Sleep. This is something that I really struggle with, partially because I feel like I don’t have enough time to do it. I regularly turn off the lights between 12:30-1:00am (and then proceed to wake up betwen 6:30am-7:00am), and that’s just not working for me anymore. As a result of these late nights I am consistently tired throughout the day, and have difficulty functioning at my best. Here’s a little side challenge for myself (and maybe some of you will join me if you also neglect this area of your wellbeing): what would happen if I slept for at least 7 1/2 hours a night every day this week. What if I demanded this of myself, and made sleep a priority? Made myself a priority! I had a pretty insanely busy week last week, and this has carried over  through exhaustion (which has resulted in a minor chest cold, some unhealthy eating, and many mid-day naps). It has also affected my ability to concentrate, and to focus on the work that I need to be doing.

I read a quote in a book about meditation last week that has stayed stuck to my mind. I haven’t been able to get this passage (and what it means) out of my head. Maybe this is what has been exhausting me (I apologize in advance if upon reading this quote I break some of your paradigms and keep you up all hours of the night as well). Here it is:

“You actually have a choice in every moment: the choice of how to be in wise relationship to this moment, inwardly and outwardly, no matter what is happening. By taking responsibility for your own experience in this way, you are taking a profound and potentially transformative step toward both healing and genuine well-being and happiness, not in some “better” future that may never come, but in the …only moment you ever have for living, for breathing, for loving, for being… namely this one. You already have this power. It is innate in all of us. All it takes is paying attention, and being kind to yourself; and persevering in remembering that you are alive only in this moment, and NOW is the ONLY time you EVER have for making choices, and that this now is ALWAYS available to you. Every moment is indeed a new beginning.”