Wake-Up to Something Beautiful | Make One Simple Change to Your Morning Routine | Inspiring Story #157

I dreamed of mountains, I dreamed of sea. I found myself in Lesvos, Greece. I've stepped out from reality and into a world where it seems time has stood still. Everything moves at a gentler, slower pace here in Skalochori - I move at a gentler, slower place.

Even the goats in the street. Even the sheep. People smile as you pass. "Yasou", the women wave, the men nod. The village plumber's wife brings us risogalo straight from her kitchen.

It's warm and sweet and the custard slips down your throat like a satin sheet slipping from your bed.

Nikos the baker holds up a sesame bread-stick with two hands stretched out toward me, he smiles, his eyes sparkle and he says, "This is for the goritsi" - the girl.

I've gone back in time. I'm a girl again.  This is wonderful. It's morning. Church bells ring across the valley and wooden wind-chimes join the birdsong gently prodding me awake. But I won't have it... just five more minutes please, let me sleep a moment longer.  

Let me finish my dream.

Open Your Eyes To Something Beautiful ...

         Like a blossom outside your window

I know what it's like to wake-up to a 6.00 AM alarm.   Beep, beep, beep.  Press snooze for fifteen minutes. Snooze again.

I'd sit up in bed, face a beige wall and sigh in dread before jumping out of bed, frantic. I'd throw down a coffee, get dressed in my suit, grab a slice of toast with Vegemite and then I was out the door to face the bumper traffic.

I dreamed of a slower, more deliberate morning, but it just seemed so unattainable at the time. My life has changed so much since those exhausting days.

Big dreams are arrived at  through small steps.   One of the first things that needed to change was the way I did mornings, because the first thing you experience, when you open your eyes can set the tone for your day.   

One small change I made, that made a great impact, was to make sure I rise to something beautiful.  If it can't be a view of the ocean, or the valley of a mountain, could it be your favourite flower, a piece of art or a photograph?    Instead of an alarm, do you have a song or a sound that can help you rise with a good mood?

What's the first thing you see in the morning?   What's the first thing you hear?   Can you make one small adjustment to create a more pleasure experience for yourself?

Make  One Simple Change To Your Morning Routine

1. Take your journal and write ... 

How do you currently wake up in the morning? 
What senses are first engaged and how are they awakened?

What do you see?
What do you smell?
What do you hear?
What do you feel against your skin?
What do you first taste?

2. Now for each sense, make one small change.  
For example…

Sight
Put a picture somewhere your eyes naturally land.
Place an ornament
Open the curtains slightly before you sleep.
Let the first thing you see feel intentional.

Smell
Place something near your bed with a scent you love.
Fresh air. Linen spray. Coffee brewing.
Something that signals this is a new day.

Sound
Change what you wake up to.
Not noise… but something that meets you gently.
Music. Birds. Silence.

Touch
Notice what your body meets first.
Your sheets. The floor. The air.
Could it feel softer, warmer, more grounding?

Taste
What’s the first thing you consume?
Water. Tea. Coffee.
Let it be something you actually experience, not rush past.

3. Now pause and notice what changes.

Not just in your routine… but in you.

Does your morning feel slower?
More deliberate?
More like something you’re stepping into… rather than reacting to?

4. A gentle reflection

The way you wake up each day is not small.
It’s a quiet beginning… that shapes everything that follows.

You don’t need to change everything.
Just one sense. One shift. One moment of awareness.