Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world.   – Shelley

I’ve been experimenting with some new habits and rituals lately, and the one that has had the most immediate “return on time” is deceptively simple. Instead of starting the morning by scrolling email or headlines before my feet even hit the floor, I start the day with a poem. On paper. My selections are brief, so this takes all of three minutes.

Friends, it is transformative. First, the day is magically expanded. Three minutes feels like three hours. Second, my experience is heightened. In that liminal state first thing in the morning, the poems read differently, somehow both clearer and more mystical. Third, my productivity on tasks that follow is vastly higher. The expansive creative space of night is extended, a natural on-ramp to the ever-elusive “flow state” we all crave. 

This has me asking, why did these three minutes initially seem so impossible to spare? What might arise if I continue this practice for months or years to come? Where are there other chances for tiny investments with such huge benefits?

Dear ones, so much in life is beyond our control, or even our influence. But we all have three minutes, sometime.

What might be transformed?

With thanks to many friends who have encouraged this direction – Heather, Anne, Bill, Tricia, and more. A recent gift of a Poetry Prescription helped to jumpstart this practice. And the idea of morning and evening minutes is informed by the terrific work of Pilar Gerasimo and Brian Johnson, both luminous sources of deep wisdom.