A coffee, cafe, touch-typing morning

After 30 years and 10,950 mornings, I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out my favorite one.

No, it’s not morning sex! That one’s high on the list but not #1.

My best mornings are the ones where I wake up early, don’t even turn on my phone, and head first thing to a cafe with my laptop.

Upon arrival at the cafe, I pick a seat with good natural light. Then I order a coffee and start to write.

Stream of conscience writing. It almost always starts off something boring like “Ok, here we are, it’s Tuesday morning, I’m in the cafe…”

But as I pick up steam, and the caffeine starts to hit, I start having eureka moments, recalling the best ideas I’ve heard lately, connecting them to relevant questions in my life right now, developing blessed clarity.

At this point it’s common for my writing to contain grand phrases like “I can do anything”. That pretty much sums up how I feel at the time, empowered and confident.

Touch-typing makes it even better. I let my eyes just wander over my surroundings as my fingers put my thoughts onto the page. I observe the bustling of people in the cafe, or on the street outside, watching but not focusing on it.

Somehow letting my eyes wander lets my thoughts flow more freely. It’s like distracting my eyes unblocks a part of my brain.

It’s the same thing that happens when I’m chatting during a casual game of ping pong or frisbee with someone. The body goes into a flow state, and so does the conversation.

It all starts happening on its own, you feel somewhat involved, but also like you’re just going along with the ride.

And then at some point I snap out of it. Maybe that’s just the caffeine wearing off.

It can feel a little disappointing when my inspired writing session ends. I start thinking about the day’s upcoming tasks, the things I didn’t resolve yet, the questions that still remain unanswered.

But I must remember to have patience. Tomorrow will be another morning, I can do it again, and maybe I’ll make some progress on that stuff.