“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll

I’ve never been a morning person. Like, at all. Let’s just say there’s more than one reason my favorite fairy tale is “Sleeping Beauty”! I am a night girl – give me the dreaming stars of twilight, dancing moths and bats and night flowers, fireflies and moonlight all the way.

But, recently, I have discovered the particular magic of dawn. This was entirely by accident.

A few months ago, I moved out to the countryside. I got a small loft apartment with a spiral staircase and huge windows that I absolutely love… but, in the first few weeks of being there, I found it a bit hard to sleep. It was just TOO quiet, too peaceful! And, frankly, there had been a lot on my mind, and I had a lot of worries. And so I found myself going to bed in the wee hours of the morning, if at all. And it was in this way that I discovered how amazing those wee hours of morning can be.

One particular morning, I was sitting around feeling kinda sorry for myself when the sunrise began, and both Grimmy and Pye (my cats, Grimalkin and Pyewacket) jumped into the big front window of our new place to watch it. Aside from a few chirping birds, it was completely quiet and still… and there was such beauty, such promise, such renewed hope in those dawn moments, in that liminal space between one day and the next. And I felt like both kittens were looking at me like, “see this beautiful gift, Mom?” and I can’t even describe how much happier and more rejuvenated I felt.

With this in mind, I started cultivating my mornings, dedicating that time to ritual, to setting up my day in the most magical way I possibly could. Here are a few tips on how to do that –

1. Get up with the dawn – Okay, I get it, this is NOT going to work for everyone, every single day. But I like to try to get up with the sun on the days that I can, simply because of what I described above. The dawn is the most hopeful part of the day. It is full of possibilities. And setting your day up with that kind of magic in your heart is pretty much unbeatable. Those liminal, in-between times are when the veil between worlds is thinnest after all ;). So try it (sometimes!)

2. Light a candle – Lighting a candle has become my go to way to enter magical space. It’s a simple, quick thing you can do to signal your brain that it’s time to switch gears, to mark a moment as significant and special, and you can do it anytime. In the morning, it’s my signal to go into [[morning ritual mode]] :P.

3. Make a cup of tea – With your candle flickering, take the time to make a cup of tea. Savor the experience. Smell the leaves, taste the different flavors. Don’t just do it on autopilot, really make note of each step, make it a kind of mini-meditation. Speaking of which…

4. Meditate – This is another practice that REALLY helps me. I used to be one of those people that thought meditation was about, like, keeping really still and not thinking about anything. SO not true! The key is actually just focus, and my favorite meditations are the ones that consist of affirmations designed to capture and center your attention. Basically you just focus on and repeat a variety of sentences that help get your mind into the right place for the day. There are even some out there that are all about making your day magical (obviously those are my favorites!) I have two apps that I love for this – Calm and Insight Timer. Calm is great if you want a more structured guide to starting your meditation practice (though you do sadly have to pay for it to get the best stuff.) Insight Timer is fantastic for its selection of wonderful FREE meditation sessions that you can search by keyword, filter by how much time you have, etc. For example, I found some of my favorite meditations by searching the keyword “Magic” on Insight Timer :).

5. Make a gratitude list – Okay, I know, this one always makes it on people’s lists for things to do every day. And, frankly, it always sounded kinda… over the top to me. However, our friend Shveta swears by it, and even my Mom has been doing it recently, so I gave it a shot and, honestly, it really DOES make the morning seem a touch more enchanted when you think about things you’re thankful for in your life. I make a list of 5 things because that always seems doable, even when I’m feeling down. You can write it down if you want to, but I find it works just as well if you say them to yourself (or even out loud or to a friend if you like!) One thing that always makes the list? CARTERHAUGH! :D!

6. Think of 6 Impossible Things – You don’t have to believe them (unless you want to!), but try to come up with six marvelous, strange, and wonderful things before you sit down to breakfast. Cats with wings! Tomato soup rivers! A bird that only sings metal songs or a mushroom that gives you the ability to whistle (but only for 20 minutes!) A car that you can drive underwater! A shower that covers you in (easily removable) glitter! See, it’s not so hard… and it’s the perfect way to get your creative wheels turning :).

So basically what I’m saying is, even if you’re a nightbird, give morning magic a shot. You might be surprised :). Do you guys have any morning rituals you absolutely love? Hit reply here or post in our Facebook group if so, I’d *LOVE* to hear about them!!

P.S. Would you like a pretty, printable download featuring the tips above? Just click here! It’s great to just stick up on your refrigerator as a reminder :).