Rising with the Morning Sun

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via EliteDaily

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There’s another world out there. Like entering through a secret portal, it’s a world that only some people experience. A world few have visited and only some can live in.

Like traveling to another country, it’s a world that only some people ever get to see. A chill in the air only some people ever feel; a dew only few walk across.

It’s when coffee is strongest and the air is most crisp. When the morning light is most entrancing and that soft haze makes everything look magical. It’s when there’s nothing but you and the quiet company of the newly awoken sun.

A select few only get to walk along these empty streets, taking in the energy and the absence of sound. Only few get to feel the morning air, before it becomes tainted and consumed by the breaths of the masses.

Early risers get everything first. The first sounds, the first bites, the first waves of new air. They get to the streets before they’re littered and walked across. They get the news before it’s shared and exposed. They get the world before it’s crowded and full.

They are the planners, the leaders, the doers. They are the ones who don’t wait for you to get up, but beat you to the punch. They are the ones who are starting their lives with purpose, every morning. And according to Emotion, the study published in the American Psychological Association journal, even though night owls may be more creative and intelligent, early birds are more successful.

Because our society is structured around a 9-5 work period, people who wake up early are more accustomed and productive during those hours, so we’ve deemed them more socially acceptable.

They go into work already awake, rather than spending half the day in a fog. They go to bed when the sun goes down, rather than when it’s coming up. They are accustomed to — and in-tune — with the schedule society functions around.

This schedule is referred to as our “social clock,” according to Renee Biss, the scientist from the University of Toronto who led the study.

Social jetlag is the term given to night owls; their biological clocks are not in sync with society’s social clock and, therefore, they end up having a hard time meeting societal expectations and functioning throughout the day.

Early birds, on the other hand, are more productive and happier throughout the day because their schedules are aligned.

They reap the benefits of the chaotic threshold that begins when their alarm clocks go off. They are already making their mark, hatching their plans and creating a day worth living before you’ve gotten the strength to get out of bed.
They have first dibs on the day

They get everything first, and that makes all the difference. They get the first opportunities and the first bites of life. They get the first chances to strike and the first attempts at success.

Contrary to night owls, who use the night for creativity, early birds use the morning for planning and plotting. They are hatching plans, finding answers and leading the charge.

According to a study conducted at a Texas University in 2008, college kids who wake up earlier are more likely to graduate at the top of their class.

Using a questionnaire, students were instructed to determine themselves as either morning people or evening people. They compared the results to the GPAs of the participants and found that those who considered themselves morning people had higher GPAs than their night-owl counterparts, with the results a full point higher (3.5 vs. 2.5).

Researchers concluded the reasons for these discrepancies could be found in the lifestyle of the early birds. Kids who wake up earlier are less likely to go out at night and make bad decisions because they know they have to be up sooner. They are also more prone to get to classes on time and create study habits that are more conducive to the college lifestyle.
They have all morning to figure it out

The more time you spend on a problem, the more solutions you procure. Early birds have the distinct advantage of having hours to figure out their days and plan for the problems they will face. They get work done before you’ve even opened your eyes and are on to the next set of problems before you’ve even taken your morning shower.

According to Christopher Randler, a biology professor at Harvard, early birds are more productive because they have time to anticipate problems and solutions. They are proactive and goal-oriented, which is a quality most leaders possess. They are ready for anything because they’ve been awake.

Surveying 367 college students, Randler asked them what time of day they were most energetic and how willing they were to take action to change a certain situation or outcome to be in their favor.

Not surprisingly, the early birds were more prone to agree with statements like, “I spend time identifying long-range goals for myself” and, “I feel in charge of making things happen.”
They have healthier habits

They eat breakfast; they go for a run; they make time for the gym. They have time to do all that stuff you can’t fathom doing when you wake up late for work. They are the ones who are going to find time during the day to do all those things that keep them healthier and, ultimately, happier.

They are also eating better than night owls. According to a 2011 Northwestern University study published in Women’s Health Magazine, night owls eat twice as much fast food than early risers, and have a higher BMI.

Early birds are also prone to eat more fruits and vegetables, as much as double the amount as those who sleep late.

Teal Swan on Anxiety

Sacred Exhaustion

SACRED EXHAUSTION via Jeff Foster


Your tiredness has dignity to it! Do not rush to pathologise it, or push it away, for it may contain great intelligence, even medicine.

You have been on a long journey from the stars, friend. Bow before your tiredness now; do not fight it any longer.

There is no shame in admitting that you cannot go on. Even the courageous need to rest.

For a great journey lies ahead. And you will need all of your resources.

Come, sit by the fire of Presence. Let the body unwind; drop into the silence here. Forget about tomorrow, let go of the journey to come, and sink into this evening's warmth.

Every great adventure is fuelled by rest at its heart.

Your tiredness is noble, friend, and contains healing power... if you would only listen...

- Jeff Foster

Power Of Now, with Jeff Foster

HIS MOMENT, FRIEND, THIS MOMENT

This is for anyone who is going through a crisis, big or small.

Friend, I know that sometimes it feels like everything's falling apart, and even the most beautiful spiritual words sound like bullshit, meaningless, flowery, new-age drivel. We lose everything we thought defined us, or made us happy, everything that seemed to matter to us, and it feels like we will never recover. We are left in total despair, disappointment, disillusionment. It seems like 'the end', with no hope of recovery.

Yet in life, there are no true endings, only transformations, new beginnings emerging from rubble. Old dreams dying, the false falling away, which can be excruciatingly painful, of course, of course! Destruction, breakdowns, disruptions, shocks and losses, often feel like enemies, but always contain seeds of the new, and sometimes it just takes time to recover. This devastation you are going through, this crucifixion of dreams you feel, is an opportunity to let go of EVERY SINGLE IDEA you've ever had of how your life was "supposed to be", all those cherished dreams that were simply false, yet beautiful and useful at the same time.

The invitation today is to be present to your life, to wake up to it, to turn towards this immediacy, to dignify what is actually happening where you are. If there is loneliness visiting you here and now, do not turn away. If there is fear, do not push it away or try to escape. If there is frustration, anxiety, or just a quiet sense of hopelessness moving in you, do not reject these energies. They just want to be felt, now. They are not wrong. They are your lost children, orphans of awakening, and just want to move and be felt. Sometimes life brings us to our knees so that we will FEEL everything we've been running away from all our lives. And yes, the 'meeting' may hurt. But perhaps feeling the hurt is the beginning of healing, not the ending of it.

And watch the mind. How it constantly spins, rewinds and fast-forwards, constantly leaves the present scene of your life, here and now. Thought is constantly running away from the present moment. It goes into memory - of how good things were before, of how wonderful your life used to be. And it longs to return there. And it feels unable to. And despair results. Regret. Longing. Homesickness. And it fast-forwards into the future, imagining all kinds of future scenarios, many dark and scary. It takes you into regions way beyond your control. And both movements into past and future disconnect you from where you are NOW, which is all there is. They take you away from your only point of power - this moment.

But this moment is all there is. This breath. These sensations. Present sounds, smells. Present beating of the heart, the feeling of your butt on the chair. A little bird singing on the tree outside. The buzz of the television over there. A feeling of contraction in the chest, tenderness in the throat. This is a call to radical, radical simplicity. To honouring the not-knowing. To admitting humility in the face of life. Without the story of past and future, can you really know that your life has 'gone wrong'? For that is the belief at the core of everything, isn't it? That your life has 'gone wrong'. That the 'me' has failed somehow. That the universe is cruel and somehow against you. It's an intelligent conclusion to make, yes. I won't judge you for it. But perhaps it's not the truth. Perhaps the mind doesn't know.

My friend, your disillusionment, your inability to believe all those spiritual teachings now, including my own, is not a mistake - it is pure intelligence at work! Your disillusionment is part of waking up, not the end of waking up! This is all an invitation to a deeper awakening than you ever thought possible. You are being forced to question everything - everything - including all those cherished spiritual teachings that once held so much value. You are being called to find your own authority, to let go of all those bullshit ideas about what 'a good life' means. You are being invited to let go of everything second-hand, everything old, everything received - from parents, teachers, gurus - everything in memory, and be present to life, raw and naked.

Sometimes we have to lose everything to remember our total humility, to remember that we are not in control, and that each moment is full of wonder and thrilling uncertainty. You are on a path of devastation now - it was exactly what Jesus was teaching. This is not the end for you - it is the beginning of a new and different life, a new way of moving in the world, however hard that is to see. It is a time of renewal, of slowing-down, of discovering the abundance contained within the nothingness. A time to be kinder to yourself. There is so much potential for you, friend, even if you cannot believe that.

There have been many times in my own life when I felt unable to go on, unable to stand. I felt that I had lost everything, that nothing was possible, that the void was the only life. But I just didn't know what the universe had in store.

Even though you feel lonely and abandoned, frightened and angry, friend, know that many others are walking with you, and many others understand. You will write your own book of transformation one day.

This moment, friend. THIS moment.

- Jeff Foster