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After writing for several hours today I looked up to see it was now 1:03pm. I felt it was time to take a break from my writing so I decided to get in some mid-day meditation. 15 minutes into my meditation I noticed my head beginning to bob. There is nothing worse than trying to get through a meditation when your tired! It takes most of your energy just to focus on staying awake when you should be focusing on being present.

I quickly open my eyes and decided to allow myself a 20-minute nap before continuing my one-hour meditation.  I get up from the couch, go to my bedroom and snuggle up for my nap. That 20 minutes went by fast, I barely closed my eyes before the timer was chiming.

After the alarm sounded I realized how tired I really was. Immediately my bossy little brain kicks in telling me how lazy I am.

“Get up and write!” It persists, “You have no real job, you can’t just lay around and sleep all day. You should be doing something… meditate, do anything but sleep!”

**side note: What is a real job anyway? **

I almost listened. For a moment, I even kicked off my blanket annoyed at myself for sleeping, but then occurred to me. Who the heck is talking here? Who exactly am I listening too?

Then I recognized who it was.  It is the same voice that constantly tells me I’m no good, that I’ll never achieve anything and I’m a failure. That bastard voice that we all have. It says the meanest things to us, usually when we are feeling the most vulnerable.

At the moment of recognition, I took a step back, closed my eyes and asked my body what it needed. I asked myself if I was in fact being lazy, or if I just needed to recharge.

It answered back in a tone I am beginning to understand is my new truth. The new voice I hear in my head that has been silenced for years, is making itself heard for the first time these past few months. I have just been so programmed to listen the “Negative Nelly” in my head that sometimes I forget it’s not the truth any more.

We need to stop and listen for our inner voice, the one that feels good when we listen to it.

It told me I needed the rest. So I closed my eyes and stayed in bed for 40 minutes more.  I woke up feeling guilt free and fresh. I hopped out of bed, took a shower, made myself some lunch and took a 30-minute meditation. Now fully recharged I am back on the computer. Taking a short break from writing my book to write a quick blog to you!

I am still breaking down all the old thinking patterns and ways of being. We don’t need to wear ourselves down to the bone and bust our butts every minute of the day to feel like we’ve accomplished something.

You know what? We need naps!

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If we just napped when we were tired, ate when we were hungry and listened to needs of our bodies, we would be a fully functioning society! We would also be a lot less cranky and irritable.

Society  is more worried about treating the symptoms then the finding the cause of our medical issues and problems. We need sleep and healthy food, not diet pills, caffeine and sleeping aides. Take a nap! The world is not going to stop spinning on it’s axes if you take a 20-minute nap during your lunch break. You’d be amazed at what a difference those 20 minutes would make.

Eat better. Bring in your lunch, it will save you the time needed for that nap along with saving you money. Eat more often and smaller portions. Your body is your temple, it truly is.  You have to love it and nourish it, because no one else can or will.

Bottom line, don’t feel guilty for taking your nap, your body needs it. All of nature takes naps when it’s tired and feeds itself when it’s hungry. Why are we any different? We are not.

It’s time we got back to our roots of being in the moment and knowing our bodies needs. Don’t put off till later what your body needs now. Once we get back in the flow of listening in the moment, all our needs will be met.

Still in the process of sifting through all of the old programing. Still in the process of acknowledging the “Negative Nelly,” and still in the process of “Loving the process.”

Write back soon, love Annie

Day 37 of 90 meditating… Ps I’m writing another book 🙂