On slow mornings

There is a particular kind of quiet that only shows up before the day fully begins. Coffee cools a little too fast. Light moves across the wall. Nothing urgent has claimed your attention yet.

I used to treat mornings like a race to catch up. Now I try to protect a small window — not productive in the usual sense, just present. A page of a book. A walk around the block. Sitting without a screen for ten minutes.

It does not fix everything. It does make the rest of the day feel less like it is happening to me.

If you have a slow-morning ritual of your own, I would love to hear about it.