Remember, it’s good to get in the habit where you

1. read a practice
2. try the practice for awhile, hopefully until you find something interesting about it
3. move on to the next practice after awhile.

Starting a new habit can be difficult, especially when that habit involves doing something as soon as you wake up, before you’ve had time to think.

One way around this is quite simply to rehearse the skill when you don’t need it.

So right now, in whatever way is available to you, take 5 minutes for the following exercise:

• set a timer for 5 minutes
• pretend to fall asleep
• when the timer goes off, get your journal and pen, and write whatever’s on your mind, whatever you remember from your drifting pretend-sleep.

If you’re at work, you can just lean back in your chair and let your breath smooth away your thoughts. If you’re at home, go lie down in your bed and curl up however you usually sleep. Wherever you are, get as close as you can to the real situation you’ll face tomorrow morning, which is:

• you’ll come to consciousness,
• reach out for your journal,
• and start writing whatever is in your mind and body at that moment, trying to feel back for any dream imagery or narrative if it’s available.

Practicing this a couple times per day can help to smooth the transition, wear the groove of the habit deeper, so it gets easier and more automatic to simply wake up, pull your journal closer, and start jotting things down, even if they’re a little incoherent from your sleepy brain.