By Shunmyo Masuno

I would like to talk about making use of your time rather than being used up by it.

To be sound in mind and body—even better, to live vigorously—it’s important not to upset the rhythm of your days. If the time when you get up in the morning and when you go to bed at night is constantly shifting from one day to the next, you cannot maintain optimal health, nor can you endure the mental exhaustion it causes.

What’s more, human nature tends toward laziness—we can be as lazy as we set our mind to being. If we give in to laziness, there’s no end to it and things only get worse. It’s necessary to put a stop to it at some point.

What if you were to create your own rules in order to maintain your daily rhythm?

It’s worth paying attention to your morning routine.

Cherish the morning.

I cannot emphasize this enough. And among the rules for cherishing the morning, the most important one to take to heart is “rise early, at the same time every day.”

By rising early, you will create space in your morning.

Some people sleep as late as they can, then hastily make coffee, only to gulp it down and leave the mug in the sink before dashing off to the train station. Does this sound familiar?

When the day starts like this, it’s easy to imagine what the rest of the day will be like. With no time to spare, we’re mentally on the run, and there’s little room to breathe. So, we’re likely to forget things and there’s a good chance we’ll make mistakes.

Consider the following Zen saying: “You are used up by the hours in your day, while this old monk can use his hours to the fullest.”

It’s from Zhaozhou, a Zen master who lived during the Tang dynasty.

It stresses the importance of using your time well, but starting off your day like a harried, slapstick comedy is exactly the opposite way of going about it. That is the epitome of being used up by your time, of being at the whim of it.

Rise Early

Rise early, let some fresh air into your room, observe the ever-changing season outside your door or window as you take a deep breath. That’s all it takes to get your blood pumping and to fill yourself with vigor. Notice the chirping of birds, or the breeze, or the tree leaves turning color—your sensibilities will be stimulated and enhanced.

While you savor a cup of tea or coffee after breakfast, both mind and body take in the briskness of the morning, and you are inspired to make the most of the day.

Doesn’t that sound like a luxurious morning?

This is what it means to use your time to the fullest.

Again, when the day starts like that, it’s easy to imagine how the rest of it will go. Quality time flows from one moment to the next.

I’ll say it again: the key to making the best use of all the hours in the day is found in the morning.

I believe that this rule of cherishing the morning is especially relevant for those who are coming up on retirement and for those beyond it. Retirement is a crucial juncture in your life, a turning point in how you go about your days. All the more reason why not addressing it with care can lead to problems. If all you’ve ever done is throw yourself into your work, then when your work is gone, it’s easy to lose your drive or for your spirit to flag.

In a pattern typical of this, someone reaches retirement and then seems to age all at once. A formerly dauntless corporate warrior becomes the pitiful guy who is now always in the way at home—this is not at all uncommon.

He gets up in the morning whenever he feels like it. He putters around until noon, decadently idle. Without anything to do, he leaves the television on a program he has no interest in and just sits there, not really watching it.

If you allow yourself to become like this, then this could easily become the rhythm of your daily life. And from there, unnecessary anxiety, worry, and fear begin to take hold. It may be time to retire from your career, but nobody says you have to retire from life. We must treat with the utmost care this precious life we have been given.

And as I said, the morning is the key.

Just as when you were active in your career—even more so, actually—begin each day with the awareness of how much the morning matters. By doing so, your days will brim with vim and vigor.

It will renew your senses—perhaps you’ll start looking for some other kind of work, or volunteer, or devote yourself to the hobbies you never had time for when you were working. I promise you, one of these will happen to you.

Wouldn’t it make for a lovely retirement to brush up on your cooking skills and treat your family to lunch every so often?

This one simple rule, to cherish the morning, will chase away feelings of hopelessness—that there’s nothing to do today or any day—and will bring about an enriching period when you experience living in the here and now to the fullest.

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Shunmyo Masuno, the head priest of a 450-year-old Zen Buddhist temple in Japan, is the author of the international bestseller The Art of Simple Living as well as an award-winning Zen garden designer for clients all over the world and a professor of environmental design at one of Japan’s leading art schools. He has lectured widely, including at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cornell University, and Brown University.

Well Being Journal adapted the above excerpt from Don’t Worry by Shunmyo Masuno, published by Penguin Life, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2022 by Shunmyo Masuno.