Video transcription
This morning I want to talk to you about … this morning. Morning’s have several distinctive characteristics, but in the context of building a new habit there is one that is more important than any other; and that is that they are the beginning of the day. The beginning of anything is such an important time. There are 2 kinds of beginnings.
The first is a kind of pseudo beginning. It’s not a real beginning, but more like the continuation of what was already going on. It’s like hitting the play button on a song that you had temporarily paused. The same song you were listening to just carries on playing, and nothing has really changed. I call this kind of beginning the “machine” beginning because it’s like we’re unpausing the machine.
The second kind of beginning is a different kind of beginning. A beginning, by definition, is the place where something begins, where it springs into being.
And the critical question that accompanies every beginning is the idea of the destination, or at the very least a trajectory. Maybe we don’t know exactly where we are going but we kind of know it’s in …this… general direction.
Now if you could go anywhere, where would you go? You would probably go in the direction towards what was important to you. Because if you could go anywhere why would you bother wasting your time going towards anything that wasn’t important to you?
So a real beginning, or what I call an “awakened” beginning, starts with the question “what is important?” and ends with the affirmation of the answer you come to.
Everything new brought consciously and intentionally into the world starts with an “awakened” beginning.
Enter stage left your first hero – the Master. Or rather, he or she has already been centre stage because they are your hero who is asking and affirming this question.
So let’s come back to THIS morning. The start of a new day! So what sort of day do you want? Is this a day that you unpause the song that was playing yesterday, and the day before? Is today going to be a “machine” beginning to the day? Because if you’re perfectly happy with everything your yesterday’s are bringing you then that could be a rational strategy.
However if there is anything new you want to bring into your life, you need an “awakened” beginning to your day. It’s like the movie “The Matrix”. An awakened beginning starts with a red pill.
And this is why your Master hero is so essential. If you choose an awakened start to your day, for instanceeeee …. because you’ve decided its important to build a new habit, then the first hero to turn to is your Master.
He or she starts with that question “What is important” :-). So what IS important to you today? What do you want from your day? Imagine you could find some time and energy to work towards anything, and that over time you combined your “working in” with “working on”. You could probably build … lots of cool shit. And that could DEFINITELY include building a robust version of the habit you’re working on at the moment.
After asking “what is important” your Master affirms this answer to you, like a kind of loving, BUT FIRM, inner-parent, or wiser-self. When your Master hero asks “what is important” and you remember,,,, you connect back to yourself, and what you want to stand for in your life, and in your world.
So what is important to you about you about the habit you are working on? Ask, and connect, and affirm that now. And then go forth into your day.