The magical habit - Sleep
Yesterday evening was a big letting go. My friend Jen came by the house and took all of my plants to live with her. Honestly, there were some plants outside that she wanted, however, her SUV was full yesterday so she may come back to get the outdoor plants if she still wants them. Each day that passes is another day of letting go, discarding things I don't need, or donating things that someone else may use. It is amazing at the things we hang on to that we do not use and clothes that we do not wear. I am very happy that Jen really loves getting dresses and clothing that I have passed along to her. I somehow feel that everything about me is shifting and that is a good thing. It is an interesting journey to let go of an old self image and old self habits. I am thankful that a gut feeling to sell my home has sparked all of this transition.
Maybe because I got up at 4:45 yesterday or maybe because of Mars retrograde, I was ready for bed at 8:30pm last night. I love going to my room early to lay in silence and relax with my eyes closed. Honestly, I always have a book with me and some nights I read more than others, but last night I couldn't even read more than one paragraph and I was ready to put the book down and turn the light off. Since as long as I can remember, I have had a rule for myself to not have any technology (tv, computer, phone) in my bedroom. This has made sleeping an easy transition for me. Every night at no later than 10pm, I ready for a good night of sleep. Yes, there are many nights that I am ready for sleep by 8 or 9. I learned many years back that my sleep was a huge part of my well being and I made all of the necessary changes I needed to ensure I got a good night of rest. It is no wonder that my life was a mess back in my earlier Navy days when I would go weeks without more than a few hours of rest (if that) a day. My digestive system and my mental state was always on the rocks. Also, back in my early 20's when I got hardly any sleep, my digestive system was so messed up that I would go to the bathroom on myself by accident and this was so embarrassing.
I finally disregarded all of the bad advice I had gotten in 2004 when returning from a six month deployment to the Middle East and Asia and I took matters into my own hands. The ship made a visit to Hong Kong for 3-5 days and I went to a colon cleansing place I had found on the internet. This was the start of my journey to put the puzzle pieces together for my health. I am still working on it and discovering new things everyday. The main thing I can say I finally understand is sleep and rest are essential to living a balanced life and we are in full control of how that works out for us. I have many friends that take their cell phones to bed and/or have a television/computer in the room where they sleep - I make no judgement, however, I know what has worked best for me and I have had times of really bad health and burnout from work in my life and sleep/rest/naps are the best medicine for me personally.
When I go camping and not in a rush to get up and go anywhere, I have the best feelings on those days - physically and mentally. Our environments affect our health more than our family genetics - this has been proven in new studies called "Epigenetics" and I finally believe in something that makes so much sense. The proof is in the pudding - and I am living proof, we are not destined to have any medical conditions that our parents or grandparents had in the past. We are in control of our health based mainly on our belief system about certain things, our attitude, our habits, and our environment. I am so thankful that doctors have been studying these things, because it truly puts health back into the patients hand and gives them hope if their family had been experiencing something tough.
