“Your output depends on your input.”
{Austin Kleon}
My morning ritual consists of coffee, reading and exercise, in that order. I have found that each is an ideal partner and precursor to the one that follows. Coffee keeps me alert to my reading, reading exercises my mind, opening it to new ideas and questions, and exercise awakens my body, providing time and space to process those questions and form new insights.
Each day I create space to do two kinds of reading. The first is to focus on the short form writing that arrives in my inbox each day. These pieces come from writers who, like me, publish daily content. I value their consistency and the rhythm that emerges from their commitment to a daily offering. Here are the ones I have come to depend on:
Author and teacher, Molly Davis, is a keen observer of herself in relationship to the world around her. She deftly uses her personal experience to reveal what is fragile and fundamental to our shared human existence.
Bishop Robert Barron provides insight on the gospel reading of the day. These reflections deepen both my understanding and my faith. They keep me grounded in the “here and now” truth that the gospels are a call to action.
Seth Godin is a “leading voice on everything from effective marketing and leadership, to the spread of ideas and changing everything.” I value his diverse perspectives and his care for the realization of human potential.
Richard Rohr is an extraordinary voice of applicable spiritual wisdom. He teaches me each day to live “on the edge of the inside” which means that if you are to bring meaningful change to any institution you must know it deeply before you can shepherd it to a better version of itself.
The second kind of reading I work into my morning is more traditional, those long form pieces we call books! More on that later. For now, I hope that you will choose to discover these daily authors for yourself or perhaps take a moment to share some of your own sources of daily insight and wisdom.
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