mental-health – Jules P Richards

Just for the record – however not convinced it tells us anything really…

After watching the BBC’s Horizon ‘Monitor Me‘ programme t’other night, we thought we’d try the Sleep as Android sleep monitoring app.

It simply tracks your movement overnight and creates a graph of high-movement/light-sleep and low-movement/deep-sleep and then reasons sleep ‘cycles’ from this.

A good idea, and if you are having trouble sleeping it might be more interesting to try it, but at the mo. I don’t have trouble sleeping (thanks to the Cit.) The results do sort of match how I ‘felt’ over these sleeps but not sure it tells me much.

All six nights I seemed to stir at 2am and 3am the latter part of the 6-7 hours was more restless than the first few hours.

(Incidentally, I nearly always have a coffee at 9pm – does seem to create problems, it probably would if I stopped the habit)

Zzzzzzzzz..

holy habits?

OK ‘discipline’, again…

I like the idea of ‘soft discipline’ (it’s best if you), but dislike ‘hard discipline’ (you should). Don’t we all?

We all subscribe to cultural norms whether we buy the t-shirts or not, and in turn we all soft or hard
discipline ourselves to think in certain ways.

I shy away from many harder disciplines especially superstitious, ritualistic historical ways.

I guess there always has to be motive, or reason.

For the last few weeks I have made the decision to “shave my facial hair” almost daily (otherwise known
as my “shrew”). To be clean shaven – not something that I have made a habit of in the past.

I have been entertaining the idea of ‘habits that help focus the mind’.

This is not for aesthetic, religious, or practical reasons – but as a trigger to remind me of ‘mindfulness’.

At first this seemed an odd idea, but it has produced effect.

I can’t pinpoint what effect, but it’s “a decision”, a catalyst, that reminds and projects onto one’s world
view.

It requires time and action. It’s a physical, visual, sensual and personal act. But what have I associated it
with?

Attitude, worth, image, health, cleanliness, imperfection, routine…

As a single act it’s relatively meaningless, but when combined with other ambitions it seems to resonate.

It reminds you of growth, change, time, nature…

It reminds you of ablution, presentation, countenance…

It requires a daily decision, growth just happens…

To be wild, to sculpt an image, or to cleanse and routinely resolve towards clarity… ?

#holyhabits ?