Day 29: Mindful Writing Exercise – A Life Like Sun

Welcome to Day 29 of the Mindful Mornings Challenge. Today's session is a little different – we will be doing a mindful writing exercise with poet Jacqueline Suskin. Journalling in the morning can be a very cleansing exercise, a time to be quiet and curious as you write down any ideas that were brewing in your sleep. We hope you enjoy sitting with Jacqueline and learning from her morning habits.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to Day 29 of the Mindful Mornings Challenge here on Insight Timer.

My name is Jacqueline Suskin,

And it's a pleasure to be here,

Starting the day together.

The morning is my favorite part of the day.

I've always been early to rise,

Sometimes before the sun,

Often to watch the sun come up over the ridgeline.

I worship it and appreciate its coming and going.

I love to see the first light when possible,

And I write about the sun frequently in my work.

I also really like the quiet and calm I find in the hours before others wake.

As an empath,

There is a frequency that I tap into when other folks are resting,

And that is a very healing and energizing time for me.

I wake up around 7am,

Drink some water,

And sit at my altar.

I'll give myself a few moments to think about my dreams,

To remember them if they offer insight,

And then I light a candle to greet the day.

I clear my mind and burn some sweet smelling plant,

Asking to be cleansed of all I need not,

To cast out anything heavy,

All that doesn't serve.

Then I ask the good things to stay,

That the benevolent spirits remain.

I pray for whatever comes to mind,

For prosperity,

To end suffering and oppression,

For clarity,

For justice,

For protection.

Then I usually move through gratitude.

Sometimes I speak or sing,

Sometimes I breathe into my chakras for alignment,

Sometimes I meditate for a long period.

I ask for clarity on how I can best be in service,

And how to be a better steward of the earth.

I commune with something cosmic,

The will of life,

The universe,

God,

Goddess,

Whatever I feel like calling it that day.

This altar time is a ceremony that I take seriously every morning,

But I also let it remain fluid.

The practice is always changing,

It's built from the mood of the day.

Nothing decided upon ahead of time besides that I always show up.

I never miss a morning or a night at my altar.

Here is a poem I wrote about my altar time.

It's called Heart Rock.

On the bank of the Trinity River,

I find a heart-shaped rock,

Perfectly smooth,

With a big scar in the center.

I used to fill my pockets with treasure,

Pebbles,

Shells,

Bones,

And bark.

Now I just hold each one and put it back where it came from,

A prayer to remain in place.

But this worn stone,

With its distinct injury slightly shining in the sun,

Comes home with me.

It sits in the center of my altar,

And I coddle it every morning.

I cup it gently,

And it exists as an unruined symbol of ongoing work.

The might of mending that is left in my hands alone.

My altar ritual starts the day with a reminder of my purpose,

And it grounds me in the sacred nature of being,

In the great gift of waking up again,

In this rare form that I somehow get to inhabit.

It allows me to name the day as holy and honorable.

When I start the day seated respectfully in awe,

Whatever follows is always touched by this beginning.

It's as if I give myself a suggestion,

A prompt that starts the day off with sacred intention,

A recommendation to try and treat the whole day the way I treat my altar time.

It's so important for me to have mornings like this,

Slow,

Quiet,

Free-forming,

And observant.

I've worked hard to set my life up in a way that supports this ritual.

It's this ritual that keeps me open and grounded in my work as a poet.

I'm privileged to be able to begin each day engaged in my creative practice.

I don't always write my best poems in the morning,

But it's pretty typical.

My mind is fresh when I sit down to my desk after being with my altar.

I like what I find when I'm centered and in attendance,

When the sun is just getting going and I haven't yet looked at my phone or answered to anyone.

It doesn't always work like this.

Sometimes there's a pressing need.

Sometimes I don't sleep well and I wake up wanting something easier.

Yet it's true that if I push through and set a boundary,

Make sure I do these things before anything else,

The day is always better for it.

I invite you now to open up your journal,

Take a few deep breaths and let yourself write freely,

Without too much thought.

Maybe you'll write about your dreams.

Maybe you'll write about the sunrise.

Or maybe a list of gratitude to begin your day.

Maybe you'll write a prayer.

Sometimes the way a poem forms is through the task of noticing,

Of celebrating the mundane,

Of praising the details that surround us.

Here is an example of one of my morning poems to give you some inspiration.

It's called Watermelon and Oranges.

In the morning I eat watermelon and oranges.

I'm barefoot but wearing a thick wool coat.

I forget what day it is,

What season,

What chores call me out into the yard.

I give rinds to the chickens,

Drop seeds for the wood rats and leave the sweet juice on my mouth as I read a few poems aloud to the snow-covered mountains.

In my book Every Day as a Poem,

I walk readers through many writing exercises and we begin with the practice of finding awe.

Starting the day with a sense of awe and reverential respect can help us carry a deeper sense of ongoing appreciation.

What are you in awe of this morning?

What catches your interest or pulls on your heart?

If it's something heavy,

Is there a way to highlight a lesson in it or some beauty in the shadow?

Here's an example of a poem of mine that celebrates a moment of awe.

The memory that this piece holds for me is something I return to when I need to tap into wonder.

Perhaps you can write something this morning for yourself that's based on a memory or a moment in your life that helps you circle back to a feeling of awe.

The poem is called Sunrise Moonset.

The phone gives a single ring at 6 a.

M.

To say,

Look.

I slip on my coveralls and round the corner of the house,

Cup of tea in hand,

To check the orchard.

All the trees are still alive.

To my right,

I see the sun come up over the mountains,

The usual wink of orange gold between blood-red clouds.

To my left,

The moon startles me.

Its full white form is sinking on the opposite horizon.

My mouth hangs open.

I hold my breath and remember I'm in orbit.

I'm floating in space on a circular water rock.

Am I really here for this gesture of synchronicity,

To see both bright orbs at once,

Alive in motion,

Star and planet bowing to one another?

So much of writing poetry is found in practice,

Not in preparation or planning,

But the act of sitting down at a desk and putting something on the page.

Be gentle with yourself as you write this morning,

Just casually filling up a page or two with the first thoughts of the day,

Clearing your mind of dreams and the fog of sleep.

Return to the focus of the sun,

This great gift of light that greets us again and again.

How does it feel to sit with it and try to praise it with language?

Let the sun be your subject matter for at least five minutes.

See what memories come up,

What comparisons and ideas.

Here is another example poem rooted in observing the sun.

It's called The Center of the Planet is a Star.

I write down all of my animal encounters in a handmade journal.

I hiked the oasis,

Go to bed early,

Wake up early,

Light a fire in the wood stove.

I bring more color into my body.

I say the name of the sky over and over.

I see the black feather on the bench,

The pumpkin-sized cloud,

The fish scale in the sand and the milkweed seed caught in my sweater since last summer.

Every morning I envision the roots of myself traveling down into the earth.

I remember the center of the planet is a star.

I am not afraid to love it.

Above all,

My morning practice is built on a foundation of observation.

How does my body feel?

What ideas were brewing in my sleep?

What prayers came forth at my altar?

And how does all of this uplift my creative practice?

Ask yourself some similar questions.

Get quiet and curious and see how the poet in you begins to stir,

Begins to wake up.

I'll close with one more morning poem,

A simple tribute,

And hope that the morning muse inspires you to scrawl out some ramble of praise,

Some lyric that honors another beginning to get another day full of possibility on the page and beyond.

The poem is called A Life Like Sun.

The winds came last night and brought in a thick wall of gray that blocks the sunrise,

Some blue in the west,

Always something blooming in the west.

Ravens float in the low hanging oxygen,

Reveling and gathering visions.

A pair of thrashers balance on the spikes of the yucca,

One mouth feeding the other.

The sun never stays hidden for too long here.

It comes back with rays and shadows,

Untired and burning,

Both of us continuing to rise again and again.

Thank you for taking the time to sit and slow down to start your morning with me today.

I hope this session has demonstrated how meditative,

Mindful writing can be a clearing of your mind as you begin the day.

Best of luck tomorrow for Day 30.

Reviews

I’m inspired by your voice and the cadence with which you speak your chosen words and I have sat down to try for what poetry might be

This inspired me to write a poem this morning about me Dad and the release of a butterfly in his name as he passed recently. Thank you.

Beautiful, thank you! Inspired to pick up my morning pages journal again for the first time in eight months! 🙏🏼 Sally

What a wonderful routine for starting your day. Thanks for sharing it!!
Lovely!🙏💖

Thank you

I felt inspired by your poems. Thanks for sharing your daily ritual.

Thank you so much for sharing your morning ritual ❤

There’s a lovely meditative quality to your writing. Thank you ✨

Simply wonderful! Thank you!
Namaste 🙏
👼💖🌹🌻⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

That was lovely. Beautifully written, heartfelt poems. Thank you.

We live similar lives, thank you for your vivid demonstrations on morning ritual and reverent observation of each new sun. 🙏

Jacqueline highlights a beautiful process and methodology for awakening the creative soul within. I very much appreciate the powerful Positive change that can come with the simplicity of time alone with a page and a pen.

This was unexpected and a wonderful exercise - thank you for including it in the series!
The poetry was beautiful and inspiring.

Lovely suggestions for getting ther most out of an early morning routine with time to question & time to process. You are stardust! Thank you!

This exercise really surprised me. I have ended up with a beautiful poetic reflection that I’m sure will transform my day. It’s grey and rainy here - not the usual sunshine we get in my part of the world - and I was feeling a bit down. This exercise allowed me to see the beauty and purpose in the grey and rain. I’ll continue to work on my poetic meditation practice. 🌼

Really spoke to my heart and inspired me to follow.

Always gets me inspired to write morning poems❤️

Thank you. I really enjoyed that. And actually I realized I enjoy writing from my mind and going to do more of it now I know and feel I can.
Thank you xx

I love this practice. You made me feel like their is creativity within me that I did not know I had. Thank you 🙏

I like the creativity that was encouraged by this practice. I wrote a full page of what I am thankful for and towards the end I started to get poetic. Thanks for bringing that out of me.