Each morning we awake to a new day, full of possibility and mystery. We don’t know how it will unfold or end or where our grief may take us after a loss. This can give us feelings of powerlessness and lack of control, yielding a sense of fear at what unexpected emotions and experiences might appear.
What we do have a say in is how we begin each day and what we choose to bring into our minds, bodies and environments.
I love setting the tone of my day by reading this beautiful poem by John O’Donohue aloud each morning. It speaks of the richness, wonder, beauty and opportunity we all have as the sun rises.
Read it and feel how it resonates for you and your soul.
A Morning Offering by John O’Donohue
I bless the night that nourished my heart
To set the ghosts of longing free
Into the flow and figure of dream
That went to harvest from the dark
Bread for the hunger no one sees.
All that is eternal in me
Welcome the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.
I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Wave of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.
May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.
Try reading this each morning of the coming week. Notice any shifts in your thinking and emotions as you read it and throughout your days.
Tell me in an email what you notice as you practice this. (Send to [email protected]) I would love to hear how reading these beautiful words feeds your soul or changes some of your perceptions.