The other morning, I found myself wandering the aisles of Walmart in a sleepy fog and grabbing a few groceries. But that morning, I was also at Walmart for a bigger reason. I was so excited to see a new book release: “The Great Morning Revolution” by my sister, Pastor Tara Beth Leach.
Standing there in the book aisle, I felt this wave of pride. My dad, Gary Moore – the founder of this very column – would have been over the moon. He wrote a few books himself, and as I held my sister’s book in my hands, I couldn’t help but think, I guess it really does run in the family.
I flipped the book open, not just as a proud sibling but as someone honestly needing help with my own mornings. One line caught my eye: “There is a transformative power in our mornings … with a deep impact our actions and first thoughts of the day have on our spiritual life, emotional health and overall well-being.”
What stayed with me was less the book itself and more that idea: the way we spend our first moments awake quietly shapes the rest of our day.
However you explain it—through spirituality, mindset, brain chemistry – or all three, mornings carry a special weight.
People from all sorts of backgrounds, whether spiritual, secular, or strictly scientific, have noticed this: the tone you set at the beginning often echoes through the rest of your day.
If the first thing we do is grab our phone and dive into news, emails and social feeds, we invite everyone else’s urgency into our nervous system, which can cascade into a stressful or bad day.
Simple practices like stepping outside for a moment, savoring a few sips of coffee without a screen. A short morning check-in – What actually matters today? What one thing would make this day feel meaningful? – and setting that intention can be very powerful. Our minds are often most open early in the day.
The book The Great Morning Revolution offers a simple, memorable way to lean into this kind of intentional start to your day.
GREAT stands for Gratitude, Reflections, Exaltation, Asking and Trusting.
Gratitude – Notice one or two things you’re genuinely thankful for: a warm blanket, a safe place to sleep, someone who checked in on you, your family, or simply the chance to try again today. Gratitude shifts the focus from what is missing to what is already here, softening the edges of a hard morning.
Reflections – Look back briefly, without judgment. How did yesterday go? Where did you feel stretched too thin? What did you learn about what you need today? Reflection turns yesterday’s struggles into today’s wisdom.
Exaltation – Think of this as lifting your gaze. For some, that means prayer or worship; for others, it might be watching the sky, listening to music that lifts the heart, or remembering a value that is bigger than today’s to-do list. It’s a way of saying, My life is about more than just getting through emails.
Asking – Instead of jumping straight into fixing and controlling, pause to ask. Ask what you need – rest, courage, focus – and where you might find support, whether from inner resolve, a friend, a therapist, a community, or, if you’re spiritual, from God. Asking reminds us we don’t have to carry everything alone.
Trusting – Finally, choose one small way to trust. Trust that you can handle one thing at a time, that you are allowed to grow slowly, and that even if the day goes off the rails, your worth is not on the line. Trust is not pretending everything is easy; it’s deciding not to give up on yourself.
A GREAT morning doesn’t have to be perfect or long. It might simply look like a quiet minute at the edge of the bed, a short walk down the block, a three-line gratitude list, reading a single uplifting paragraph, and setting one honest intention for the day. Some mornings you’ll miss it entirely – and that’s okay. You can begin again tomorrow.
The GREAT news is that we don’t have to just let our mornings happen to us. We can shape the first few minutes, and let them shape the rest of our day.
• Toby Moore is a Shaw Local News Network columnist, star of the Emmy-nominated film “A Separate Peace,” and CEO of CubeStream Inc. He can be reached at feedback@shawmedia.com.