A week or two ago we talked about the Owl and the Lark and I had so many comments about it. Interestingly, most were from Larks, including a wonderful pedantic comment from a friend in Canberra reminding me that my picture that I posted wasn’t a lark, it was a peewee or Magpie Lark—not a true lark. Love that guy……and I think he’s probably correct.
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A point that I didn’t make in last weeks musing is that we’re capable of changing our Owl-type habit into something resembling the Lark. This is helped by our brains being plastic in nature and that means we can change certain, if not many, characteristics of our character, nature, emotions and physical attributes.
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Did you ever see that movie “What the bleep do we know!”? It was a popular new age movie a few years ago about how the universe and our minds work from an esoteric perspective. At the end of the movie, while the credits were rolling, the film makers were commenting on their experiences while making the movie. One of them came up with the incredible idea that if we wanted to we could change ourselves in a moment to be someone completely different. I’ve often thought about this being the only thing I actually remember about the movie, it obviously had a lasting impression on me. Essentially, what she was saying was, when we go to bed to sleep we’re more or less unconscious and our brain and body is in a state of suspended animation. The film maker said that the critical time for us is when we awaken from our slumber. During that few seconds of transition from sleep to wakefulness we actually have the ability to change ourselves into a completely different person. Interesting idea, isn’t it? Even if it was possible, I’m not sure I would want to wake up as a different person—imagine how confusing it would be.
This idea may be farcical!
What isn’t farcical is the fact that we can do spectacular things with our brains and minds and we underestimate the power of what we can do. It’s relatively easy to see what we have achieved in science and technology because we are a part of it every day. Consider, for a moment, the miraculous and wonderful advances we’ve witnessed in medicine over the last few years. Where we run into obstacles though are the restrictive barriers and boundaries we place around our own achievements. We tell ourselves “I can’t do that!”, “That’s impossible to do!” and “I’m not good enough to do that!”.
So lets get back to the Lark and the Owl.
You’re an Owl, right? Do you want to change into a Lark? Probably not, why should you, you’re perfectly happy. You get to sleep in, you get to be tired and cranky each morning, drink coffee through the day, work late and stay up late. All normal stuff for you. So why should you want to change?![]()
Statistically, as an Owl, you’re likely to be the one with major health problems, twice as many health problems, in fact. Larks, for example, are happier, laugh more, are more positive, tend to be more ‘can-do’ and most importantly have more joy in their lives because they don’t fret the small stuff and love life. And yes, they drive you Owls nuts with their positive attitude to life.
Are you getting the message that it might be in your interests to make a change in your life? The crazy thing is, it’s simple to do. It’s not a huge change!
A small change.
Try this……
Tonight before you go to bed set your alarm to wake you up 10 minutes earlier. That’s right 10 minutes and only 10 minutes, no more.
That’s the first thing.
Second thing is to go to bed when you’re tired, when you first start to feel weary. Make it that first yawing time after say 9:00 pm. Don’t do anything except get up and go to bed. By all means, read a book, and if you’re tired while reading, switch off the light and go to sleep.
How easy is that!
I ask you to get up 10 minutes earlier because 10 minutes is doable, any earlier could be daunting…….
What’s happening here? Your becoming flexible, especially about when you go to bed to sleep. You’ll get more sleep and you’ll get up earlier, that’s cool isn’t it! And you’ll be able to gradually, say every three months or so, get up another 10 minutes earlier.
What I coach is easy. Only occasionally will you need to take a leap and when you’re ready, the big leap will be super easy. Getting up 10 minutes earlier is not a big leap…….
Just do it…….
Have an Awesome Day,
You can find this newsletter and all my past ones on my website at www.andrew.warnes.com or if you’re on FB they can be found at http://www.facebook.com/IntuitiveReinvention
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Andrew
