Good Morning ☀️

Two more lovely shots taken by the delightful Guy New York in Piper’s Brooklyn apartment back in 2017.

And also two things that I totally forgot to mention in yesterdays post about starting the mornings gently:

1. I meant to share Joie’s advice for gentle mornings and putting your body and mind in the right headspace. She slowly moves her body around and stretches and says out loud to herself “Good morning Joie! I love you so much, and I’m going to take good care of you today.” Now I know talking out loud so kindly to yourself might seem insane, and I will admit that when she first suggested this to me it felt impossible. But now I am not afraid to say it, and believe it too. Because guess what, I’ve taken care of myself this whole time! Every day! And what I really needed for most of my life was someone trustworthy and loving and tough to say that to me as I opened my eyes to greet the day. And here I am to say it. 🙇🏻‍♀️ When I say it I can feel my body relax. I can feel the warm rush in. It doesn’t feel silly anymore. Tracy Ellis Ross often talks about these kinds of gentle affirmations to your “Little Self” too. Wise women. (I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention that Joie’s other foolproof morning advice is masturbation. It’s winter and a girl needs all the serotonin she can get. 😜)

2. When you have young children your day often starts with your name being shouted after not enough sleep, you hit the ground running. The tough part is it’s difficult to be intentional when you’re exhausted, and this phase of life often feels like survival mode. The delightful part is that tiny human is often very snuggly or very excited to greet the day or full of zest and zeal. A nod to all of the mama’s and caregivers with wee ones for their mornings of devotion. ❤️ My kids are teenagers now so it’s flipped… I’m dragging them out of bed late in the mornings with excitement for the day and they’re like “5 more minutes… where do you get this energy from??? Settle down Julie Andrew’s some of us need to sleep.” (Nobody roasts you like your teenagers will roast you, so enjoy the cheerios and sleepy snuggles while you can. 😸)

(Don’t forget to comment on yesterdays’ “Gentle, Gentle” post for a chance to win some saucy mail from me and Ms.O!🔥)