Following Your Flow, Getting Enough Sleep and Being an Inspired Person

Arinna Huffington finished her drive to promote getting enough sleep. Oftentimes when we are busy, we slip into a sleep-deprived life style. Most new parents fall into this habit. But it can long term pressure to a marriage or work life. In ending her Sleep Challenge 2010, she writes:

“I also learned how valuable it is to talk to people about sleep. It’s as though you are enlisting the world around you in helping you meet your goal. Not only did people share with me their sleep tips, but having people constantly ask me if I was getting enough sleep or making sure I wasn’t drinking coffee after noon or staying up past my scheduled bed time were a wonderful safeguard against falling into old, bad habits.”

“You don’t have to write about your sleep experiences twice a week and publish them on HuffPost and Glamour to get the same benefits. Tell your friends and family about your sleep goals — put it out there — and watch how many “sleep angels” start looking out for you and holding you to your sleep commitment. It’s like a Field of Sweet Dreams: build it, and they will come (to tuck you in).”

Learning and maintaining a commitment to make our sleeping important to our life will add passion and drive. Our passion is increased once we allow ourselves to believe that our dream may be possible. I love helping people so I am open to anything that will help me fill this need. Because of my letting go of old beliefs about myself, I have been freed up to work toward a movement that will enable the people I care about to join together.

From one of my favorite bloggers, Leo Babauta, writing on his zenhabits “How to Beat the Exhaustiveness of Stressful Work”:

“But on Tuesday, I tried to lift the same amount I had lifted a week earlier, no more, on the exact same lifts with the exact same rest periods. I was too tired to make it through even half the workout. My body (and mind) couldn’t do what it had done a week before.”

“There are lots of possible reasons: not enough fuel (but I eat the same thing every day), too much other types of activities (but that is also very consistent on my current schedule), not enough sleep (this was slightly less in the last two weeks, but that amount hasn’t hurt me this much in recent weeks), burnout due to too much exercise over a period of weeks (possibly a factor, but looking at my log, probably not), illness (but I’m not sick, actually very healthy right now).”

“After evaluating the many possible factors, stress is the most obvious. A few of the other factors probably played a smaller part, but stress was most likely the biggest factor. And it had a major effect, judging from my objective test.”

Our passion comes from following our flow. Flow has been explained by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. He describes our flow as that feeling of joy when we are doing something we love to do and are doing it effortlessly. Some athletes call it being in the zone.

Writing in her blog, Joyful Days, Daphne offers us a challenge to choose one of the following proven ways to living  a happy life:

  1. Believe in something
  2. Embrace silence
  3. Work on your own terms
  4. Find your “flow” experience
  5. Have something to look forward to
  6. Hang out with friends
  7. Just carry on living

Many people believe that they aren’t creative. Yet few of them schedule creativity. Creativity is an art and a science. You can find your creativity by making it a goal. Schedule time to spend searching and exploring your “flow” activity. Remember creativity is playing and enjoying what you do in your creativity time.

James Chartrand (who is really a woman) writing in Fuel Your Writing about how to learn the skill of being inspired suggests during the following to find your flow:

  1. Explore new experiences  “
  2. Ask people about themselves
  3. Bring a notebook

Photo credit.

2 comments

  1. Following your flow is the way to go.

    I find that fixing time for eating, sleeping, and working out makes all the difference in the world.

    Like

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