The case for a slower morning

For years my mornings began with a screen: news, messages, the first of the day's small emergencies. The change was not a resolution but an accident — a phone left charging in another room — and the difference was immediate.

Twenty minutes is enough for a coffee made properly, a window opened, and a page of something that is not work. It is not enough for meditation, exercise or any of the things morning routines are supposed to contain, and that is fine.

The trick is not discipline but distance. The phone is still charging in the other room.