08/06/2025

ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2025 theSunday Special VIII

You don’t scroll. You don’t reply. You don’t accidentally open a work email and see something stressful before your brain is fully awake.”

;QW FQPũV PGGF C PGY KFGPVKV[ VQ EJCPIG [QWT FC[ ť LWUV ƓXG SWKGV OKPWVGU before the world gets loud M OST people treat morn ings as either heroic or hopeless. There’s the Instagram approved version: 6am Soft rebellion in a loud world

A EX̆ HU EHWZHHQ VOHHS DQG VFUHHQ That buffer between sleep and screen, between the bed and the inbox, can be enough to shift the entire rhythm of a day. 1RW EHFDXVH RI ZKDW \RX GR LQ WKRVH ¿YH minutes, but because of what you don’t. You don’t scroll. You don’t reply. You don’t accidentally open a work email and see something stressful before your brain is fully awake. You don’t chase anything. You just allow yourself to be – before the world starts demanding who you should be. There’s a name for this in behavioural psychology: transition rituals. Small, intentional acts that signal to your brain that it’s time to shift gears. Athletes do it before competition. Performers do it before going onstage. And we need it too, a short mental warm-up to prevent mental whiplash. In today’s world, that shift is often skipped. We expect ourselves to transition from rapid eye movement sleep to a fully functioning adult in just 15 minutes. By the time most people leave the house (or log onto their laptops), they’ve already consumed breaking news, 27 opinions, three ads and a mild sense of panic. It’s not always burnout that gets us; it’s background static. That feeling of always being “on”, always plugged in, always a little too full in the brain. The result isn’t inspiration. It’s irritation. T KDW¶V ZK\ ¿YH PLQXWHV PDWWHU

BY SIMON VELLA

wake-up, 10km run, cold shower, grati tude journal, green smoothie and a routine that supposedly rewires your brain and unlocks success – all before the roti canai stall opens. And then there’s reality, which often involves three rounds of snoozing, FROG OHIWRYHU FR̆ HH DQG D KXUULHG VFUROO through WhatsApp messages while brush ing your teeth. But what if a better morning didn’t re quire extreme discipline or colour-coded planners? What if it didn’t need ambition or even structure? What if it just needed ¿YH PLQXWHV" No productivity hack. No apps. No performance. Just five uninterrupted minutes before doing anything else. No phone. No talking. No screen time. Just a slight pause – sitting by a window with a glass of water, stretching gently, sipping your drink in silence. Not with a checklist in hand, but with the intention to begin the day softly. Not racing into it. It sounds too simple to matter. But sometimes, that’s precisely the point.

Athletes do it before competition. We need it too, a short mental warm-up to prevent mental whiplash.