Tea First, Everything Else Later
Designed by BearmoreWhen you wake up already racing.
Ease into the day instead of hitting the ground running. A mindfully made tea, some serious reading, a contemplative meditation, and some time playing an instrument.
The runsheet
Tea ritual
Eating (mindful)Tea, made properly, works as a morning anchor. Warm the pot, leave it the full four minutes, and settle in somewhere you can sit for the full twelve minutes.
12 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing eating (mindful) before reading (mindful)
This works well because any calm, satisfied state from mindful eating can carry into patient, engaged reading.
Read Shakespeare or archaeology
Reading (mindful)Twenty-five minutes to read something with some depth. Choose reading that asks some deeper thinking of you. Pick a play, a history, or a long-form essay you have been circling, and do not rush it.
25 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing reading (mindful) before open awareness
These go especially well together because reading's single-point focus widens naturally into open awareness.
Ten minutes of meditation
Open awarenessTen minutes of attention with no object. Let the morning have one long pause, ten minutes of meditation without your phone or an agenda.
10 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing open awareness before creating music
This works well because any spacious awareness can help you create music from a place of flow rather than forced effort.
Music practice
Creating musicTwenty minutes on an instrument, ideally one you do not play very well. A sustained practice on an instrument is time where nothing else should intrude. A whistle, a recorder, the same five chords on a guitar, it doesn’t matter, you choose.
20 min activityTime well spent.
1h 21m spent doing something good for yourself.
The breakdown
Burst evaluation
Wellbeing focus
About this Burst
This Burst is a viable morning routine: a properly-made cup of tea, some slow reading, a few minutes of quiet meditation, and twenty minutes to play an instrument.