How did I get so busy? It's a good busy though; my time is sacrificed at the expense of slothery (that's a word now).
It does cause a problem, though, in my "Taking Care of j.p." spiritual and physical routines. I have no regularly schedulable (this one is a word now too) time until 10pm, and that time slot isn't actually free either, as I have a daily 10pm appointment with bed. This brings me back, full circle, to the inescapable need to utilize the early morning hours and facing the dread bed addiction.
This 10pm bed appointment would ideally end at 5:30am - 7.5 hr appointment with 5 full sleep cycles. The ideal isn't realized because that bed appointment is awesome, so I extend it to take up the next time slot.
I've previously discussed my horribly convincing half-asleep logic, and that its persuasion always leads to more awesome bed time. The results are: Oversleep, multiple mid sleep cycle reawakenings, addiction to the snooze bar, wasted time, and a terrible morning rush to get ready for the day. Hey, that's more horrible than I thought!
Day before yesterday I started visualizing, hoping to create a new neural pathway regarding the alarm (and abandoning the old one) so my sleepy body will learn to automatically follow the new pathway. I don't know if this is really 'a thing' or not, but it makes sense to me. I visualized the alarm going off and me jumping out of bed to turn it off, going into the bathroom, turning on the light and doing the morning stretch (makes my head light and my blood feel speedy).
Yesterday morning I awoke and did just that. I stand amazed. I don't think there's been time to completely turn this thing around yet, as I did contemplate my options (bed) before remembering to mindlessly follow the new neural pathway to the well-lit bathroom. This morning I did the same, and the same resulted. The lack of change is likely due to my visualization yesterday being sketchy. One thing I've noticed, though, is that I didn't look at the time until after I finished the things I had visualized. I always look at the clock, but not now. IIIIIIIInteresting.
This is pretty exciting, but I'm lacking something: A plan of what to do with my time after awakening. The alarm was set for 6:30am (I know, I know, but any alarm setting is game for snooze!). Yesterday I made sure I was wide awake, then got back into the bed with my book club book and stayed committed to staying awake. This morning, however, I got into the shower right away so as not to toy with the lure of the pillow.
Tonight I plan to set the alarm for 5:30am and plug in my iPod. Before bed, I will visualize getting up, turning the alarm off, going to the bathroom, turning the light on, doing the morning stretch, then jumping into my running gear. I guess I should add the visualizations of loosening my joints and getting out the door too, or who knows what might happen after I'm in my running clothes!
Ooooh, I'm pretty excited!
