Needing Sleep

Lots of great things happen to you while you are asleep.

 

Your skin repairs itself, your mind relaxes and resets itself and your body strengthens its immune system and reduces levels of stress.

But you have to do it to reap the benefits.

 

These days people like to brag about how little sleep they need.  I remember reading somewhere that Martha Stewart only sleeps four hours a night.  I thought to myself, "You've got to be kidding!  I could never last very long if I only got four hours of sleep a night!"

Even Charlie Brown & Lucy Need To Sleep

One of the key elements of a healthy life and healthy grieving is allowing your emotions to surface in order to work through them.  You can put off dealing with your emotions but sooner or later they will come back at you, even stronger than before.  Unfortunately, you have to come face-to-face with your pain.  Oherwise you block the grieving process.  If you continue to ignore these emotions, then you end up holding them inside yourself and eventually you will affect your ability to sleep and other areas of your life.

 

Do you feel tired all the time?  Part of grieving is feeling fatigued.  I was exhausted after my husband's death and I found that dealing with my husband's death made my sleeping patterns change in a way that had never happened before.  After working all day, I would fall asleep sometime around 7:30 pm or 8 pm and then sleep until 4am.  On the weekends, I would fall alseep during the day.  This went on for a number of months and then my sleeping pattern finally changed again.  It felt weird but it was okay. 

 

Even if you can't sleep because you are upset or anxious about a loved one's death, I also found you can sometimes sit still and breathe quietly and find a focal point in which to loose yourself.  It might not work the first few times you try this but it is worth the effort.

 

Sleep is critical to our well-being and resting your body will help your emotional recovery.

 

Listen to this great TED talk that Arianna Huffington gave on the value of getting a good night's rest and how sleep is essential to our creativity and recovery.  She makes some great points!

 

  

Revisiting Maurice Sendak

 

 

 

 

Maurice Sendak is known as an internationally renowned prize-winning children's book author and illustrator but he also has a message for adults too.

 

When children read his most famous book, "Where The Wild Things Are," they run around and play as if they are monsters, just like the ones in Sendak's book.  Spontaneously and instantly, children enter Sendak's world with love and abandon.

 

Adults may want to join the children in their play but their "adultness" sometimes holds them back.  "Oh, that's a child's book" or "I can't play like that" or "I shouldn't play like that" are some of the many things adults think after reading Sendak's book.

 

But Sendak's message to adults is one that children get right away: Say "I can" not "I can't."

 

One of my son's great friends sent this YouTube video to me so that I could share it with my readers.

 

It is a touching interview that NPR's Terry Gross did with Maurice Sendak near the end of his rich life.  Sadly, Sendak died last May at the age of 83 from complications of a stroke. (http://crylaughheal.blogspot.com/2012/05/maurice-sendaks-night-kitchen.html

 

In this wonderful NPR interview, Sendak talks about "the creative man" but more importantly he poignantly addresses aging and what life feels like for him at this stage.

 

To me, Sendak's message is short and sweet: Live your life!, Live your life!, Live your life!

 

Please click on the above to have a listen and watch the accompanying "wild" illustrations of artist Christoph Niemann.

A Silly Video About Scotch

This post is kindof random but there are times when I just want to be silly and this is one of those times.

I saw this video on Daily Candy and it made me laugh.  I wanted to share it with you because it might make you laugh too. . . or at least smile!

Please meet Ricky Crawford (he's cute & has a great accent) in this short video.  Crawford is a former Glenlivet brand ambassador and in this video he gives a charming lesson on how to order and enjoy single malt Scotch.

And yes. . . he is wearing a kilt:

Gangnam Style

I'm taking a break today and enjoying the popularity of "Gangnam Style."

 

"Gangnam Style" makes me laugh and laughing helps you cope with life.  Laughter is very powerful medicine and I try to use humor as much as possible to get through the ordinary hassles and crises I face.   

Courtesy of The Levo League, I saw the above picture yesterday posted on its Facebook page and had to share it!  The man pictured in the blue tuxedo jacket is South Korean rapper Psy.  I didn't even know rap existed in South Korea but there you go!

 

The "Gangnam Style" song and video are a hoot and I bet you've seen Psy's dance moves imitated by everyone from Britney Spears to the Royal Thai Navy.  If this somehow got past you, then please Google the hit song and check out the popular video on YouTube where it has been viewed over 470 million times.

 

Basically, "Gangnam Style" is poking fun at people who are trying hard to be something they are not.  Gangnam is a district in Seoul, Korea where people are wealthy and supposedly hip.  According to Wikipedia, Psy likened the Gangnam District to Beverly Hills, California, and said in an interview that he intended a twisted sense of humor by claiming himself to be "Gangnam Style" when everything about the song, dance, looks, and the music video is far from being high class.

 

The Levo League, which is an online social and recruiting network based in New York City, offers a wide variety of multi-media career resources to young women and it took the "Gangnam Style" themes one step further to make the point that being confident is positive and one of the essentials in building a career.

It's just pure fun!

The Amazing Power of Music

What would our lives be like if we didn't have the amazing sounds of music? 

Listening to music can enhance a mood or change a mood.  It can calm our thoughts and center our inner personas.  Music enriches our lives on so many different levels and creates exciting connections no matter what our age. 

Our souls are thirsty for the melodies that spur our imaginations to take flight and go where our bodies can't.  Listening to a song, the years can melt away and we can be transported back to a first date, a family party, a special holiday or even a bittersweet relationship.

A friend posted this YouTube video on his Facebook page and I found it to be so incredibly touching!

I wondered as I watched -- what will be the music of my life that makes me tap my feet and clap my hands if I am blessed to reach this stage of my life?

Please meet Henry.  He is one amazing dude who loves music because it makes him feel loved!

Enjoy: