Morning temptations and habits to fight them

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For many, waking up can mean temptations to sloth, to self-absorption. Difficult thoughts may assault you before you are up and about.

How do you fight these demons? What is your early morning routine for the first hour after waking up? What is your first prayer of the day?
 
I must admit my solution is rather simple. The first issue is always getting out if bed. I just use my phone as my alarm and set it across the room (well out of reach) and give it a very loud and obnoxious ring tone (mine is a loud low quality Sienfeld theme), thereby forcibly removing me from my bed.

One piece of advice I give is to; avoid going straight to the computer or on your phone to browse for instant gratification. That’ll just make everything else seem harder to do in comparison. This is something that I can attest to, I struggle with this.

Otherwise, just get ready however you prefer, maybe you dress then eat breaky or the other way around like me. Just remember it isn’t about hurrying around instantly and jumping right out of bed. You can take it slowly and if you’re anything like me you like it that way.

I must admit, I don’t properly sit (or kneel really) down and pray in the morning. I find there is rarely much that compels me to in the morning. Unless, I perhaps have something important on in which case I would pray how you might expect. However, if you find the morning a struggle then you have plenty to pray on and I’m sure others can better help you with that, than I might.
 
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Christphr said:
For many, waking up can mean temptations to sloth, to self-absorption. Difficult thoughts may assault you before you are up and about.

How do you fight these demons? What is your early morning routine for the first hour after waking up? What is your first prayer of the day?
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Regularly practice the intention to get up when you first wake up prior to going to bed. Explicitly tell yourself that you are going to do this. Think about it before you close your eyes to drift to sleep. As you frequently and regularly do this, your memory will snag onto this intention and pull you out of autopilot mode once you wake up. 28 days (4 weeks) of repetitive intention setting will build the foundations of a habit. If you miss a day, just restart the intention setting the following night.

The 2nd stage is having the will to get up. You might remember that you are suppose to get up as soon as you wake up, but you could stay in bed anyway because of weak willpower. There are many techniques to Google for improving willpower. Whichever one you use, like anything it, it is something that develops over time and practice.

I invoke my Guardian Angel when I find my willpower being insufficient and sluggish, which happens often. So for example if you’re lying in bed and it’s time to get up, but you’re enveloped in the warmth and softness of your bed & blankets and… ah!.. the urge to linger in bed is very strong, I’ll pretend as if it is my Guardian Angel instead of me that is making me sit up.

You should also have something immediately to do once you get up, that way your brain is activated and engaged. This is the merit of making your bed. It’s fast, simple, and puts some extra tidiness in your life. Then you can start your prayers, brew some hot coffee or tea, pour a glass of orange juice, or do whatever it is you do.

Peace.
 
I’m retired, so I go to daily mass. What better reason to get up early!
 
If you have to wake up the children, feed them, and take them to 8am school, or 7am before-school activities, you may learn how to wake early. It sure worked for me!

When I pray in the morning, it is usually after they are at school and the house is quiet once again.
 
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Do something like washing some dishes from the night before. Or other physical activity. Moving wakes me up. Make coffee…
In terms of prayers read the morning prayers sometimes. Not always do this but when I pray mind just wakes up and wakes me up.
 
‘O my God! I offer Thee all my actions of this day for the intentions and for the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart, my every thought, my simplest works, by uniting them to Its infinite merits; and I wish to make reparation for my sins by casting them into the furnace of your Merciful Love.
O my God! I ask of Thee for myself and for those whom I hold dear, the grace to fulfill perfectly Thy Holy Will, to accept for love of Thee the joys and sorrows of this passing life, so that we may one day be united together in heaven for all Eternity.’ - St Therese of Lisieux
 
Oh! I envy any of you that can wake up and still want to remain cuddled in your warm blankets! . My bladder forces me to immediately get up…the joys of being a 66 year old female. I’m one of those folks that has no trouble getting out of bed and fixing coffee, breakfast, etc. just as long as I have enough time to do so at a leisurely pace. My daughter is one of those that doesn’t get up and ready for work until the last possible second and then has to rush through everything. Why doesn’t she just get up 10 minutes earlier to give herself a little more time? To her, those extra 10 minutes of sleep are more precious than rushing through getting ready. To me, it’s the opposite. People just have rhythms that work for them. If you feel a strong need to be slow and leisurely in the morning, give yourself the time to do so.
 
Get up, have some coffee and spend some time praying and being thankful for a new day. Be aware that that day will never come again. Only so many are granted to us and then no more.
 
Funny how people are different.

I wake up at least an hour before my alarm clock is set, and I can’t wait to get up and start the day, so I just get up and turn off the alarm, sometimes as early as 3:30 a.m. I read the Bible and pray, do some household chores, read email and CAF, get my day organized on paper, then drive to work and there by around 6:30 a.m.

Meanwhile my husband hears his alarm go off at least 3 times, and finally just shuts it off and sleeps until 8:30 a.m. when he usually get a phone call or text from a co-worker about some issue (they all work from home).

Then at night, after work, workouts, chores, etc. once I’ve eaten dinner and done dishes around 6:00 p.m., unless I have some kind of piano gig, I am totally wiped out. I yawn and become incoherent (if any of you ever read my night time posts on CAF, you can probably tell that I’m not thinking straight!–like right now!)l, and I usually snack, which is stupid because I just ate dinner. I turn on the TV and watch shows that I don’t have to concentrate on (Hoarders is one of my favorites, or I watch shows that I’ve already seen). And I fall asleep, usually by around 8:00 p.m.

Meanwhile, my husband finishes work around 5:30 p.m., eats dinner with me, and then gets busy on his hobbies. At 9:00, he’s still working on hobbies, but he often comes in to find me sleeping on the sofa. I drag myself off to bed and fall asleep within minutes, but my husband will stay awake until 1 or 2 in the morning working on hobbies, watching TV, reading (I can NEVER read at night because I fall asleep), or going online.

Weird, isn’t it?

I think it’s the way we were created, and I also think that our upbringing has a lot to do with it. My parents were both raised in the country, and they got up before dawn for chores, and they were always early birds while I was growing up. My husband’s parents were just the opposite–go to bed late and sleep until the last possible minute.
 
Before I even get out from under the covers I thank God for the day and ask His help and guidance.

Then it’s onto the morning rush – there’s no time to be tempted to sloth! 😂
 
I try not to think too much straightaway and make sure I’m fully awake before prayer. I can be a little irritated first thing, this passes within about two or three minutes usually, then it’s safe for me to pray.

If you do suffer from that kind of irritation initially on waking you might like to think in terms of brain chemical effects rather than devils etc. It can simply be annoying knowing that you must get up and burst into action. Be a little patient and it passes soon enough.
 
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