Hello Friends …
We humans do not need sleep as much as we need rest.
YES, sleep IS important but rest is really what you’re after. Sometimes we sleep, your body is inactive and but your mind are still ruminating on the day’s activities or your future projects and so on. This is not good rest and you may even wake up slow and dull.
Sometimes you can rest well while being awake and alert.
These tips will actually be about creating good REST! It will behoove us all to create a good cycle. Let’s see how …
#1 Stop eating! Refrain from ingesting anything at least 2-3 hours before you are ready to retire for the evening. Generally, after eating, the body will place a lot of energy into digestion. Good rest will be challenging, if at all, until the digestive system has done most of its job. Of course, it depends on WHAT you eat later in the day. This might take some time and effort for meal planning. You are planning not only what to eat but when. This is also why that last meal of the day should be the smallest meal of the day. There is a short amount of time left in the day to digest this meal, in order to rest well when the time comes for slumber.
#2 Avoid high sugar or caffeinated drinks in the later hours of the day. When in doubt, drink clear water of the highest quality available. Stop drinking anything about 1 hour before rest time. Eliminate fluids as frequently as needed before retiring. Then, take about 4ozs of water just before lying down for the night. This puts enough water into the body so the subtle effects of dehydration do not keep you awake or wake you up during the night.
#3 A short warm bath or shower just before the magic sleep hour is recommended. Cold water in the morning for waking up, warm water in the evening for calming down the activities of the day. Warm water brings the circulatory and nervous system to rest!
#4 One of the most important recommendations is: POWER DOWN THE MONITORS about one hour before sleep. Monitors are devices. You know, cell phones, TV, AND Internet use such as YouTubes, games, e-mail etc. The monitors not only send out a signal or vibration that keeps us awake but also the information, frequently, if not always, is something that the mind wants to keep repeating over and over again. Especially if it is fearful and negative like, THE LOCAL TV NEWS! This information takes a long time to dissipate and makes the early hours of sleep challenging. Rest comes hours later even though our eyes are closed. When rest comes later, it is also shorter. That alarm clock will not let us wait for the next day to start!
#5 What do you do with that hour after you have powered down the monitors, a brief warm shower, refrained from eating, and suspended drinking?
You have choices!
5A: Read something easy but positive and inspirational. This could be different for everyone. Find something that speaks to you and get started. A few minutes each night will do wonders. You will feel a difference and your body and mind will soon look forward to it. Remember this message will go to bed with you!
Another choice is:
5B: Be in silence and stillness and review the day! Repeat everything you can remember in as much detail as you can remember it. If the item you recall was something positive that you would repeat, great! Your mind will make these positive actions a reflex the next time a similar situation arises. If it was negative, or something you would NOT repeat …
5B1: Be grateful for the awareness of this action.
5B2: Express regret. Regret is not guilt for that action until we repeat it day after day after day in thought. That repetition gathers strength and that is when the guilt kicks in. A simple regret soon after the incident and then drop it but not before we do ….
5B3: Replace that action, in thought and image, with the new action that you would like to use next time. Then when THAT item arises again, your mind will go into the replacement action that you arrived at and prepared for in thought.
After days and weeks of this practice, you will polish your actions so to be more and more positive, intentional, compassionate and completely effortless.
This is a great way to spend that time before rest. Then, our days become easier and more fun. Things flow really well. And then our nights … well … yes it is a sleep/wake cycle!
In summary: when we invest time and repetition into preparing for rest, our NIGHTS are better and then our DAYS are better. So, in order to have better days, we can start by having better nights. Then the cycle repeats to our advantage.
What do YOU think? Your replies and comments are always welcome.
Have a great day … I mean night … well you know!
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