Although I slept quite badly and definitely not enough, this morning I had to get up earlier than normal. Lately I seem to be having trouble falling asleep and sleeping through the night, which has made my days quite exhausting and unpleasant, especially this week. Although I go to bed quite early, the next morning I look like I've been partying and pulling an all-nighter.

But still, I wanted to get out of the house early today and I managed to do so, which I was pretty happy about. The morning was actually really nice, with temperatures in the double digits and pleasant sunshine. For this reason, I took a detour and walked past a small shrine, just for the sake of the good mood I wanted to create.

As expected, I was all alone but I was able to soak up the early morning atmosphere. We all need a little inspiration here and there, and at the same time I was hoping to motivate myself for the rest of the day.

The shrine is located in an urban neighborhood and, as usual when visiting a place like that, we first passed a toori. This is how those distinctive gate found in the entrance areas of so many shrines here in Japan are called. The small shrine building was rather plain but it was surrounded by a few large pine trees, the tops of which were cut off a few years ago. If the trees are too big, you have to be careful that they don't break off during the typhoon season and cause more damage.

But even the somewhat shortened trees still manage to conjure up a majestic atmosphere, which I always enjoy contemplating. Even though I'm not religious myself, I still like the mystical atmosphere that emanates from places like this one.

And that morning, my brief visit had given me the initial boost I needed to make today a good one. It's not over yet, but I'm sure that I'll be able to cope with whatever comes next and that in the evening I'll end the day with a big smile on my face. And then I will definitely sleep well and get up the next day well rested. There's something big coming up again tomorrow that I definitely don't want to miss.

So here are a few pictures from this morning when I was standing in front of the little shrine. The morning was fresh and beautiful, and I'll definitely come back here some day again.....