I simply blame Mrs Barbour....

Why do I believe that getting up early is virtuous?

I woke an hour later than usual this morning and my immediate reaction was 'Oh no!'. I actually, momentarily, felt ashamed.

Mrs Barbour taught her class of five year olds to recite this Robert Louis Stevenson poem, so it's clearly her fault! (I loved Mrs Barbour).

A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon my window sill
Cocked his shining eye and said
'Ain't you 'shamed you sleepy head?'

Well no, blackbird. I just needed more sleep, thank you for asking.

I learned a lot about questioning my beliefs (which were often just early conditioning, not really beliefs) from Byron Katie's book  Loving What Is and found the chapter Doing The Work On Underlying Beliefs very freeing.