At the suggestion of many books and people I admire, about 6 months ago, I started a new routine. I wake up each morning and have 30 minutes of quiet meditation before my son wakes up and I start my day. It is something I find makes all the difference in my serenity.

As the morning is now darker and colder, I find it tougher to crawl out, away from my warm man and from the warmth and heaviness of our down comforter, but I do it because I know later I will be grateful I did.

Recently I find this routine is affecting other areas of my life. I am becoming more willing to change the way I do things, when the way I am doing it isn't working. I am making a connection between willingness in the moment can lead to peace later on. I have struggled most of my life to make this connection.

Here is an example. For a while it seemed I was starting my day off on the wrong foot. I would get up and hop on the computer and feel pulled in. To business, emails, editing, work. Then my son would awaken, and need breakfast and want tv. When it was time to go to school, we would be rushing...me waiting to the very last minute and then rushing him to get dressed. Too many mornings my son and I would get frustrated with each other.

It didn't feel good to drop him off at preschool feeling tense and aggravated. He will only be 4 once. I know I will miss this age.

I decided that I would change the routine. I now pass the computer and go into his room to snuggle him awake a few minutes before he would normally wake up. (Every once in a while he gets up and heads downstairs before this-life with a 4yr old isn't so reliable) but this snuggle time has turned into such a sweet way to start our day. Sometimes I bring up some toast and juice-tea for me. We giggle and read books. I made him a chore list (inspired by a friend who had one for her daughter up in the kitchen last time we visited) on a piece of cardboard. He gets a smiley face for each chore he does. Some mornings he doesn't want to do any of them and I took the opportunity to be ok with that. But most mornings we make his bed together, he picks his clothes, folds his jammies, sometimes takes a bath, sometimes gets dressed without a bath. We brush our teeth. Then we go downstairs for breakfast.

It has made our mornings happy and relaxed. I start the day feeling gratitude in my heart instead of frustration. I still have the to do lists that are too long and can make me sigh multiple times a day, but I start my day feeling good and this makes facing the to do list so much easier.

I found this most amazing quote on Christine's blog today.

"Let the emphasis be on the now in everything. What you do now is extremely important - the decisions you make in this instant, the way you act, the way you think. As you do this, you find yourself changing and expanding. You can become God-filled, God-minded, God-guided as you take this breath now. This is the most wonderful and uplifting thought possible. You literally feel yourself rising in the sheer joy of it. This is where the complete change can come. You need never be the same again. Old habits, old thought forms and ties can be cut this instant and you can become a transformed person - a triumphant being.

You want to be different? You can be, and you can be perfect now. This is a breathtaking thought. You need never, never be the old self again. You are now in the process of building the light-body, raising the vibrations so that every cell in your body is changing. You are becoming light."

~Eileen Caddy