Week of Sleep

Week of Sleep? Check!

The Week of Sleep worked for me.  I'm being totally serious.  I followed my own good advice and was blown away by the results.  Setting up a relaxing, circadian-cycle-friendly nighttime ritual (and sticking to it) has wired my brain to sleep on command.  Now, when my old-person bed time rolls around, I start to get all blinky-eyed and fuzzy-headed instantaneously.  How about you?

Did you miss the Week of Sleep?  Do you want to take your sleep routine to the next level?  Here's the summary:

Week of Sleep

Day 1: Bed Time - Set the clock.
Day 2: Dim - Let there be dark.
Day 3: Bedtime Snack - The way to sleep is through the stomach.
Day 4: Low Flow - Do something.
Day 5: Passive - Do nothing.
Day 6: Bright - Re-Set the clock.

I don't know if you noticed this (I didn't and I wrote all the posts), but the bedtime routine we've developed seems like something that would work for putting a toddler to bed.  And, now that I think about it, that's a pretty smart way to approach our own sleep habits.  I mean, if this approach works for the creatures with the least amount of self-control (i.e. little kids), then it should work for our inner children too.  Or, should I say, our inner monkeys!

Next week, the Daily Mind Games are going to be paused while your humble author heads to an awesome, geeky conference.  While I'm away, I'd love to get some feedback about future Weeks of Metacognition.  What kinds of topics would you like to see?  I've been thinking about Weeks of: Feedback, Creativity, Interaction, Toughness, or Open-Mindedness.  If you have any preference, please let me know in the comments.  Also, if you have any ideas of your own, I'd love to hear them.  I would love some feedback from my readers about topics of interest.  So, please!  Where we should go from here?

Until then, here's some fun/interesting stuff that's come my way over the last week, enjoy!

Homunky's Hot Hits:

To start, here's a retelling of an allegory/experiment about learned anxiety that I've encountered before.  Does anyone know the source of this?  Is it a real experiment?

Next, we've talked about Flow a lot here at The Happy Homunculus, but here is a great Intro to Flow if you'd like a fresh point of view on the topic.  And, of course, if you haven't read the original, you should do it.  Click the link and buy the book to support Homunky!

As someone interested in improving my performance and, as part of that, my pain tolerance, here is a great summary linking meditation, mindfulness, and improved pain tolerance.  This seems to be totally in line with the Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Commitment model for peak human performance: avoiding negative emotions and sensations is the sign of a beginner, while accepting the negative consequences of a task allows full engagement and eventual mastery.

Finally, on a more serious note, HelpForDepression.com is running a fundraiser in support of the non-profit To Write Love On Her Arms, a group dedicated to improving the lives of people struggling with depression and other mental health challenges.  They would appreciate any form of support. Thanks!