"Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Although I lost my status as a Night Owl years ago when I became a parent, I'm not always a Morning Lark either. Most days, I seem to wake myself up just a few minutes before my alarm rings, but sometimes, I need a bigger jolt to get myself out of bed. Previously, on mornings when I was feeling particularly groggy, I would reach for my iPhone and scan the latest headlines. Out of bed I'd jump, thoroughly alarmed!

A couple of days before New Year's Eve, I read an interview from the fall issue of GQ with one of my favorite actors, Aziz Ansari, who writes and stars in one of my favorite shows, Master of None. He was talking about how he took the news off his phone and is so much happier as a result:

"It doesn't feel like we're reading news for the reason we used to, which was to get a better sense of what's going on in the world and to enrich yourself by being aware. It seems like we're reading wrestling rumors. It's like reading about what happened on Monday Night Raw. When you take a step back, it all just seems so sensationalized... So if you take yourself out of it, you're not infected with this toxicity all the time."

I didn't even know it was possible to remove the news from my iPhone. I thought it was a built-in feature--whenever I swiped left from the home screen, there was an assortment of hysterical, apocalyptic headlines waiting just for me, courtesy of Siri's automatic suggestions. But after a little bit of googling, I found out how to remove those headlines. Guess what? My mornings are now news-less and much more peaceful.

I'm not saying that I never look at the news anymore. Sometimes, later in the day, I'll check in to see what's happening. But the point is that I don't assault myself with the headlines first thing in the morning. I have to actively seek out the news, and now I do it when I'm mentally prepared to deal with it. It also helps enormously that I get to choose my own news sources, instead of taking Siri's suggestions.

Yesterday at the library, I was reading a back issue of O magazine and here's what Oprah Winfrey had to say about her morning routine:

"The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is read something inspiring. I like jump-starting my day with a reminder that I am a spiritual being having a human experience. My favorite teachings are always within reach, right on my nightstand."

I'm with Oprah. (That must be a hashtag, right?) Here's to mornings that begin with inspiring words instead of alarming ones.

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Before you go...

• If this post resonated with you and you'd like more mindfulness and creativity in your daily life, my next e-course, Soul Focus: Finding Peace Through Photography, starts just one week from today, on January 16, 2018. Join me! All the details are in this link, but if you have any questions, email me at [email protected]. Hope to see you "in class!"
  
• On the same topic as this post, here's one from the archives: Could You Put Yourself on a News Diet?

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Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/ralph_waldo_emerson

Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/ralph_waldo_emers