8 hours or less?

There is so much the goes into living a healthy lifestyle. In particular, there are three pillars. In recent months I have reclaimed two of those pillars, nutrition and fitness. But the third pillar, sleep, is harder to control.

For starters, it happens while we are asleep. Secondly, when you are married, it’s not always easy to chose when you go to sleep. And if your partner has a fitful night, so will you (at least, if you are a light sleeper).

But sleep is so critical. With insufficient sleep, fitness becomes harder. With insufficient sleep, motivation becomes harder. With insufficient sleep, people eat more bread and sugar. With insufficient sleep, we get grumpier (and you know what that does to both your relationships and the law of attraction).

In so many ways, sleep controls our physical health, our ability to accomplish things and our relationships. It’s worth the effort to get a good night’s sleep every night.

Is there still people who sleep 8 hours a night? How many hours a night, do you sleep?

Courage (2)

"You will never do anything in this world
without courage.
It is the greatest quality of the mind
next to honour."
~{Aristotle}~

Some very brave people suffer from feeling very uncourageous. They labour under the false assumption that courage requires no fear. Quite the contrary, fear is the single most important ingredient in courage.

Without fear there cannot be courage. Courage is the act of overcoming one’s fears.

We all have fears. We can all be courageous. Challenge your fears to a dual today… they aren’t half as brave as you are.

Believe?

Strange thing about us humans... when we believe something we REALLY believe it. So much so that whenever we're shown evidence of ANY kind we tend to do our best to back up what we already believe.

In short, we believe what we WANT to be true, even if the evidence objectively says something else.

Y is that?

Taste...

Ice-Cream drips. So you better eat it fast.

Or perhaps, you simply have to put way less ice-cream in the cone.

Since the first taste is the best, and the ice-cream actually loses flavour as you eat it…maybe the dripping is a message that you’ve had enough?

Then again, can one ever have enough ice-cream?

First snow...

When we woke up on Sunday morning we had our first snow for this season.

But at about 11:30 it started raining and we even had some hail. All that turned the lovely white snow into a brownish slush...

Wisdom...

Place your faith in the divine power within you;
not in your outer abilities.

Wisdom...

Find a rainbow and live your world of dreams,
always remember life is better than it seems.

Growing up...

Growing up is fun. If you have never had kids, you might not realize how many times young souls can thrill over finally being a big kid. Every accomplishment, each new milestone, every new permission – it’s all fodder to be excited at finally being a big kid.

WildChild started school in September this year. Now she's a big kid. No longer going to the Nursery as a little kid. On Monday she was chosen for her School Council (Prefect). A big responsible kid.

So how can you tell who is a big kid and who is a small kid? Easy, yesterday they were all small; today they are all big.

What about you? Y not become a big kid and celebrate your growth every few days, too? Go on I know you want to...

Circumstances...

I believe this Quote, of Mr. Shaw, is the very essence of living the life you want.

Create the circumstances inside yourself, and you will be happy. Pay too much attention to the circumstances around you, events and situations beyond your control, and happiness becomes very elusive.

Water...

If you can’t see the divinity in water...

Water is a resource that many of us take for granted.
Water is the source of life, in more ways than one.
We all need to drink plenty of it.

What does water mean to you?

Responsibility?

What does this word mean, anyway?

Response ability. When we ask, “Just who is responsible for this mess?” The question is really “Who is response able for this mess?”

When you are asked to assume responsibility for something, it might some like a completely different thing than being expected to take responsibility for something. But the bottom line is that the question is all about who is able to respond.

Try taking responsibility as often as possible. Responsibility is not about blame. Responsibility is about empowerment.

Competitive...

Life is competitive. There is always someone better than you, and there is always pressure to catch up and exceed the expectations that have been set. The competition is always hot on your heels. But just who is this competition?

You!

That’s right, whatever you did last sets your standard. You can always improve. You can always be kinder. You can always be faster. You can always be smarter. You can just keep getting better. That’s what self-improvement is all about.

And you can always be happier, too.

Happiness (Permission)

Happiness is sometimes what happens when you’re not looking. Sometimes we spend too much time searching for happiness. Sometimes, we should just let it come to us.

But first, you have to give yourself permission. That’s right, you have to allow yourself to feel happy. You can breathe, you can eat, you can smile…there are so many reasons to feel happy, but you have to give yourself permission, or else none of these things will make you any happier than you already are.

Thoughts...

You are the only one that can
control your thoughts.
It may not seem like it at times,
but you CAN choose what you think!

What if?

Future...

“Finish each day and be done with it.
You have done what you could;
some blunders and absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day;
you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit
to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
~{Ralph Waldo Emerson}~

In Harmony...

Have you ever noticed how beautiful a choir is, with all the voices singing as if they were one. But they are not one. It is the ever so slight variations that help make the harmony sound so beautiful. And sometimes, the choir can even sound beautiful when voices are singing in counterpoint.

A solo performance can also be incredibly beautiful. So can a duet.

The key is to know when to sing solo and when to sing in harmony. When you are with others, strive to work with them. Be part of something beautiful.

When you are by yourself, be the bestest person you can be. Because you are also beautiful on your own.

Temper?

Who’s the boss, you or your temper?

This is an important question, because people who have anger management issues often feel like they are not in control (which they aren’t). Lust for power is generally not considered a good thing. However, control over one’s own actions and reactions, and particularly over one’s temper is an extremely good thing.

Although feeling dejected for having lost control after the temper has subsided is not very useful, feeling determined to keep control before tempers flare is quite useful. The trick is to remind your temper who’s boss before it gets the better of you. You can say to yourself, “I am the boss.” And whatever other lines you need to put temper in its place.

After all, you really are the boss.

Sisters

Sisters. Friends or foes?

Sometimes it is hard to tell. “She NEVER let’s me play by my rules.”
“She ALWAYS hates me.”

And just when you wonder how they can even share the same roof…

“But let’s not forget to get one for my sister, too.”
“Here, you can have the bigger half.”

Terrifying? Heart-warming? Confusing? Ah, but life’s like that.

Good thing we are adults and know better than to bicker, right?

In contact with nature...

Our vacation has been over for a little while now, and even this short ½-Term break we had, just came to an end today, but it was wonderful.

Even though I live in the country-side I still find it refreshing and renewing to commune with nature, walking through a forest, biking around the countless bike-paths in our county, pushing my way into the mist of a waterfall, scaling a hill to see the view from the top, breaking through the waves over a submerged sandbar (although I don't do that often enough because this is the Ukay...), watching the seagulls and kestrels flying around me…these are experiences one just cannot do every day. And they bring us so much closer to our real roots.

As convenient as our daily shelters are, there is a little extra happiness every time we can commune with nature, each in our own way.

Word...

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present
nor the future, nor any powers, neither height
nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love
of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

~{Romans 8:38-39}~

Happy (2)

There is such a thing as too much money. There is such a thing as too much fun. There is such a thing as too much food and too much to drink.

There is also such a thing as too little money. There is such a thing as too little fun. There is such a thing as too little food and too little to drink.

Somewhere in between happiness can be found...