Life Cycles

For as long as I can remember, I have been a morning person. I just wake up early, I can't help it. I'm lucky that way. I used to think it was solely due to my internal clock, but I am rethinking that. Having returned to the East Coast, I begin to realize that early morning is the most accepted way of lifestyle there. By 8am, the parking lot in the apartment complex is empty. But by 9pm, they have rolled up the sidewalks. This is where I was raised. This is that good old fashioned work ethic thing. Part of my heritage, part of my parents way of life. So if I got up early in the morning, perhaps it was as much because life just started early.

By contrast, when I have lived in the south in Texas and Oklahoma, or in the midwest in Illinois, while people are still industrious and conscientious, there is a more sensible, less hostile approach to life. One gets up in the morning, perhaps not at the crack of dawn. One does not necessarily rush at life as if every moment would be your last opportunity to complete some task upon which your life depended.

I prefer the second approach, and have come a long ways towards retraining my body to go along with it. I still wake early and do stuff but without the drivenness. Mornings tend to be my most productive time of day, especially now. I have my new hit of energy and focus bourne of the night's rest. My thinking is clear, my joy untampered with by unpleasant encounters.

Of course, my body will shut down for maintenance on a regular basis. When I was in college, every semester I would run flat out until I hit the end of my endurance, about two thirds of the way through the semester, just when things started to fall due. Then I would take to my bed for a three day stint of rest. No matter what event took place or what assignment had to be turned in, I slept, getting up only for absolute necessities - not even to eat. Now its more like twice a year, and the downtime isn't quite as predictable. Sometimes its short, sometimes longer.

I hear my colleagues (most of whom are much younger than I) complain about the early hour of class (8:30 am) as they are dragging into the room, state that they are not able to adjust to the time zone, can't sleep in a strange place, etc. Unusual sounds, unusual rooms, unusual schedules, unusual foods. It all throws their cycles off. They just can't unwind. Its hard to adjust to a different pace of life. And for many people the answer to this is to take a pill. Antidepressants, tranquilizers, aspirin, something to just make it go away without having to do much to fix it. These medications have their rightful place, but I wonder if setting aside time to relax and do nothing but meditate and realign with the universe's God-given cycles might produce better results in the long run even if they take more time upfront.

I guess I am thinking of this stuff because we are talking about life styles and cycles for people in the past. How in early times, lives were more regulated by daylight and darkness, by the cycles of nature which predicated their activities, by a design outside of themselves. I'm pretty sure no one nowadays could tolerate having their lives regulated by outside forces. We prefer more control over our lives, deciding for ourselves when to rise, when to retire. Even if we do not make wise choices in these areas, we find ways to enable our decisions.

I am learning that part of the healing process is taking time to get back to some sort of natural cycle of life. Rise with the sun, retire with the sun, spend time out of doors when it is comfortable to do so, hibernate when it is not. Cooperate with the way God designed my body in order to fully engage the healing power which God built in. Don't wait until I reach the end of my endurance. Plan ahead and plan these rests into my life.

I have a friend who is going to a nun's retreat in Missouri next week, and she talks about spending the day in such an environment. She says, "You would like it there. Very peaceful, very much a rhythm of prayer built into daily life." Sounds wonderful!

I think I would like it there. I think I have something like that here. Perhaps this is as much the reason why I look forward to coming here every year. This used to be a convent. You can still feel the peace. It permeates every inch of this facility. Great little nooks to sit and meditate, many with a full view of either the fountain or the great lake. You feel closer to God with all of the distraction of daily modern life stripped away.

Take time. Take time to get back to a healthy cycle of life. Take a moment, a day, a week. Reconnect with the things of God, with His creation, His design for your body. Try it. You might be surprised. Not a vacation because you don't want to end up vacated and empty; not a retreat because you don't want to run away for a short time only to return to the same troubles; but a cleansing and reconnection with the source of life to recharge you, enable you to be better at what you will return to.