Good Morning! Welcome to the first Monday of the fall season. The days are beginning to get shorter and cooler as the summertime sunshine commences its slow fade into memory.

The onset of the fall and winter season becomes a challenging time for some, yet is hardly noticed by others. I, for example, find it a bit of a stretch on some mornings to wake up in the cheery mood that is my normal ‘default’ setting in spring and summer. In contrast, my partner Olga always wakes up with a genuine and enthusiastic happy-to-greet-the-morning grin. Sometimes I almost need sunglasses to reduce the glare emanating from her bright, morning smile!

A few days ago I woke up thinking about the theme for this week’s column and found myself humming the lyrics to an old song by the Rascal’s entitled “It’s a beautiful morning”. The lyrics start off like this:

It’s a beautiful mornin’ ahhh
I think I’ll go outside a while
And jus’ smile
Just take in some clean fresh air boy
Ain’t no sense in stayin’ inside
If the weather’s fine an’ you got the time
It’s your chance to wake up and plan another brand new day
Either way
It’s a beautiful mornin’ ahhh

Spending a few moments with this song magically helped me to find my inner smile and start my day with an attitude of positive anticipation, even though there were a number of demanding and stressful challenges that lay ahead in the upcoming day and week. Focusing on the message of the lyrics put me into a more resourceful, hopeful state of believing that somehow, some way, I knew I’d be able to figure things out.

I found this link to the audio version of the song; see what impact it might have for you as you listen to it:

It’s a Beautiful Morning by the Rascals

Questions to consider:

1. Are you a Monday morning person? If so, what tips do you have for the rest of us?
2. What do you notice about your own response to the onset of fall? For example, do you experience it with sad and wistful feelings as the end of summer, or with a sense of zeal for the start of autumn colors, the fall harvest, and a time of thanksgiving?
3. Do you think it makes a difference when we start the morning with a sense of appreciation for a brand new day? If so, how?

We are also including a special list of Top 10 wake-up songs for the morning:

Top 10 wake-up songs for the morning