Take your time! An invitation

by Matti Straub-Fischer

We live in busy world and we live busy lives. On the one side we want to be supporting others – be this our partners, our children, our team members, our relatives, our animals or plant friends, or the communities and circle of friends we are a part of. And at the same time we need to care for ourselves, to take the time to do what we feel is important for our own growth and learning so we can be more balanced and healthy to be able to give again to others. And often we push the limits a bit too much.

How can you start gently into your day?

Creating a morning practice for yourself that allows you to have a few moments in the morning for yourself to just be and listen to what is going on inside of ourselves – is growing your balance and resilience for the day to come.

What is your morning routine? Does it work for you? With Covid19 our lives have shifted quite a bit. For some of us it means that we are in home-office, and so are our partners and our kids may not yet have picked up their previous school rhythm either. And unless you take your own time in the morning, pretty soon your business meetings will start earlier and earlier. So how can you create a new morning practice that feels energizing to you?

Whatever works for you – whether it is taking a moment in bed to slowly wake up and remember your dreams and listen for messages for your day, or whether you want to wake up with a cup of coffee or tea and simply sit on your veranda looking out over the garden, a park or into the sky. Allow yourself the time it takes to get yourself into this day, to listen what is going on inside. This is an invitation. Sometimes this may only take a few minutes in the morning to listen and connect to the Elements and Nature to feel part of something bigger and be strengthened in our moving forward. Sometimes it may serve to take a bit longer. The invitation is: Take the time it takes.

What needs my attention today?

Once we have been able to listen to what is needed for our own balance and growth, it is then a good moment to look over our day and week in the morning and see what may be ahead. And maybe you want to start taking a few more minutes for waking up your body. Focussing on your breath for a few moments and with every exhale letting go of what no longer serves us.

Crafting an intention for your day

What do I want for myself today? What am I hungry for? What dreams do I want to manifest and move closer to? What is needed?

Taking a moment to listen to what wants to emerge as your intention for this day and writing it down in a logbook, is a powerful practice. When you are with your family, your partner or your children, you can create a collective practice of sharing your intentions for your day at breakfast. The writing down helps to be able to check back in with our focus of attention later on – over lunch and maybe again in the later afternoon to be able to course-correct when needed.

In the evening, we invite you to write a few observations in your logbook: How was I able to stay on track? What went well? And what got me off the desired intentional pathway? What can I learn so I can be better tomorrow? The practice of holding a gentle focus over time and follow up with your observations in your logbook will enable you to be way better on track and to have more energy as you are navigating your day.

Digesting and letting go

When you are on your way home from your school or work, it is a moment to review your experiences and the meetings you had this day. What is needed now? What may require your attention? Are there any tensions or conflicts that have been stirred or that came to the surface today? What is your part in the co-creation? What can you learn from this situation? What is not yours to carry? Can you let go of it?

When you are in home-office, maybe a walk around the block or into a nearby forest or to the water can help to create the necessary shift and transition in your day, so you can be more present with your loved ones later in the evening.

If you feel like you could use some help in creating your morning practice, or would like to join a global community of people who practices similar routines, you can join a group that loves doing what you are doing in the morning. Or you can join our 7Generations Mindfulness Practice which we hold 2-3 times per week.

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Matti Straub-Fischer is a Senior Consultant & Council Guide at 7Generations. For the past 30 years he has been working with teams world-wide. And over time he has developed various forms of daily practices including breathwork, dancing, singing, stillness and meditation, going for walks in nature or simply taking a moment to connect to the mystery of life every morning when sipping a cup of coffee. Matti lives with his wife in the Gantrisch area outside of Bern, Switzerland.

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