Before the Sun is Up

I absolutely love my 7-3 work schedule and watching August wind down marks the end of the schedule for the fall and winter months.

It's harder to get up before the sun is up to be at work before 7, but considering that most of the winter is spent that way, I'd much rather stay this way.

There's something about starting my day early, and being able to come home afterwards and still have time to get things done - today I'll be going straight from work to get my Philly Car Share membership kit. I'm tired of not having a back-up for when my car is getting worked on, and even though there aren't many (just 1?) pods out near me, if it's something I can plan ahead for (or if we're going to the Philly Ikea!) I can get a car from the city pretty easily as well. Luckily it won't be needed for our trip next week (we'll have been on the road for hopefully almost 6 hours by this time next Thursday morning), but it's nice to know that it's there. And it's nice to know that I will be getting done with work early enough to go pick up my materials instead of waiting for them to mail them to me.

The baby squirrel wasn't at the station yesterday when I went to look. The leaves were still mostly in place so I'm really hoping its mom came to get it. What a sweet little thing.

Finding Time

I've read a lot about finding time to do things. Most recently I was paging through a book I bought as a gift for a person I don't even know. One of the Ravelry Groups I belong to is called Yoga Swap. And though I don't 'have time' to practice, I long for the feeling I got when I used to 'have time' to practice. I consider myself a practitioner, even though I don't get to practice, mostly because I try to work the ideas into my daily life. I try to pay attention to my breathing, to my posture, to the positioning of my body as I perform my daily tasks.

One of the challenges of the swap is to include something with the word or symbol for Om. A challenge that pleased me because Om is very dear to me, I have it tattooed on the back of my neck to remind me of my connection to the universe. To remember that the movement of my body and mind are part of Creation and that we are all a part of each other.

I found a book on Amazon called Om Yoga Today - your practice in 5, 10, 15, 30, 60 or 75 minutes (or something along those lines). I'm going to buy it for myself. It's lovely. It has a 5 minute yoga practice, and goes on, including the Sun Salutations sequence I so love. This way I can fit yoga back into my schedule, instead of lamenting every Sunday morning that goes by that leaves me unable to attend the class to practice. There's something about an 11 am on a Sunday that makes it hard to find time to go.

I called this blog A Cup of Tea because it reminds me to slow down, center myself and find some time for myself. Even if it is only 5 minutes, writing allows me to slow down and focus on relaxing my mind as well as my body. Just like a cup of tea can either get me started at the beginning of a long day, refreshes me in the middle of the day, or settles me down for the night.