The  article   below appeared at Intellectual Takeout on February 15. 
​
 Something strange is happening in the American military.

Three military doctors recently released documents showing staggering increases in diseases among military personnel in 2021, Enrico Trigoso reports in The Epoch Times. Compared to the previous five years, female infertility, miscarriages, breast cancer, and anxiety have skyrocketed. The attorney representing these whistleblowing doctors, Tom Renz, met with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to discuss these anomalies.

The Department of Defense has since disputed this testimony by claiming that the figures from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) used for this comparison were faulty, that the data from 2016 to 2020 was inaccurate.

As some of those involved in this case pointed out, this explanation is absurd. Why would the data from those five years suddenly be deemed flawed when compared to the figures of the past 10 months? Such an action seems suspicious for several reasons. According to Renz:         

We spend millions of dollars per year on DMED and people monitoring DMED which is one of the premier epidemiological databases in the world. Accuracy in this database is critical as it is used to monitor for health issues in our troops.

The DoD would have us believe that the DMED database was wrong from 2016-2020 but then magically was corrected in 2021 despite the fact that they had not noticed it was wrong until we pointed it out in our testimony before Senator Johnson.For the sake of argument, let’s assume that the DMED database was indeed correct before the DoD “fixed” the last five years of data and that in the first 10 months of 2021, an explosion of illnesses occurred among our military men and women. What changed? Well, nearly everyone in uniform received the COVID vaccine. As of mid-December 2021, the Department of Defense reported that 98 percent of those serving in the armed forces had been vaccinated.

If Renz and his clients are correct, then clearly that vaccine poses dangers to some people.

On the other hand, let’s assume the DMED data was incorrect for five years, but somehow the data for 2021 was on target. Let’s assume that for five years the DMED vastly under-recorded certain illnesses found among service men and women. Where’s the evidence for the claim of bad data? And what does that say about the competency of those managing the database?  

This revelation should infuriate American citizens—those serving in our military as well as the rest of us average folks. We look for truth or at least for some semblance of reality from our government, but once again we are left wallowing in darkness. As has happened so often in the last two years, we no longer know who to trust or what to believe about COVID-related topics.

During this pandemic, our government and the medical establishment have told us that masks are essential for our protection while many independent scientists and medical experts have claimed that masks are mostly worthless. We were ordered to remain six feet apart in public spaces, a made-up figure with no bearing on the disease. We were commanded to lock down schools when children were among the least likely to communicate the disease or become seriously ill. We were told that anti-vaxxers were disease spreaders who could kill Grandma or some innocent shopper at Walmart. We were informed that the vaccines would stop COVID and then that the vaccinated might still fall prey to the virus but would be far less likely to die.

​Whatever the truth about the data from the DMED, the reality is that our public health institutions, our government and its bureaucracies, and even many in the medical profession have lost our trust. Their failings, missteps, and, in some cases, their prevarications have left them stripped of all authority.

By their arrogance—I’m thinking of Dr. Fauci, certain governors, and the present administration—their conniving and their attempts to hoodwink the American people, they have burned the bridges of trust.

Too bad for them.

And too bad for us.

“Early to bed, early to rise,” Benjamin Franklin wrote in his “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” “makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Franklin practiced that adage, rising at 5 a.m. most of his life. Though in his Paris years he sometimes neglected the greeting of the dawn, for the most part, he woke early, worked until noon, took a break for two hours to eat lunch, his main meal of the day, and then returned to his work until early evening.

Most human beings throughout history have lived by such a solar clock. They rose with the sun to plow their fields, perform their household chores, attend school, and prepare their meals. For them, darkness generally meant the day’s end and bedtime. Candles, kerosene lanterns, and oil helped illuminate that darkness, but those implements were costly and lacked the brightness of even a cloudy day.
Then came electricity, and our sleep habits were never again the same.

Dawn’s Early Light: It’s Still Valuable

Today we think nothing of flipping a switch, exchanging darkness for light, and staying awake to all hours of the night. Except for the obligations of work and school, we can if we choose hit the sheets at dawn and sleep till mid-afternoon.

But is that a wise or healthy practice?

The online article “Are Morning People More Successful?” presents research showing that early risers are more proactive, healthier, and happier than their night-owl, late-rising counterparts. Our motivation is highest in the early part of the day, not yet worn down by demands and problems. For this same reason, our powers of cognition are at their peak in the morning. Doctors have found that “our inner-cranial volume is actually larger when we first wake up,” allowing us to tackle difficulties better in the early part of the day.

Google “successful people early morning,” and we find descriptions of many Americans who credit waking early—in some cases, between 3 and 4 a.m.—for enhancing their professional performance. Some of these morning risers are wealthy entrepreneurs, but others belong to the middle class, with research showing they generally earn more than those who spend part of their morning tucked into sleep.

These financial advantages are worthy of our consideration, but as we can see, the beneficiaries are individuals. Can waking early bring similar benefits that might enhance our relationships and family life?

Meditation

One young woman I know, the mother of seven school-age children, rises every morning at dawn before her husband and the kids, comes downstairs, pours a cup of coffee, and sits in a comfortable chair near a window overlooking a nearby stand of trees. She says her prayers, and then reads either from a spiritual book or a novel. This is her “alone time,” when she prepares herself mentally and spiritually for the day. As the kids drift down to join her, sleepily rubbing their eyes, she often moves to the sofa to sit with them and enjoy some quiet time together.

Another woman I know follows a similar tactic, kicking off the sheets at dawn, pouring her coffee, and then praying and reading scripture to prepare herself for the rigors and demands of the office.

Others greet the sunrise with meditation or other devices designed to bring on a spirit of peace and recollection, gaining a strength they can then share with family, friends, and fellow employees.

Prep Time

For some of us, early mornings are ideal for mapping out plans and strategies. Sleep has usually erased our fatigue and our worries, and we are ready to face new challenges.

Several people, including myself, use some part of this time to make a “to-do list.” We may lay out the day’s schedule hour-by-hour, or else string together a list of tasks in no particular order and then scratch them out as we complete them. A homeschooling mom I know even uses this quiet time to chart out the week’s meals and makes shopping lists for the items needed.

The young contractor who once lived across the street from me appeared nearly every day at sunrise, loading various tools into the back of his pickup truck, readying himself for the day’s construction projects.
“Preparation,” the old saying goes, “is half the battle.” The stillness of these early hours, when the world is just awakening from its slumbers, can provide the solitude and the energy to look ahead at the day’s tasks and formulate our plans.

Make It Easy on Yourself

Most parents have experienced those mornings when they’ve raced around getting the kids ready for church or school, scouring the house for Johnny’s missing shoe or trying to braid Sally’s hair, with the vital minutes ticking away.

And most of us have surely endured that awful occasion when we kept pushing the snooze button on the clock, then groggily squinted at the time and leaped out of bed, dashing into the shower, getting dressed, skipping the morning cup of coffee, and hustling off to work hoping against hope to make it on time for that important appointment.

One simple solution for eliminating this chaos is to set that alarm half an hour earlier and then abide by its summons. Wake the kids earlier as well; they’ll appreciate having some extra minutes and avoiding the morning sprint. Gathering up the children’s schoolbooks in the evening, preparing bagged lunches for them or for your own workday the night before, setting up the coffee so that you need only punch the switch when you stagger into the kitchen: these measures can also bring a slower pace to frenetic mornings.

More Tips on Becoming a Morning Person

To become an early riser first and foremost demands you become an early sleeper.

I am an early-morning person, but in the past five years, I’ve also spent too much time reading or watching YouTube videos late into the evening. Not a good combination. In the morning, I’ll often wake thickheaded with a lack of sleep.

If you typically go to bed at midnight, and you want to move that time to 10 p.m. so as to arise earlier, try rearranging your bedtime schedule incrementally over a period of time, moving back bedtime by 15-minute or half-an-hour segments over a period of days and weeks. Sleep is important for our minds and bodies, and you don’t want to rob yourself of rest by staying up late and getting up early.

When you begin waking earlier, set yourself a mission for that extra hour or two in the morning. We’ve already looked at some ways people make use of that time. You might follow their example, or come up with your own ideas like working out or answering emails. Whatever the case, when you go to sleep know what you are going to do when you wake. Otherwise, there is little point in waking early.

Finally, as much as possible, make your hours of sleep a routine, a habit. Becoming one of the morning larks as opposed to a night owl may take a while, but once you achieve your goal, keep to that sleep pattern.

Larks Versus Owls

In the article “Are You a Morning Lark or a Night Owl?” the writer reminds us of the advantages of rising early, but also points out that the natural “sleep clocks” of human beings vary widely. Some people, the morning larks, thrive on the a.m. hours, with their energy and resources dwindling during the late afternoon and evening, a time at which others, the night owls, are just hitting their stride. Many of us fall between these two extremes, staying up late some evenings and breaking out of sleep on other occasions early in the morning.

Here we’ve looked at the advantages waking in the early morning can bring to us. In my own case, if I started my days past 9 a.m. I would feel as if half the day was already shot, but I am certain some readers would disagree. For them, the peak of their day might be 6 p.m. or later.

Whatever our approach to wakefulness and sleep, we probably don’t want to practice what Edna St.Vincent Millay wrote in “First Fig:”

“My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives a lovely light!”

Whether larks or owls, we all need our rest.

This article originally appeared in The Epoch Times. 

“All aboard!”           

North Carolina writer Anna Raglan was delighted to find that Amtrak’s conductors still called out these words to passengers before departing the station. In her new travelogue The Train From Greenville, Raglan, a kind and wise friend of mine, describes a journey she made by rail from Greenville, South Carolina, to Seattle and back again.

A wife, mother, and professional in her mid-50s, Raglan was apprehensive about the trip. She packed and repacked her luggage, had a friend help her make the reservation by phone, and nervously kept an eye on her luggage while onboard.         

Raglan takes her readers along with her on her way across the country and shows them the pleasures of train travel, which include the opportunity to see the American landscape and to meet people from all around the country.           

The Train From Greenville is a good book, wise in its observations of Raglan’s railway companions, accepting of their eccentricities, and gentle in tone, but that’s not why I am writing about it here. No—what deserves a deeper look is the sadness of this book, a sorrow entirely unintended by the author.           

You see, though The Train From Greenville is newly published, Raglan made her trip in 2011. That time, and the people she describes, seem to have lived not just a decade ago, but a century. It is startling looking back at who we once were.     

On that train were blacks and whites, Hispanics, Asians, and at least one Native American. Raglan spent a good bit of time with a tattooed man who loves drag racing and the music of Bruce Springsteen. Eventually, he told her a harrowing story about how he killed a man who had tried to assault him in self-defense. She conversed with a Native American hired by Amtrak to share stories of Indians and the West with the passengers. Her seat companions ranged from a female veteran of these trips to a quiet young man wearing dreadlocks.           

And though Raglan overheard a few political conversations, nowhere on her train do we encounter the acrimony so commonly found today in our mainstream media. Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory, the savage political assaults on presidents and politicians, and the laments over America’s faults: not a word. And of course, the COVID pandemic with its fear-mongering, lockdowns, masks, and mandates were not even a whisper in the wind back in 2011.           

No, these trains, the beauty of the country they rolled through, and the Americans who rode them represent what America was about back then, a people united in purpose—in this case, getting to a destination—and helping one another along the way. Again and again we see these men and women offering assistance to their fellow travelers, helping a blind woman find a seat, sharing food and treats, and making certain not to crowd the person seated beside them. Other than a nervous, easily angered woman Raglan refers to as Birdie, and a man upset by a delay in the timetable, these people displayed those traits foreigners have long thought of as American: optimism, cheerfulness, and a can-do attitude with lots of smiles.           

Above I mentioned the miserable contrast between now and 10 years ago. But as I reflect on the matter, I also see The Train From Greenville as a sign of hope and rejuvenation, a reminder of who we were and who we are. Surely all of us know friends, family, and neighbors like those on the train, good-hearted people who looked out for one another and who have carried on through these last two miserable years.           

We are a people who were born in a revolution, fought a civil war, who helped to save the world from fascism and communism, and who, despite our flaws, have made enormous changes throughout our history, looking for justice and liberty for all. The fear-mongering of the current pandemic, the heavy-handed efforts by government to order us about and so diminish our liberties, the insane spending by Congress, the foreign policy failures: these have damaged the American spirit, but they cannot kill it—unless we throw in the towel out of despair.           

One chapter of The Train From Greenville is titled “We Are Here Together.” Let’s make those words one of our banners. Let’s turn our backs on those contemptible people working so hard to divide us and remember we are all Americans.


This article was originally published at Intellectual Takeout. https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/we-re-all-on-this-train-together/

This article  didn't find a publisher. Too didactic, I suppose. Oh, well. Anyway, here it is:
​
​Every morning I wake before dawn, take a few sips of coffee on the front porch, weather permitting, and then say aloud the same words: “Well, time to see what’s happening in the world.” (I live alone and admit to talking to myself.)
           
So I’ll go online and visit half-a-dozen news and opinion sites. Within minutes, I’m muttering and shaking my head, astounded by the adolescent antics of some of my fellow Americans whose age and profession would have once branded them as grownups.

Blessed Be Our Mentors: The Guides and Gurus Who Make Us Better People
 
In 1941, when the Nazis were ruling Poland with an iron hand, a Cracow tailor with an eighth grade education and a burning love for his faith founded a youth ministry in his parish.
 
One of the first young men to join this group was a manual laborer, Karol Wojtyla. As he studied with the intense Jan Tyranowski, he caught the flame of this man’s religious passion and became a priest in 1946. Later he would write of Tyranowski, “In his words, in his spirituality and in the example of a life given to God alone, he represented a new world that I did not yet know. I saw the beauty of a soul opened up by grace.”
 
In 1978, Karyl Wojtyla became John Paul II, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Among his other accomplishments while in the Vatican he helped bring about the end of communism in Poland and the fall of the Soviet Union.
 
Had it not been for the guidance and inspiration of the tailor Tyranowski, it’s quite possible that Karyl Wojtyla would have never become a priest. It’s also possible the world as we know it today would be a very different place.
 
Mentors matter.
 
A Grand Variety of Folks
 
These guides come from all walks of life.
           
That old guy who spends his afternoons sitting on his stoop shares a lifetime of wisdom and experience with the 12-year-old kid down the block. That demanding 30-something gymnastics coach drives her athletes to excel, but after practice she spends an hour consoling and counseling a girl whose heart has been broken by her parents’ divorce.  
 
Most of us have benefited from such people. We may not think of them as mentors until long after seeking their advice, but they are the ones who help us discover our talents or guide us through some tough decisions. Often for young people these guides are coaches, teachers, or church youth leaders, but they can also include a beloved aunt, a friend, or even a sibling.
           
One of the best mentors I’ve ever seen in action was Dr. Thomas Rennard of Asheville, North Carolina. He was coach of my youngest son’s homeschool basketball team and led these young men to victory after victory, but he was also their guide and confidant. When he’d drive some of the players to games, he’d give them mini-lectures on everything from world affairs to desirable qualities to look for in a future spouse. Next to my own influence—his mother died when Jeremy was eight—Tom had a deeply profound effect on the moral formation of my son.  
 
The Professor
 
Though some people deliberately set out to mentor others—the attorney who takes a young colleague under her wing, the pastor who counsels married couples—others fall into this role by accident.
 
John Cuddeback, a professor of philosophy for 26 years at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia and author of “True Friendship: When Virtue Becomes Happiness,” discovered long ago that the classroom discussions of thinkers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas brought students into his office for one-on-one conversations on how they might practically apply these ideas in everyday life.
           
“Philosophy changes students’ lives,” Cuddeback says. “They see the implications for their daily lives. Ethics enters into it. They see that truth needs to be lived.”
           
As an example, Cuddeback mentions Aristotle’s thinking on the degrees of friendship. “It’s always very arresting for students to ask themselves what sort of friendships they have and what they should look for in friends. So when they come to the office we spend a lot of time talking about relationships.”
           
Music, the culture, the prevalence of technology in their lives: these are just a few of the topics that students bring from the classroom and their reading to their professor.
           
“I try to be very careful not to have all the answers,” Cuddeback says. “Very often I lend a sympathetic ear and assure them that they’re not the first ones with the problem. ‘You’re asking a great question,’ I tell them. ‘The fact that you’re asking this question means you’re well on the road to answering it.’ I tell them that we are in this together. ‘You are not alone’ is a common theme.”
           
To continue mentoring students after they’d graduated, Cuddeback established life-craft.org, where through articles and videos he offers practical advice on crafting a good life based on the philosophers he loves.
 
Lending a Helping Hand
 
“If I have seen further,” Isaac Newton once stated, “it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
           
Like Newton, we too stand on the shoulders of guides. Many of them might not think of themselves in that role. My college professor and later good friend, Edward Burrows of Guilford College, probably didn’t consider himself my mentor, nor did I think of him as one, yet looking back he often gave me great advice and always encouraged me to make the most of myself.
           
And though we may not recognize it, we may act as guides for others by our words and our deeds. By our behavior and the advice we give to others, we may inspire them to follow a dream or to become a better person. We may not always have the answers, but through our conversation and questions, and by careful listening, we can help them find their way.
 
The Peterson Phenomenon
           
Sometimes we even find mentors in people we’ve never met. Jordan Peterson, author of 12 Rules For Life and “Beyond Order,” became a mentor through his books, videos, and lectures to hundreds of thousands of young people, especially men. He spoke to them of ideas they’d never before heard:
 
“To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open.”
 
“You’re going to pay a price for every bloody thing you do and for everything you don’t do. You don’t get to choose to not pay a price. You get to choose which poison you’re going to take. That’s it.”
 
“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.”
 
Harsh words, yes, but the fact that so many listened to them and took them to heart reveals a burning thirst for mentorship in our culture.
 
A Great Gift
 
More than ever, our young people need mentors, someone who can help them become their best selves. They need and want advice and guidance, and when they don’t find it in the people around them, they will take their life lessons from their cell phones and social media.
 
We don’t need to label ourselves mentors. In fact, that’s probably a ridiculous and self-defeating ambition. What we can do, if the opportunity presents itself, is to listen to those who need our help, to make the time for them, and when possible, make them aware, as John Cuddeback does, that we’re in this thing together.
 
We make a living by what we get,” Winston Churchill stated, “but we make a life by what we give.”
           
Giving of ourselves: that is the very definition of mentorship. 


This article first appeared in The Epoch Times. 

My grandchildren need heroes. My children need heroes. And even an old guy like me needs heroes.

These are people who inspire us, men and women we want to emulate.

Please copy and past the article below.

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/why-its-important-have-heroes/

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is All Souls Day for Catholics, that special time when we pray for and remember our dead. 

The last three weeks have brought news of several deaths of people close to others I know or love: a young nurse who drowned, a two-month old infant, a 19-year-old who died in a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler, a 36-year-old who passed away from COVID complications. I personally knew none of these people, but was saddened nonetheless by their loss. The deceased nurse leaves family and friends in mourning, the infant leaves behind grieving parents and siblings, the boy in the car crash leaves bereft some people I know well, as does the victim of the virus. 

Some attribute these deaths to the will of God, some to fate, and some to chance or accident, which is not the same engine as fate. 

As for me, I admit, I have no answers as to why Death snatches some of us. I do believe in a Higher Power, but can't possibly claim to know why young people are chosen for death. I believe a bit in fate, as delineated in Somerset Maughm's fable "An Appointment in Samarra." I believe in chance or accident. Some people, like my wife, seem to die not from God's will or even by fate, but simply by chance. To call a brain aneurysm the will of God, for example, seems a bit overboard to me. Best attribute it to the walls of the arteries and veins in the brain.

I have reached my Biblical "three score and ten" years, and sometimes I feel Death at my elbow. Do I respond from fear or terror to that specter? I could, but what would be the point? Fear would prevent nothing. Human beings die, young and old, and I am a human being. Jogging every day might prolong my life another five or six years, but eventually my destination is the bone yard. 
 
Though I retain my belief in God and an afterlife, this first night of November also brings the old idea of fate. Death choses us:

"The Appointment in Samarra"
(as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933])

The speaker is Death:
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. 

The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. 

Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

The cold, hard truth is that each one of us has an appointment in Samarra.

How we face that truth, how we leave this earth, matters. My mother left me the gift of courage in her death. My wife's last words to me were "I love you." 

I hope and pray I can leave behind such a legacy. That is what matters.

​

​









 

It's Halloween as I post these pieces. I should have written something about Ray Bradbury, an aficionado of this celebration, and on Thomas Wolfe, whose birthday was October 3 and who loved the month of colorful leaves and cooler temperatures. Ah, well.  I do what I can.

Tomorrow is All Saints Day in the Catholic Church. Happy birthday to a young woman I treasure above riches. 

To get the articles, I guess it's click and paste. One of these days I'll figure out how you can just click.

At any rate, enjoy. 
https://www.theepochtimes.com/book-review-beauty-delight-wisdom-blown-away-by-the-critical-temper_4057092.html

https://www.theepochtimes.com/gems-from-the-gilded-age-the-wit-and-wisdom-of-mark-twain_4053502.html

https://www.theepochtimes.com/wisdom-and-wonder-the-magic-of-fairy-tales_4002994.html

https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-world-the-flesh-and-the-devil-christopher-marlowes-the-tragical-history-of-the-life-and-death-of-doctor-faustus_3959841.html

All these articles originally appeared in The Epoch Times. 

“Early to bed, early to rise,” Benjamin Franklin wrote in his “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” “makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Franklin practiced that adage, rising at 5 a.m. most of his life. Though in his Paris years he sometimes neglected the greeting of the dawn, for the most part, he woke early, worked until noon, took a break for two hours to eat lunch, his main meal of the day, and then returned to his work until early evening.

Most human beings throughout history have lived by such a solar clock. They rose with the sun to plow their fields, perform their household chores, attend school, and prepare their meals. For them, darkness generally meant the day’s end and bedtime. Candles, kerosene lanterns, and oil helped illuminate that darkness, but those implements were costly and lacked the brightness of even a cloudy day.
Then came electricity, and our sleep habits were never again the same.

Dawn’s Early Light: It’s Still Valuable

Today we think nothing of flipping a switch, exchanging darkness for light, and staying awake to all hours of the night. Except for the obligations of work and school, we can if we choose hit the sheets at dawn and sleep till mid-afternoon.
But is that a wise or healthy practice?

The online article “Are Morning People More Successful?” presents research showing that early risers are more proactive, healthier, and happier than their night-owl, late-rising counterparts. Our motivation is highest in the early part of the day, not yet worn down by demands and problems. For this same reason, our powers of cognition are at their peak in the morning. Doctors have found that “our inner-cranial volume is actually larger when we first wake up,” allowing us to tackle difficulties better in the early part of the day.

Google “successful people early morning,” and we find descriptions of many Americans who credit waking early—in some cases, between 3 and 4 a.m.—for enhancing their professional performance. Some of these morning risers are wealthy entrepreneurs, but others belong to the middle class, with research showing they generally earn more than those who spend part of their morning tucked into sleep.

These financial advantages are worthy of our consideration, but as we can see, the beneficiaries are individuals. Can waking early bring similar benefits that might enhance our relationships and family life?
MeditationOne young woman I know, the mother of seven school-age children, rises every morning at dawn before her husband and the kids, comes downstairs, pours a cup of coffee, and sits in a comfortable chair near a window overlooking a nearby stand of trees. She says her prayers, and then reads either from a spiritual book or a novel. This is her “alone time,” when she prepares herself mentally and spiritually for the day. As the kids drift down to join her, sleepily rubbing their eyes, she often moves to the sofa to sit with them and enjoy some quiet time together.

Another woman I know follows a similar tactic, kicking off the sheets at dawn, pouring her coffee, and then praying and reading scripture to prepare herself for the rigors and demands of the office.

Others greet the sunrise with meditation or other devices designed to bring on a spirit of peace and recollection, gaining a strength they can then share with family, friends, and fellow employees.

Prep Time

For some of us, early mornings are ideal for mapping out plans and strategies. Sleep has usually erased our fatigue and our worries, and we are ready to face new challenges.

Several people, including myself, use some part of this time to make a “to-do list.” We may lay out the day’s schedule hour-by-hour, or else string together a list of tasks in no particular order and then scratch them out as we complete them. A homeschooling mom I know even uses this quiet time to chart out the week’s meals and makes shopping lists for the items needed.

The young contractor who once lived across the street from me appeared nearly every day at sunrise, loading various tools into the back of his pickup truck, readying himself for the day’s construction projects.
“Preparation,” the old saying goes, “is half the battle.” The stillness of these early hours, when the world is just awakening from its slumbers, can provide the solitude and the energy to look ahead at the day’s tasks and formulate our plans.
Make It Easy on Yourself

Most parents have experienced those mornings when they’ve raced around getting the kids ready for church or school, scouring the house for Johnny’s missing shoe or trying to braid Sally’s hair, with the vital minutes ticking away.

And most of us have surely endured that awful occasion when we kept pushing the snooze button on the clock, then groggily squinted at the time and leaped out of bed, dashing into the shower, getting dressed, skipping the morning cup of coffee, and hustling off to work hoping against hope to make it on time for that important appointment.

One simple solution for eliminating this chaos is to set that alarm half an hour earlier and then abide by its summons. Wake the kids earlier as well; they’ll appreciate having some extra minutes and avoiding the morning sprint. Gathering up the children’s schoolbooks in the evening, preparing bagged lunches for them or for your own workday the night before, setting up the coffee so that you need only punch the switch when you stagger into the kitchen: these measures can also bring a slower pace to frenetic mornings.
More Tips on Becoming a Morning Person

To become an early riser first and foremost demands you become an early sleeper.

I am an early-morning person, but in the past five years, I’ve also spent too much time reading or watching YouTube videos late into the evening. Not a good combination. In the morning, I’ll often wake thickheaded with a lack of sleep.

If you typically go to bed at midnight, and you want to move that time to 10 p.m. so as to arise earlier, try rearranging your bedtime schedule incrementally over a period of time, moving back bedtime by 15-minute or half-an-hour segments over a period of days and weeks. Sleep is important for our minds and bodies, and you don’t want to rob yourself of rest by staying up late and getting up early.

When you begin waking earlier, set yourself a mission for that extra hour or two in the morning. We’ve already looked at some ways people make use of that time. You might follow their example, or come up with your own ideas like working out or answering emails. Whatever the case, when you go to sleep know what you are going to do when you wake. Otherwise, there is little point in waking early.

Finally, as much as possible, make your hours of sleep a routine, a habit. Becoming one of the morning larks as opposed to a night owl may take a while, but once you achieve your goal, keep to that sleep pattern.

Larks Versus Owls

In the article “Are You a Morning Lark or a Night Owl?” the writer reminds us of the advantages of rising early, but also points out that the natural “sleep clocks” of human beings vary widely. Some people, the morning larks, thrive on the a.m. hours, with their energy and resources dwindling during the late afternoon and evening, a time at which others, the night owls, are just hitting their stride. Many of us fall between these two extremes, staying up late some evenings and breaking out of sleep on other occasions early in the morning.

Here we’ve looked at the advantages waking in the early morning can bring to us. In my own case, if I started my days past 9 a.m. I would feel as if half the day was already shot, but I am certain some readers would disagree. For them, the peak of their day might be 6 p.m. or later.

Whatever our approach to wakefulness and sleep, we probably don’t want to practice what Edna St.Vincent Millay wrote in “First Fig:”

“My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives a lovely light!”

​Whether larks or owls, we all need our rest.

Originally published in The Epoch Times: https://www.theepochtimes.com/rise-and-shine-how-we-greet-the-morning-matters_3923009.html

Here's a piece about homemakers, the soul of civilization.

​https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/homemakers--the-last-bastion-in-our-cultural-chaos/