Travel Journal

One day while camping, my brother played some “Eye of a Tiger” to wake me up. It really worked – it got me going and motivated to get out of bed.

So in my many attempts to find the failed-proof method for my wake alarm, I set up mp3’s to play in the morning. I made of list of songs I find motivating that inspires me to “seize the day” that would play for my alarm. I think that worked a couple of days, but then I just slept through them again instead of motivating me. Laziness wins again.

So lately I had an idea. Maybe not a list of songs – but just that one song – Eye of a Tiger. The songs says it all. So now I wake up to that one song. It would probably work more, but the logistics is the problem now. I don’t always have an mp3 player with an alarm in the bedroom. But maybe it would work more, and get me energized to go and conquer the world.

Another thing that I find that works a lot is just to use the radio (loud enough) as an alarm, instead of a buzzer. I would set it up an hour before I would wake. I would not have to get annoyed by getting out of bed to turn off an unwanted alarm. The talk on the radio in the morning would also bring me out of my dream state. The problem with waking up is that I am so deep into my dreams that sometimes I want to finish my dream, or dream a little more. But with the radio, the real world comes to me. I then become more aware that I am waking up to the real world, and the dream I have is fleeting and not real. So though to it does not shake me awake, it does bring out from my sleep, and allow me time to stretch and get out of bed when I am ready.

But now there is something that got me thinking about the way I start my day. A lot of time on the radio, they play Mercy Me “I Can Only Imagine” in the morning. So I wake up to that song often – that and the other “Here With Me”. And everytime I wake up to that song, it’s a different sense of the world – one that I have been trying to capture day to day. Of course, the song is about each one’s personal vision of Heaven. So the song reminds me what I think of Heaven.

So often in the daily activities of “conquering the world”, you get tired out and wonder why bother sometimes. Then you re-focus your life, and focus on the simple joys and rewards of the day. And so I love waking up to this song because it does starts of the day totally opposite. I use to think my focus of the day is to take on the world, face all the challenges, and be a winner in the end of the day. To be successful. That is not bad thing at all. But everytime I do that, I do lose focus, and I come back to this point. And now, starting my day with the correct focus, it has really given me a reason to get out of bed. I get out of bed realizing life is not a bunch of challenges I must overcome and be weary of. Life is simple. You enjoy it. You still make the most of it you can. You do your best. But remember what all this is for. How matters in the end and what does not? What has value that stands the test of time? And to always remember that life does not end here, and these troubles we face everyday will just be a memory. In my Heaven, the thing that counts the most is being surrounded by the beauty of the world, being able to love the ones I love, and walking (physically) alongside with Christ intimately. And that gives me motivation to “seize the day”.