Darker Mornings Lately? Let the Later Sunrise Become Your Quiet Hour

The clocks went back last Sunday, and the mornings changed overnight.

You wake up and the kitchen is still dark. The window is a deep navy blue. The coffee maker glows like a tiny campfire.

And maybe a part of you groans a little. Hmm, it feels like the middle of the night. Can I please just go back under the blanket?

I get it. I felt that too this week.

Then something lovely happened. I stood at the window with my mug and watched the sky go from navy to violet to a soft peach, right around half past six. The whole show took about twenty minutes. I had a front row seat, because the sun finally came up at a time I was already awake.

That’s the gift of November. The sunrise comes to meet you.

The Later Sunrise Is an Invitation to Be There for It

Most of the year the sun beats us out of bed. We miss the whole beginning of the day.

Right now, for a few short weeks, the light arrives later, and you get to watch it happen. Every morning holds a little private sunrise, timed for real people with real alarm clocks.

Instead of asking, how do I get through these dark mornings, try asking, how do I want to spend the hour before the light?

Morning Light Sets Your Whole Body’s Clock

Your body is doing something wonderful while you stand at that window.

Your internal clock, the circadian rhythm, takes its strongest cue from light, especially morning light. When researchers led by Kenneth Wright at the University of Colorado Boulder sent people camping for a week with only natural light, their internal clocks shifted earlier and lined up beautifully with sunrise and sunset. They felt sleepy earlier at night and woke more easily. The team shared the findings in Current Biology in 2013.

So those few minutes of daybreak are doing real work. They help you wake up brighter, feel steadier through the afternoon and sleep more deeply tonight.

The Dark Hour Is the Softest Hour

The hour before sunrise has a different texture. The street is quiet. The inbox is quiet. Even your thoughts move slower, like they’re still wearing slippers.

This is the hour to protect.

Light a candle. Read two pages of a good book. Write three lines in a notebook. Stretch on the floor next to the radiator. Let the day arrive gently, one shade of blue at a time.

You get to be the calmest person in your own house for one whole hour.

Make the Sunrise Your Finish Line

A little trick turned this week around for me.

I stopped treating the dark as an obstacle and started treating the sunrise as a finish line. My only job each morning is to hold the quiet until the sky turns peach. Then the day can begin.

That’s exactly why we built Hold Until Sunrise. You hold your phone and wait for the sun to come up, and those minutes become a small ceremony. Breathe. Look out the window. Let the light reach you first, before the news, before the messages, before the to do list.

Your Light Is Coming Back Earlier Than You Think

By late December the sunrise will settle at its latest, and then, day by day, it starts arriving earlier again.

The dark mornings are a season, and seasons are beautiful because they move.

So enjoy this one while it’s here. Wear the cozy socks. Make the good tea. Watch the sky change color. These mornings are rare company.

Try This Today

Tomorrow morning, find out when the sun rises where you live. Set your alarm twenty minutes before it.

Make a warm drink and stand or sit somewhere with a view of the sky. Keep your phone face down, or let Hold Until Sunrise hold it for you.

Watch the sky change for those twenty minutes. Name three colors you see.

When the sun comes up, say one sentence to yourself about how you want today to feel. Then begin.

Keep Going

The dark mornings can feel heavy at first. They are also the easiest sunrises of the whole year to catch.

Meet the light, and let it set your clock, your mood and your day. That’s what it means to start early today.

Complement this with Feeling Lonely as the Evenings Grow Dark? Let Your Attention Walk You Home, Every Day Is a Fresh Start and Sing Before the Sun Comes Up, Rabindranath Tagore on Faith and Light.

For more mornings like this, follow Start Early Today on Spotify. For a little goodness in your inbox every Sunday, join us here.

With love, Paolo

Sources

• Wright, McHill, Birks, Griffin, Rusterholz and Chinoy, Entrainment of the Human Circadian Clock to the Natural Light Dark Cycle, Current Biology, 2013
• Hold Until Sunrise, App Store