Still In Bed

Lazy.

I am not a terribly good sleeper.  I have never been particularly good at falling asleep or taking naps, but these I find myself waking up, unassisted, with the birds at first light.  My initial approach to this was to pout, and toss and turn until the alarm went off, starting my day in a grumpy huff.  That being clearly untenable in the long-term, my next approach was to embrace the extra time in my and launch myself out of bed and into a flurry of early-morning activity, which really only exhausted me before my day had even gotten started, my over-trained body needing more rest than my over-active mind.  Now, I choose the middle road.  The early morning has become a time for me to read or write from bed, a chance to make notes and relieve my busy mind from the constant turning over of things I have to do.  I use that time to acknowledge my cat, who after more than eight years with me can be forgotten but love thrives with additional attention.  I snuggle.  I look out the window at the birds.  I rest. I do not judge myself or insist that my body conform to an ideal model of sleep, but I do not rob myself of the precious time I have carved out of my life for rest and restoration.  I do not allow myself to feel lazy for taking this time.  Overall, I feel better for this, more psychologically prepared to face my day, and more physically rested.  Slowly, I am learning to accept my own internal rhythms and the idea that my body may have a wisdom all its own.

Like what you are reading?  Then support the Kickstarter for my book Girl Gone Wild- On Being a Woman in the Wilderness.  Thanks!

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Photograph Courtesy of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Sit, Stay

Rest.

There is an impossibility in sitting still.  I know this is not true of many if not most people, but for me, it is an affliction.  Consider this chain of events, hyperactivity and high energy cause one to over-schedule ones time.   This over-scheduling results in an unfortunate and unpredictable overload; the flu arrives to one's domicile, though thankfully not oneself.  Having made it miraculously to the end game a few days of crucial rest, a celebration and cutting loose which results in an absolute shut down of ones body.  I find myself backed into a corner with only one thing to do, rest.  I marvel at my ability to repeat patterns similar to this throughout my life, and at how frequently those around me do as well.  And we talk about it, or rather, we talk about how everyone should take it easy, take some time, get some rest.  It seems that there are always important things to do.

Consider though, if one were to write a short list of the most valuable things in life, perhaps things like, love, happiness, and health would come up, and that many of those things could be enhanced with more rest.  Perhaps rest is not a luxury to be sacrificed for other, more important things, or a commodity to be traded for wages or gain, but an obligation to the self, and something that should rank highly among our priorities.

Do not wait for your body to demand it, just go get some rest.

Photograph Courtesy of:

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-why-do-we-dream-0