How Do You Make a Habit of a Daily Heroic Minute?

Help me out here.

About a year ago, I shared about what the saints say about mornings and have been trying to put into practice the things I wrote about. 

Truth be told, I too often fail.

Despite waking up and praying my Living Rosary decade before my feet hit the floor and mentally naming some "excitement" to get me going with motivation and thanksgiving, more often than not, I stall out right about there.

I fail to conquer myself, get lulled by some of sort of laziness of mind, body, spirit - or all three, and stall out.

Instead of listening to the wonderful piece of advice that St. Josemaría Escrivá wrote about in his book, The Way and living by it, I fall prey to a pattern of false starts. 

I don't want to.

I want to tap into God's help and conquer myself - experiencing the first victory of the day right at its start. Yet... some days, I don't.

Indeed, although I do go through successful spurts, I am still working on making a small act of mortification a consistent daily haabit and would love to hear your thoughts.

Do you experience a heroic minute more days than not? Did you struggle with making a holy habit of embracing such minutes? What did you do to conquer the vice of stalling out too soon? Why is practicing a "supernatural reflection and...up" so much harder than it sounds? 

In person, in comments here, or with a comment on the Training Happy Hearts Facebook page, please inspire me by sharing about your successes with being "well ahead for the rest of the day" after conquering yourself from the first moment.

I truly want to better build this holy habit in myself and also pray that it will be taught to and caught by my kids.

I appreciate your help.

May we all get better at following this wisdom:

“Conquer yourself each day from the very first moment, getting up on the dot, at a fixed time, without yielding a single minute to laziness. If, with God’s help, you conquer yourself, you will be well ahead for the rest of the day. … The heroic minute. It is the time fixed for getting up. Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and… up! The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body.”

~St. Josemaría Escrivá 

When the Saints Speak to You about Your Mornings...

Do you ever sense that God is giving you a little nudge to re-examine a part of your day and to reflect on what tweaks to it might bring you closer to Him?

I recently had such a nudge. It came in four parts.

First, after slogging through some mornings and sighing with little inner joy and gratitude as I went to bed over a series of nights, I realized something needed to change in me and recalled words that I heard in a talk years ago:

"Wake up every day excited and go to be every day fulfilled."

Simple words, but good ones.

Words that, when put into practice, have carried me through earlier portions of my life and which, I sensed, might be headed better at present.

So, with these words in mind, I began to ask myself shortly after waking each day, "What am I enthused about today?" Then, with a grateful heart and something to look forward to, living the day in such a way that by its end I could reflect and answer the question, "Where did I fulfill my vocation today and at what moments did I find peace and joy?"

This was the start of God's nudge to me about tweaking my moments to bring me closer to Him.

Then, I recalled the Heroic Minute St. Josemaría Escrivá, wrote about in his book, The Way:

“Conquer yourself each day from the very first moment, getting up on the dot, at a fixed time, without yielding a single minute to laziness. If, with God’s help, you conquer yourself, you will be well ahead for the rest of the day. … The heroic minute. It is the time fixed for getting up. Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and… up! The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body.”

As I recalled this concept, I realized how unheroic my mornings had become.

All too often in recent days, weeks, and months, I have been beginning my day with a groggy prayer, then, rolling over, falling back asleep, beginning again, drifting again, and so forth... Sometimes never even finishing the prayer before finally getting up and stumbling or dashing headlong into the day depending on what urgency the clock and the calendar prompted.

Not good.

Not a way to grow with God.

St. Josemaría Escrivá reminded me I can do better!

Then, St. Francis de Sales and St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) (whose feast day is coming up on August 9) reminded me that perhaps I need longer than a simple Heroic Minute each day.

In a homily I listened to, words attributed to St. Francis de Sales struck me:

"Everyone of us needs half an hour of prayer every day, except when we are busy—then we need an hour."

Then, I stumbled across a quote I wrote down last year when looking for resources and ideas for sharing more about St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross with my children: 

“The duties and cares of the day crowd about us when we awake each day – if they have not already dispelled our night’s rest. How can everything be accommodated in one day? When will I do this, when that? How will it all be accomplished? Thus agitated, we are tempted to run and rush. And so we must take the reins in hand and remind ourselves, “Let go of your plans. The first hour of your morning belongs to God. Tackle the day’s work that he charges you with, and he will give you the power to accomplish it.”

Finally, during Confession today, a priest spoke to me about how St. Therese of the Child Jesus talked about a stairway... I later looked it up and found this:

"You make me think of a little child that is learning to stand but does not yet know how to walk. In his desire to reach the top of the stairs to find his mother, he lifts his little foot to climb the first step. It is all in vain, and at each renewed effort he falls. Well, be like that little child. Always keep lifting your foot to climb the ladder of holiness, and do not imagine that you can mount even the first step. All God asks of you is good will. From the top of the ladder He looks lovingly upon you, and soon, touched by your fruitless efforts, He will Himself come down, and, taking you in His Arms, will carry you to His Kingdom never again to leave Him. But should you cease to raise your foot, you will be left for long on the earth."

And so it all came together in my head...

Getting busier and busier of late? Yep!

Waking all to often with my mind caught up in the cares of each day and tempted to run and rush in an agitated state? Mm hmm.

Stumbling often and getting discouraged?  Aboslutely.

Needing to re-examine my morning routines and to keep lifting my foot - and my heart - towards Him?  Without a doubt.

Thus, as I go to bed tonight, I am grateful for the words of saints that God has used to nudge me into a plan for tomorrow...

A plan to wake heroically, then spend some extra time renewing morning habits of prayer before tackling the day's work.

How about you? How have the saints been speaking to you?

Are you starting your day heroically? 

Are you busying out prayer or rushing headlong into the cares of the day without pausing to hand the plans for it over to Our Lord?

Are you getting discouraged by your own stumbling or trusting that God has got you and asks you only to lift your foot with good will?

Wherever your are, may you be open to His nudges.