After last week’s post about sleep, it felt right to follow up with some thoughts on my morning routine—specifically my quest for mindful mornings.

Welcome to the 85^th edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a decluttering challenge for the week. Along with mindful mornings, this week we look at Australian banks getting tough on fossil fuels, helping students with climate anxiety, the clean energy job boom, and decluttering digital photos.

On my mind this week: In search of mindful mornings

Last week’s Sunday Spark was all about sleep, so it felt right to follow that up with some thoughts on morning routines—specifically my quest for mindful mornings.

A few weeks after I retired from my full-time job, I wrote a post on Wise & Shine about the benefits of a morning routine. After following the same routine for over 20 years, I was finding it a little difficult to figure out what I wanted my mornings to look like as I start my next chapter.

Then, a post from the wonderful Vicki Atkinson at Victoria Ponders made me stop and think about the value of that early morning quiet. In “Dreamy With a Purpose”, Vicki shared a quote from Rumi, “The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.”

As a morning person, I never feel the temptation to go back to sleep. I’m usually awake and out of bed long before the alarm goes off, so I have no need for a snooze button.

I left a comment on Vicki’s post, confessing my bad habit of immediately jumping into my day without taking time to pause and savour the morning quiet. I’m trying to change that, but it’s hard to break a habit that’s been ingrained for years.

In the conversation that ensued, I reminded myself that the reason I “retired” was to enjoy a slower pace. I considered whether I need to make intentional or mindful mornings one of my monthly goals for November.

Ideas for mindful mornings

Mindful mornings. What an interesting thought! What could that look like? Here’s what I’m thinking:

• My morning tea is a priority, so I’ll start by making a cup of tea. That isn’t new. I’ve started my day with a cuppa for many years.
• Then, I’ll take a few minutes to read and reflect on something inspirational, like a passage from one of my devotional books, or an inspirational poem.
• Next, I’ll say a prayer of gratitude. I clipped a beautiful prayer from our church bulletin on Thanksgiving weekend that is a good reminder for every day.
• After that, I’ll pause and savour the rest of my cup of tea.
• Finally, I’ll make my to do list and get on with my day.

Thanks to Vicki for prompting me to pause and start each day with mindfulness and intention. I’ll give this new routine a go over the next few weeks. Watch for an update in my November roundup and goals update.

What does your morning routine look like? How do you set your intentions for the day? Drop me a comment below and let me know.

Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• We’ve been taking advantage of the beautiful weather to get out for more walks to enjoy the fall colours. I continue to be in awe of the spectacular fall colours. I think this year is the best I have ever seen.
• I had a lovely visit and catch up over tea with my dear friend Pat who recently published a book of poems about grief. She signed my copy of her book. On the way, I stopped at the Portuguese bakery and picked up some of those delicious custard tarts.
• On Friday, I had a meeting in Chicago. Getting there was quite the adventure when an aircraft maintenance issue delayed my flight from Toronto by 4 ½ hours. I missed Thursday evening dinner with my colleagues. The meeting on Friday went well, and I stayed an extra night and had a wonderful catch up with my friend Cher for her birthday.

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

Australia’s largest bank gets tough on fossil fuels

CBA, Australia’s largest bank, recently announced it will no longer lend money to fossil fuel companies who do not comply with the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. Interestingly, CBA had previously been identified as having one of the worst track records for climate financing. There is hope!

(Source: EuroNews)

University of Guelph helps students with climate anxiety

I always love seeing news stories from our local area. This week, I came across an article about the nearby University of Guelph. The university has implemented a “Climate Café” to help students deal with climate anxiety.

These monthly gatherings give students an opportunity to come together for restful discussions about the emotions surrounding climate change. I especially love that the Climate Cafés incorporate art therapy.

(Source: Happy Eco News)   

Clean energy job boom

A new report shows job growth in clean energy is outpacing overall job growth in the United States. Jobs included in these stats are in the areas of clean vehicles, renewable energy, battery storage, grid modernization and biofuels.

Interestingly, while Republicans opposed the Inflation Reduction Act bill which led to this growth, red states in the south have been the largest benefactors of this job growth.

(Source: NBC News)

This week’s decluttering challenge – Digital photos

In 2024, I’ve been revisiting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge I completed in 2021. This week’s challenge was organizing and cleaning up our digital photos. I’m happy to report I decluttered 375 photos and created a schedule to review and organize the rest! Find the details, along with my tips and learnings, in this week’s decluttering post.

Join the challenge! Visit this post to download your free checklists and jump right in with this week’s task.

I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.