I love cities in the very early morning. I began rising early when my husband and I started to travel. When we were in Paris, we asked for a break of day wake-up call so we could watch the sewers backwash and storeowners clean their streets and sweep their sidewalks, experience the boulangeries opening their doors and the incredible aroma of fresh baked baguettes, croissants and pastries filling the air. I still remember Majorca with its perfume of sweet ensaimadas... Algiers with its beignets, and bees sitting on the glazed pies and cakes inside the bakery windows. Joyful awakenings.
But though I was fortunate to be able to be in those great cities, it's not necessary to be anywhere other than where you live to experience the joy of morning. Getting out on the street early became something I continued as we moved around the USA, sometimes to more rural settings, sometimes cities. It's not about the exotic, it's about the atmosphere of place, the perfection of what is happening in the moment wherever you are. It's about losing everything else but the wonder and beauty of what's before you. The first snow. The last day of summer. The crisp autumn air. A spider web dotted with morning dew, the sunlight shining through it. A passerby smiling hello. A tree you may never have noticed.
This morning I took my usual walk around Central Park's reservoir. It was 7:00 a.m when I set out on this holiday weekend. The streets were practically silent. I could hear the tap tap of my tennis shoes on the sidewalk. No ambulances, trucks, people talking too loud on unseen cell phones, wires hanging from their ears. The sun was up, the sky, blue, the cool air had in it the scent of the upcoming season. I got my Starbuck's decaf, soy, mocha and continued on my way. My step picked up as I entered the park with my joy of just being alive in this great city. This beautiful, calm early morning, the antithesis of my ordinary day on the sidewalks of New York, where anger management is sorely tested. New Yorkers walk quickly and directly at you. And they don't move aside. It seems as if I'm always the New Yorker sidestepping to avoid collision. But there are still bumps without apology, fire trucks flashing and honking, police sirens, cement trucks clattering on potholed streets, and me dodging taxicabs racing through red lights. Arriving at my destination safely always elicits a ‘Thank you, God. A day in the Big Apple can bring forth feelings and language I didn't even know I possessed.
But then I think of my early morning walk and I have the real me back again.
No matter in what city you happen to live or what job you have, get out on the street early in the morning and watch your town, your city, your village, come awake. It's like watching a morning glory open. Pay attention, eyes open, mind off, just look, listen, see. Don't think, don't plan, let go and be in the moment, in the morning, in your town. I guarantee a smile on your face when you return home with a renewed sense of well being. Most particularly a release of all negative emotions, particularly anger.
Anger Management, my way. Try it. I think you'll like it!
See: Moving to the Center of the Bed: The Artful Creation of a Life Alone
