Restoring my soul.

Over in regional South Australia, Winter has hit with the energy of a losing AFL team before finals season starts. Today we have the trifecta of bucketing rain, gale force winds and icy temperatures. Fantastic weather for the introverts amongst us.

although I was reminded by a friend the other day that Winter is the time nature rests, restores and collects energy, and so to should we. Hibernation of wild animals allows them time to restore energy spent in high action time of Spring and Summer and throughout the breeding and weaning seasons of life.

Humans also need a time of hibernation of sorts, to recharge our batteries and redefine who we are or who we want to become. Modern day life is hectic and demanding, rushing from job, to shopping, to activities and then finally getting home to more activity or work. The cycle of work is never ending, it is time to normalise resting instead of doing.

If you have or have had children in your life, whilst rewarding, we all know that is hundreds time more taxing and exhausting on our physical and mental health. If we don’t allow ourselves the space to “not” do stuff for the sake of doing stuff, then we risk burnout, we risk deep illness, or melancholia. Our children will eventually rest when they are tired, (there may be tantrums about bed times) but eventually they sleep and restore.

We need to take a leaf out of their books, put the phone away at dinner time and don’t pick it back up until the next day. Watch a light TV show together as a family or couple or even on your own before turning it off to indicate to your brain that you are heading into rest mode. Reading a book before bed has been proven to relax the brain ten fold than watching TV and 100 fold to scrolling on a screen. Something to do with blue light versus yellow light. I won’t bore you with the sciency science stuff.

Meditation, whether guided or self driven puts our mind monkeys to bed earlier, which allows us to be truly still. Meditation can also stimulate the creative part of our brain and illicit brighter dreams and a longer REM sleep cycle, which in turns means we are better rested and able to cope with what the next days challenges might be.

• A quick note – Women need 9 to 10 hours of sleep because it is proven that our brains are functioning at a greater output by up to 50% more than men. The 7 hours is for men, so ladies don’t feel bad for gong to bed earlier than everyone else or sleeping in on the weekend, it’s good for you and for everyone around you. 🙂

Enjoy your Winter hibernation while you still can for Spring is around the corner.