Pay attention to the first thoughts you have in the morning. Has your first thought been, perhaps, about all you have to do? Have you perhaps thought: “Oh, no, do I have to get up?”

Consider your first thoughts of the day as a song you wake up to and that you will hum all day long. What would you like your first thoughts of the day to be? Then at night before you sleep, remind yourself to wake up with the thoughts you would really like.

I have suggested in the past that, as the sun opens your eyes, you say: “Good morning, O Lord, I am in Thy Presence.” This is a good thought for several reasons. It is about Me. It reminds you that I AM, and I AM always with you. And so you are aware that coming closer to Me has to be from your side. Beloveds, I cannot be closer than your heart.

Remembering Me also turns your day in a direction of what you want the day to be. If your first thoughts are the precursor of the day, make them good.

Here are more wake-up thoughts that you might invite to run through your head:

“What a glorious day! This is my morning. It is here for me. It came to my window, and knocked on it. It opened my eyes to the glory that is before me. It awakens me. Today I go on a voyage of discovery. Today is a new book I open. Today is a basket of fruit before me. Today I am an acrobat who leaps out of bed. I am glad for the signal to wake and greet the day. This is my day. It came for me. It came for my benefit. I will make this day sweet. I will pour honey and sugar on it.

“I realize now that I have a place in this day. I have responsibility for it. It is here for me to love. I no longer turn love away. And my love begins with this morning.

“I will treat my awakening well. It is a magnificent thing that I wake up to a new morning. This is the morning I look forward to. Surely I will greet it with friendliness.

“This morning is a great overture heralding my day. This morning has come to bless me. It has no other purpose but to bless me. I am awake to today’s blessings. I look forward to them with joy. I wonder what wonder is going to befall me today.

“This morning and this day have never visited me before. They are entirely new. As soon as the sun came in my window and told me to wake up, I knew there were wonders in store for me today.

“I do not take my morning casually, as though this morning came every day, as though mornings grow on trees, as though they are cheap. Certainly not as if they are a nuisance. Where would I like my day to begin if not with the morning?

“I want my morning and this morning to be like a delicious appetizer to be followed by a grand entrée and a sweet dessert. This spectacular meal was made especially for me. And that is how my day is. This is not a day of fasting and repentance. This is my day, and it is a day of joy. It is in this manner that I am friendly to the beginning of my day.”