Danielle North - Morning Meditations: Simple Practices to Begin Your Day with Joy, Energy, and Intention

First published in the United States in 2022 by Chronicle Books LLC.

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by Aster, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ, www.octopusbooks.co.uk .

Text copyright 2021 Danielle North.

Illustrations copyright 2021 SpaceFrog Designs.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-7972-1512-9 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-7972-1513-6 (ebook)

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107

www.chroniclebooks.com

We are often in a hurry in the morning. Trying to get somewhere as the new day dawns. It seems so habitual to jump into action as soon as we get out of bed, so necessary almost to get up, grab a coffee, and get going.

Yet there is an energy in the early hours of the day that is beautifully silent, still, and peaceful. A time before the dawn has fully broken, when the birds have not yet started singing, when the connection to spirit (and therefore to yourself) is available more fully than at any other time of day. This space between the end of the night and the beginning of the day is a place suited to silence. It is a time of meditation and of the realms of the dreamworld, and a perfect place to connect more deeply with yourself as the day begins. Holding this still and sacred space is the beauty of mornings.

Its not always possible when you are juggling a lot of priorities, but what if the stillness could support the juggle? Keep it simple to start with and set your alarm ten minutes early, so you can enjoy your morning tea in silence. Or perhaps turn off the alarm and the radio on weekends and experience silence as you wake up naturally to start your day.

When we wake up in the morning, there is a subtle space between waking and reality. That space holds an emptiness before the thoughts begin to crowd the mind, and how welcome those thoughts are will depend on how you feel and what is going on in your life.

You might wake from a dream and feel as if that dream state is your waking stateand you emerge into your day feeling deliciously cozy or deeply grateful. Or perhaps you wake feeling disorientated, with a jolt, experiencing the emotions you had while you were dreaming, gasping for breath, or with tears rolling down your cheeks, or your heart tight with anxiety. For some people, going to bed doesnt mean falling asleep or staying asleep, so you may already have been awake long before dawn. However you start your day, there is an opportunity to treat that space as special and sacred by using morning rituals.

The following suggestions are just thatsuggestions. These rituals are not a list of requirements that you have to incorporate into your morning, but food for thought and perhaps inspiration for you to deepen your relationship with yourself, become grounded, and have greater clarity, focus, and direction.

By their very nature, rituals work best when practiced regularly over time. When we do that, the ritual eventually becomes so natural, so habitual, that life without it would seem strange. But there is a period of time before that happens when the practice might feel challenging or too time-consuming, and its sticking to it during these times that eventually leads to a breakthrough. To get started, I suggest you choose one or two rituals and weave them into your morning routine for six months, to discover what happens.

As you prepare to go on the journey these pages offer, I want to share a final note to remind you that day and night are connected. Light does not exist without the dark. How you end your day and how you begin your day are symbiotic, and functioning with them as part of a whole will bring positive benefits to your overall experience of living.

May your beautiful soul always shine brightly.

Mountains of love,
Danielle x