcomes is covered in more detail elsewhere but is an important part of creating your day.

  • Finally, looking at your daily sheet or sheet of paper, if you have chosen to put pen to paper, spend a moment or two casting up how you want to be through the day and see if you can write down a few words for this, such as ‘steady’, ‘bright’ or ‘non–reactive’.

This process of creating your day can be developed by you in any way you want. For some people it might include meditation (such as the T2C Gratitude Meditation), gentle exercise such as Tai Chi or yoga, pottering around the home or tending to the pets or plants. It really is down to you, and depends on what works for you – each of us is unique, and for each person their process of creating their day will be different. What is important is that you are taking this time to take stock of you and your values before lunging into the day. You are beginning to determine how you want to be, rather than making this a hit–or–miss factor in your day.

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