The seven myths about sleep.

Sleep is the watering place of the soul to which it hastens at night to drink at the sources of life.
In sleep we receive confirmation … that we must go on living.
Abram Tertz (Russian writer and dissident)

It is no secret that sleep plays such as important part in our lives. However there are many (including me) that choose to neglect sleep. Whether they want to get more work done, believe that sleep is a waste of time or just stay up for the heck of it, sleep is pretty low priority. The article I included at the top of this post explains some of the seven myths about sleep.

The gist of the article is really this: we need 8 hours of sleep, no more and no less. Sleep too much or too little, we will develop the same problems. While there have been some very successful figures that functioned on less than 8 hours of sleep per day, it is not ideal. Additionally, in the article I got an interesting perspective on catching up on sleep. Although I find it hard to sleep in on the weekends, due to my circadian rhythm, some people can and like to sleep in over the weekend. I remembered hearing from a source that we can “store” sleep, so sleeping in on the weekends either provides us with a sleeping buffer over the weekdays or we can recharge our lack of sleep. And while this may be true, this will utimately upset our circadian rhythm and normal sleeping pattern which I never really thought about.

The other myths covered were about medication and chronic sleeping problems, which I don’t think I have. If you suffer from chronic insomnia, see a physician. If sleeping problems come sparingly take medication or sleeping pills. And tylenol PM is not a better alternative than a prescription drug.

While there are many mysterties to sleep, one thing is for sure; we all need to sleep. This necessity is the basis of my belief that during sleep our body revitalises and replenishes our bodily supplies, much like a gardener watering the plant that is our soul.

Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be still fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a perpetual succession of miracles rising into view – Joseph Addison (English essayist, poet, playwright and statesman).

I’ve had some experience as a salesman and one of the things we were trained on is impulse. Always remember to remind the customer that this is a limited offer (even if it isn’t). Impulse is also the basis of those infomercials you see 3am in the morning (if you’re ever up watching t.v. at that hour). Call now and receive this and that absolutely free. This offer is only limited to the next 500 callers so be quick. I’ve been suckered into buying one of these products. It was a series of audio cassettes that claims to help your memory. The first couple of tapes were pretty cool, but eventually I found the product to be pretty shallow and unapplicable. I was 14.

We are constantly trying to distinguish between admiration or passion, lust or love, and impulse or real need. We try to change careers, change partners, buy new products all in an attempt to find our passion. Why is it so hard to find something that we can adhere to? I believe it has to do with freshness. The quote at the start of this entry basically encapsulates my whole belief of passion. I believe humans are innately wired to keep demanding freshness. It’s a trait that has been selected during evolution. Because if we were content with what we had, the human race wouldn’t have evolved so quickly since the neanderthals. No other species are like humans, which you may argue is not a good thing (listen to Agent Smith in “The Matrix”).

So unless there is a perpetual succession of freshness, we won’t really further lust into love, admiration into passion and impulse into continual need. It’s just like playing a role playing computer game, where you want to level up your character and find the best items in the game. But the addiction dies out once you have reached the highest level and found all the items in the game (which is something I have achieved in Diablo 2, twice). I had my level 99 character (with several others close to 99) and all the best items in the game; then I asked myself now what?

So when you are searching for your passion, find something that continually brings you joy and a feeling of accomplishment (Diablo 2 is probably not an ideal candidate). Find something that makes you get out of bed every morning (preferably not coco pops). And once you find your passion, I’m sure great things will happen.