How to Visualise Success

I have written a few articles so far about how the brain works, how it tricks us, and how to use this to apply basic Positive Happiness thought principles to our lives. One of the key thought techniques commonly used by successful people is a form of mental rehearsal called visualisation. So it only makes sense for me to discuss how visualisation works and show you how to maximise the effectiveness of your positive visualisations. As mentioned in several previous articles, our brain is fantastic at performing tasks automatically. Anything that it deems as an easily repeatable task gets put onto "auto-pilot", including our thoughts.

This can cause some unwanted problems at times but it can also be used to our advantage to automate positive thought processes. We can essentially train our brain to automatically think and perform positive actions for us. Sounds great? well it is, and you can do it too with these simple tips for getting the most out of your visualisations.

What are visualisations?

Visualisations are just a form of mental rehearsal where we imagine how a certain situation will look and feel. We might imagine what people say, how they look, what actions we take, and so on. The point of visualisation is to mentally prepare ourselves so that we are confident and capable of handling the upcoming scenario. When we picture success enough we find success.

This is why we are focusing on positive visualisations. If you are going for a job interview you want to develop a visualisation where you are confident, smart, friendly, and you ace the interview. Or if you are playing an important sporting match you want to visualise yourself excelling physically and mentally and being victorious. Practice these visualisations enough and the positive results will start to occur.

Make visualisations intense

The more intense or realistic you can make your visualisations the more effective they will be. This is the main reason why some sportspeople thrive in pressure situations and others fail. They have all learned the basic skills and practiced them thousands of times, but only those who make the practice as realistic as possible (both mentally and physically) will succeed when under pressure.

Start Small

Just like learning to drive you need to break down overly complex actions and thoughts so that you can practice and visualise success at each step. Start by breaking your overall goal into smaller tasks that you can visualise success for. Perfect each individual visualisation before bringing them all together.

Practice, practice, practice

Practice all the possibilities that could arise and visualise how you would deal with them and succeed. Then do it all again. If it only takes the brain a few times to start automating a thought process do not give it a chance to think of anything but success. Keep repeating the positive visualiation until the brain has it on speed dial.

Every detail counts

Create a clear and detailed picture of the scenario in your mind. Include all the details you can think of - colours, fabrics, smells, weather, people. Adding these details will help your brain recognise the scenario when it occurs in real life and thus be able to apply the correct visualisation.

Experience the emotions

When you first begin a visualisation you may feel some fear or stress. Acknowledge that those feelings are fine because they are why you need to practice visualisation in the first place. As you get into the swing of things start focusing your mind on what emotions would be triggered as you see your success unfolding. What would the success feel like? How much would it mean to you to have that success? Start experiencing those positive emotions as if you had already been successful. Eventually your mind will expect those feelings whenever the situation presents itself.

Eventually if you perform positive visualisation enough then just by thinking about the situation you will trigger positive and successful thoughts patterns. You wont even have to remember to do it. And when that situation does finally present itself your brain will do it all automatically and you will naturally expect success because that is what you trained for.

Visualise success and the rest will follow.

Image: graur codrin

Proof Your Brain Is Tricking You

Our brain tricks us into believing whatever it wants us to believe. I have previously mentioned some fatal flaws of the brain but perhaps its biggest flaw the brain has is that when presented incomplete information it will fill in the missing spots with whatever information it assumes to be correct. Once our brain has filled in the missing information it pretends that all the information was presented from the external source instead of being hacked together by our brain. This is a problem for a number of reasons: Firstly, our brain might not fill the gaps correctly. It fills the gap with a "best guess" approach using information it already has. If the missing data is something our brain has never seen before then it will be impossible for it to correctly fill the gap.

Secondly, by pretending the whole picture of information came from an external our brain will give more weight to it and thus will believe it to be true. This means that the data supplied from our brain (correct or otherwise) is assumed to be true even though it was fabricated just to fit the gap.

With that in mind I thought I would share an example that proves that our brains are masters of filling gaps with information and assuming it to be correct. The first time I did this little test I blew my mind.

Exercise: Proof by Optical Illusion

This little optical illusion exercise will prove just how easy it is for your brain to trick you. We often hear about blind spots in our vision, or when driving a car, but did you know that we have a blind spot right in front of our eyes? When we have both eyes we do not notice because they are positioned on our face in such a way to maximise our viewing potential. However we an discover the blind spot very simply and, at the same time, prove how our brain deceives us by assuming it is always right.

Step 1: Get a bank piece of paper (A4 size works best) with nothing on it. Draw a filled circle in the centre of the page about 1cm wide (that's 1/2 inch for those non-metric people).

Step 2: Close your left eye

Step 3: Chose a spot on the paper about 5cm (2 inches) to the left of that centre dot. Hold the paper up to your face with the chosen spot in front of your right eye. You should still be able to see the drawn circle in your peripheral vision but you should not be focusing on it.

Step 4: Slowly move the paper away from your face, all the while focusing on the spot you picked to the left of the drawn circle. Eventually that circle you draw will just disappear from your vision - it will look like you are holding a plain blank piece of paper again!

What is Going on Here?

Even though your brain controlled your hands to draw the circle, and even though you KNOW that the circle is there, your brain has filled in your blind spot with a "best guess". It analysed the rest of the information coming in, which was predominately blank paper, and chose to fill the gap with what it thought was most likely. But whatever is most likely is not necessarily correct.

The Blind Spot in Action - Our Self Belief

This proves that our brain is not always right. Just because it tells us something is true does not make it so. There are countless examples for how this applies to our lives but the biggest (and worst) is with out negative self beliefs. When we doubt ourselves, or speak negative of our skills and actions, or stop loving ourselves, then we are providing an incomplete picture of our self-image to our brain. We are giving it the opportunity to take all these negative thoughts and try to figure out the patten to fill in all the missing gaps.

The result is obvious - our brain deduces that the gaps must be filled with self loathing, anger, resentment, and a whole range of other negative emotions. It fills all the gaps in our self-image with these, and then presumes them all to be correct. We end up with a grossly exaggerated negative self-image which we assume is correct. Self-fulfilling prophecy anyone?

Luckily this also works for positivity. If you start providing an incomplete picture of positive thoughts about yourself to your brain then it will start filling the gaps with positive emotions. Your self-image will become one of happiness, love, and positivity. And because we already know that our brain tries to prove itself right it will start manifesting scenarios in your life that will reinforce this belief.

So stop assuming all your negative beliefs are true and start providing some positive information to your brain. Your life will change because of it.

Image: Danilo Rizzuti

Spend Time With People That Energise You

In my recent wrap up of my first 3 months I noticed that my article about why we all need some alone time has been my most popular piece so far. I think this says a lot about the current organisation in our society and how there is such a strong pressure to stay connected to others that we end up craving more and more alone time. However, I believe that a big part of the problem is the quality and type of social interactions people are having, and it is with that in mind that I thought it was time to talk about the value of spending time with people that energise us. This may sound like the complete opposite stance to my earlier article about needing alone time, but the truth of the matter is that as humans we need both. We need time to be alone and focus on ourselves but we also need time with others, forming emotional and social connections and building our relationships. The problem we face is balancing these needs.

Social Media: The Anti-thesis of a Balanced Life

In terms of balancing your life, social media sucks. No that's not fair. It's not just social media that puts undue strain on us but technology advances in general. Emails, text messages, mobile phones, twiter, facebook, blah blah blah, the list goes on forever. With the plethora of these modern products available to us we have become a society that is always on but never truly connected.

With these technologies anyone can contact us at any time they wish. And they generally do. We spend countless hours in front of a screen (computer, phone or otherwise) interacting with people but not really connecting to them. The problem with this is two-fold.

First, it means we rarely get to experience that true alone time where we can devote to ourselves. With all these options we never disconnect and we lose our personal identities. The increase of availability we have through technologies means a decrease in time for ourselves. Which explains why more people are feeling like they need alone time.

The second problem is that these modern methods of communication are impersonal at best and any positive feeling we derive from them is so short-lived that they do not actually fulfill our human needs for social and emotional connection with others. All they do is give a short burst of quasi-connection with others that just leaves us wanting more. Which is why many people become addicted to social media.

You may have a thousand facebook friends, or a million twitter followers, but how many of these people would you invite to your house for dinner? My guess is not many. This is ultimately sad because face to face is where we form true friendships and actually fulfill our humans needs for social interaction.

Humans are meant to interact with other humans in person. Face to face. Mano a mano. That's why we have friends.

Choose Your Friends Wisely

Now that I have had that little rant on the dangers of social media it is time for the most important part of interacting with others - choosing your friends wisely or, as I like to call it, spending time with people that energise you.

Do your friends give you a burst of energy? Do you feel happy to be in their company? After spending time with them do you go home thinking how wonderful they are? Can you be 100% yourself around your friends? If you are not answering yes to these questions then you need to have a long hard look at the type of people you call friends.

For a long time in my life I wanted everyone to be my friend. I was desperate for others to like me so I focused on pleasing everyone and the result was the opposite to what I intended - I connected with no-one. After all, no-one can truly connect with a people-pleaser because by their very definition they are not being true to themselves and humans are very adapt are picking up when someone is not acting congruent.

During this time I would see other people with wonderful friendships and I would be envious. I badly wanted to develop close connections with other people but by being a people-pleaser no-one wanted to develop those strong connections with me. Sure I always had some friends but they were never the guaranteed rock-solid friendships other people had. Looking back it is easy to see why. Building a relationship where one person is always pleasing the other will never be long lasting.

Now I have a handful of really close friends in my life and they are all wonderful people. They are all the kind of people that I can spend hours with before realising the any time has past. They are the kind of people that energise me, excite me, challenge me, and like me for who I am. Every time Sophie and I spend time with these friends we end up raving about how great it was, how wonderful they are, and how we should hang out more with them.

This is not a gloat about how good my life is but a demonstration of what having good friends feels like. I am lucky to have some very good friends who share my interests and passions and my life is better for it. I describe what I feel around my friends to challenge you to think about your friends and how your relationships have been built in the past.

Do your friends energise you?

Image: photostock

My First 3 Months

Time certainly has flown by - it has been 3 months since I started this website and I feel like I have developed significantly over that period. 3 months of dedicated personal development and physical experiments will do that I guess. The 3 month milestone is quite an occasion for me. I have dabbled in personal websites and blogs before but none of them managed to keep my interest like this. I feel like I have only just begun, that I have so much more to offer, and that I could keep writing for years. With that in mind I thought I would assess how much progress I have made in 3 months.

The Site Stats

These are the cold hard stats. Keep in mind I am missing about 6-7 days worth of data when I mistakenly removed the analytics code when I was upgrading my site.

• Visits: 651
• Unique Visitors: 463
• Page Views: 1661
• Email Subscribers: 1
• Traffic Split: Search Engines = 46% , Referring Sites, =33% , Direct = 21%
• Most Viewed Article: Sometimes We all need some Alone Time

Overall most things are trending upwards. Over the past two weeks I have averaged over 20 visits per day and I have set two personal bests for single-day stats: most visits (30) and most page views (98).

My (lack of) Marketing

I have pretty much broken every rule for how to create a high-traffic website. I do not write small articles (most are over 500 words and some are up around the 1500 word mark) and I do not get myself out there with hardcore "marketing" that seems to be the norm. My current self promotion tally is:

• Commented on 4 blogs.
• Posted 10 links to this site on Twitter
• Submitted 6 articles to blog carnivals.

I think this is one area I should put more effort in to but right now I prefer to spend my time writing high quality content so that this site can be as useful as possible when I start attracting higher visitor numbers.

My Writing Style

Looking back I can see some of my earlier articles were very rough and unpolished. I have always enjoyed writing, both fiction and non-fiction, but my skill has definitely improved since beginning this site 3 months ago.

Now my articles flow better, my conclusions are stronger, and I invoke more thought and feeling with my writing. At least that's how I see it.

My Biggest Mistake

I have made plenty of mistakes over the past 3 months but the biggest would be blurring the lines between this website and my personal life. I got so involved with the mindset of personal development that I started acting like a "life coach" all the time.

The realisation for this came from my beautiful wife-to-be, Sophie, when she said said "I feel like I only get to talk to the writer version of Zac Sky now. Where is my fiance Zac Sky?" That was a wake-up call for me.

I am the kind of person who gets passionately involved in projects, so much so that I can loose perspective on others things that are important but I did not want to do that to my relationship. My relationship with Sophie is the most important thing in my life and I am lucky that she was understanding of my over-zealous dedication to this project. I just hope my passion is one of the reasons she is marrying me...

The Next 3 Months

So what is in store for the next 3 months? More of the same but better! More articles, more personal and physical development, more stories, more experiments. More of everything. More, more more!

Don't forget you can subscribe to my email newsletter. That way you won't miss a thing.

Stay tuned.

Grow Your Grass Greener Than The Other Side

This article has been inspired from a brilliant song lyric in a favourite Bliss n Eso song of mine called Reflections. I love the positivity with which they write many of their songs, and their attitude is a very similar one to mine - that anything is possible with determination and a positive mindset. A very refreshing message, especially within rap and hip-hop songs. Here is the lyric in question which has inspired this whole train of thought:

"We'll grow our grass greener than that other side will ever be."

It might seem fairly innocuous on the surface but the gravity of it really hits home when you start thinking a little deeper on it.

Most people will have heard the saying "the grass is always greener on the other side" which, to break it down simply, means that everything always looks better than what we currently have. This is a very negative view of the world and one that I cannot subscribe to. I do not care what is on the other side and I certainly do not have a desire to keep up with anyone called Jones, but that is a story for another time.

The lyric "We'll grow our grass greener than that other side will ever be" is the perfect summation of the attitude I adhere to and encourage in life.

Focus on Yourself

Can you control the fact that your neighbour has better grass? No, but you can work on your own grass to make it the best it can possibly be. By the way, in case you wondered when this blog turned to gardening and lawn-care, we're not really talking about grass here - we're talking about our how we live our lives in general.

There is no benefit to be had analysing and comparing yourself to others because they are outside your boundary of control. You cannot control what happens in the lives of others. You can try to influence them but in the long run they will ultimately think, feel, and act whichever way they want.

Realising that you cannot control others is an important step to achieving happiness because the result is that you put more value on your own actions rather than the actions of others. When you stop comparing yourself to others you can focus on being the absolute best that you can be. Not to mention all the energy and time you save that would have been wasted stressing about how green someone else's grass is.

Logically, The Grass Can Not Always Be Greener

If you still want to worry about the grass of others then let me appeal to your sense of logic. If the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side then it makes sense for you to be envious of your neighbour's grass. However, from your neighbours perspective you are the other side and thus your grass must be greener than theirs. Rinse and repeat this process until your head spins.

There is no logical sense behind the statement that "the grass is always greener on the other side". It is just an excuse people use for their actions when they put too much focus on what other people have or do rather than the their own life.

The other illogical aspect of that silly statement is that whatever you have in your life is way more important that what others have in theirs. This is true simply because whatever is going on in your life is important within your personal frame of reference. Other people's lives are occurring within their own frame of reference (or their version of reality) and things that are important there are not necessarily important in yours.

Fertilizer, Fertilizer, Fertilizer!

To grow your own grass to the best that you can you need to fertilize it! In a metaphorical sense. I am definitely not encouraging you to bring more crap in to your life.

But to continue this grass growing metaphor the best thing you can do is to provide the best conditions for your grass to grow. That means that you need to focus on your own grass, nurture it, and encourage its growth.

Yes, I am still talking about how to live your life (and not about gardening). Take stock of your current life and be thankful for everything positive. Focus yourself on growing the best damn grass you can and forget about what is going on next door. If you still think that you absolutely must compare yourself to someone then use a past version of yourself. Compare how far you have traveled mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally and how much greener your grass has grown.

Remember it's your life so only your grass matters. Go make it green!

Image: nuttakit

Do What You Want To Be Doing

Early today I was facing a conundrum. I sat down to write another article about friendships, relationships and bringing positive people into your life, and I couldn't write it. Words made their way onto the screen but they were not right. It felt like I was forcing them out when usually they just flow out of me with ease. I thought maybe I just wasn't "on" today, or maybe I was having my first writers block? Then it dawned on me: I was not doing what I wanted to be doing. The concept sounds simple enough - do what you want to be doing - but not many people actually put it into practice. Today I was one of those people. I have a list of article ideas ready for write, and after a week of paleo-centric writing I felt that I should get back to the person development areas that I normally write for. The problem was that nasty s-word: should.

I did not actually want to write. Why? Because I have several other big projects on the go and some ideas floating around in my head that I really wanted to sink my teeth into. But, I had this nasty obligation-like feeling hanging around which ended up ruining my day. When I worked on my projects and ideas I had the feeling that I should be writing that article, but then when I started writing the article I really wanted to be back working on my other projects. In the end I was very unproductive and I wasted a lot of time. And you should know by now that I HATE wasting time.

So I've met in the middle. I'm writing this because it is helping me realise what is important to me and work through my personal issues with focus and concentration. The next time I find myself in this situation I will remember this article and what I learned from today so I do not make the same mistakes again. And the by-product is that I get the article to write (even though it is not the one I "should" be writing) and I get to move on to my other projects.

Should is Nasty Word

Should is evil. I hate the word. In my world I aim to live as if the word does not exist because it has no purpose other than to foster negative feelings, and that is not something I want in my life.

My main beef with "should" is that it is not valid in our individual context. Should is only valid to the third person perspective, and only then because it is valid based on all their past experience and knowledge, not ours.

If someone tells us what we should be doing it is the same as being told them telling us that what we are currently doing is wrong. Now there is no harm in being wrong, and a bit of constructive criticism is a wonderful thing in our personal development, but the problem is that when people use the word should, they are only providing their opinion. It is all based on what they think is the best thing at that time, and what is true for one person is not necessarily true for another. It is subjective and biased. Very biased.

Even when the "should" comes internally, from our wonderful brain, the bias is still there. Think of my example from today. I had tasks that I was excited about, that I really wanted to be working on but my brain kept kept telling me that I should write an article today. I had no proof to believe this - I had not received a specific request for an article today nor had I been receiving comments saying "less paleo, more personal development" but my brain, in all its wisdom and power, somehow concluded this was the right thing to do. And I've mentioned how the brain can make a hash of things like this before.

Solution: Turn Yoda

No I'm not saying you need to turn green, cultivate the hair in your ears, and master the light-saber. Although I'm sure that last skill would certainly impress the ladies.

To quote Yoda (and show my true geek): "Do, or do not. There is no try." Substitute the word "should" for "try" and this phrase explains all that is needed to get past the dreaded s-word.

If you want to do something then do it. If you do not want to do something then don't. It is a simple as that. Remember that it is often the simplest things that work best.

Challenge: Take a Personal Day

With that concept in mind I issue a challenge to my readers. Take a "personal day" off from your work and do something you have always wanted to do. Call in sick and run off to discover your passion. Go rock-climbing, paint a picture, read a book, whatever. Just make the day 100% about you. It is not about anyone else. Before you do anything in the day you must ask yourself "Is this what I really want to be doing?" and only continue if the answer is a resounding "YES!" Do not think ahead, do not worry about consequences, just get out there and do what you want to.

It is your life after all. Do what you want with it.

Image: federico stevanin

Paleo Diet - Day 7 (final update)

A full week down! 7 days on the paleo diet and I must say its going well. I can feel that this lifestyle is becoming more habit than forced and I am really enjoying the amount of fresh food I am eating. I'm beginning to wonder why it took me 27 years to figure it out.

The Obligatory Meal Info

Breakfast: Fried egg, bacon, with fruit salad and nuts Lunch: Salad with egg, bacon, and chicken sausage Snack 1: Boiled Egg Dinner: Beef Thai curry Snack 2: Fruit salad

My First Test - Takeaway!

Tonight I had my first big test of sticking to paleo. We had some friends over tonight and we ordered Thai food so I picked a nice coconut-based curry with big chunks of meat with vegetables (including potatoes). As I mentioned in some earlier posts, I am not too afraid of adding the odd potato to the diet as they are still a natural food and aren't going to cause me too many problems.

I did add some rice to my dish too but then did not end up eating it. Instead I saved myself for the left-over fruit salad. A much wiser choice.

The Week Summary

7 days complete and I am happy that this will become a regular lifestyle change for me. I love the food, I am happier, I am more creative, and I'm leaner but with more defined muscles. It has been a very positive experience, except for some slight sugar cravings but those are easily handled. Overall I believe this paleo style of eating not only makes sense but is good fun. I'm sold.

No More Paleo Updates

With the first week complete I wont be doing daily updates anymore. I really wanted to force myself to be accountable and writing every night was a way to do that but I feel that it is getting in the way of my other writing and I have lot more things to talk about still. As such my paleo diet updates more irregular and only when something important happens.

Paleo Diet - Day 6

Day 6 on the Paleo diet and I'm going to keep this article short and sweet. Nothing out of the ordinary to report today, just another day eating healthy foods and feeling good. Maybe that's a good thing? This eating style has become part of my life now that I do not even notice it? Sounds good to me.

The Obligatory Meal Info

Breakfast: Fried egg, bacon and chicken sausages, with fruit salad Snack 1: Nuts Lunch: Salad with egg, bacon, and chicken sausage Snack 2: Fruit salad Dinner: Baked fish (lemon and garlic) with salad and roast pumpkin

Summary

I am very happy with how today went. I had some doubts because normally my Saturday gets busy and I end up eating irregularly. I was concerned that if I was out I would get ravenously hungry and not be able to find any paleo-friendly food to suit me but this simply did not happen. I ate my meals, and withstood the junk food temptations offered at a market with ease. I even managed to get some primal exercise done in the afternoon while at home.

Go team!

Paleo Diet - Day 5

Day 5 on the Paleo diet and I'm still feeling great! Even without the longer than usual sleep last night I have been full of energy and happiness all day. I think some of that is a natural psychological by-product (as I start to notice improvements in my body I naturally become happier) but I cant help feeling it has a lot to do with the types of food I'm eating and the long lasting energy they provide the body.

The Obligatory Meal Info

Breakfast: Chicken Apple Hash and some Macadamias Snack 1: Fruit salad and some Almonds Lunch: Left over dinner (bolognese and vegies) Snack 2: Egg and 2 chicken sausages Dinner: More of yesterday's dinner with fruit salad dessert

Supplements and Vitamins

I have started on some of the dietary supplements and vitamins that are recommended as complimentary to the paleo diet. In particular I am taking fish oil, magnesium, and vitamin D3. I have not noticed any effects yet, unless they too are contributing to my more upbeat and energetic mindset.

Primal Exercise

I have been thinking more and more about changing my exercise routines to be more primal based so I trialled a few different things today.

I did some alternating step lunges, squats, pushups, and chin-ups using just my body weight as resistance. I then filled a bucket of water and did some quick "clean and jerk" style lifts as well as holding it above my head for as long as I could. The result? A bit of fun and some very good exercise and my abs feel tight without even doing any a work. Maybe there is something in this primal exercise theory?

Workout Food

I still have that niggling idea that I should have a big hit of carbs post-workout and I cannot find too much good information about what paleo-foods are ideal for this time. The extra meals have stopped weight loss but for muscle gain I can't help feeling I should load up with carbs after busting out the weights. We will see how tomorrow's early morning session goes.

Summary

It's working well. I look and feel healthier, stronger, and fitter. All positive so far.

Paleo Diet - Day 4

Day 4 on the Paleo diet and I'm feeling great! Perhaps the earlier bedtime last night played a part but I cannot discount the possibility that this paleo eating style is having positive effects on my body. Just like it said on the tin!

The Obligatory Meal Info

Breakfast: Chicken Apple Hash and some Macadamias Snack 1: Apple and almonds Lunch: Salad with leftover lamb rissoles Snack 2: Big serve of watermelon Snack 3: Two eggs (fried after a quick afternoon workout) Dinner: Bolognese, steamed vegies (broccoli, cauliflower and carrot) and macadamias

Extra Meals!

After some more reading I've added some extra food into my day. My main concern is losing too much weight as I am already quite lean. Since January I've dropped 5.2kg (from the Slow Carb Diet and general good eating habits) and I don't want to lose much more. So the solution is adding extra paleo-friendly meals to my day. I am not going to structure it but just try to get myself into the habit of eating when hungry.

Eating When Hungry

Eating when hungry is the ideal way to tackle the paleo diet. If you feel hungry, you eat. Simple. It means that you listen to your body and if you need to eat 3 meals one day and 6 meals the next that's what you do.

Today I was hungry at about 11:15am and I had already eaten my morning snack. So i tucked into my hearty lunch! I got a few weird looks and the odd comment about how "it's not lunchtime yet" simply because I was eating before midday. It made me realise how much emphasis we put on the clock instead of just listening to our bodies and it was in that moment that I made the resolution to eat whenever I damn well felt like it!

Energy Plus

Today it only took me a few minutes to go from lying in bed to being fully awake, primed with energy and ready for the day. I was energetic and happy right from the start of the day, a feeling I hadn't experienced for quite a while.

I contribute this increased energy and general good feeling partially to the diet and partially to the longer sleep time. Even though I still did not manage to sleep through the entire night without disturbance, I spent over 9 hours in bed and my body rested appropriately.

Summary

I'm getting into this paleo eating and I feel like it is something I can definitely sustain in the future for a long time. I'm also re-learning how important sleep is in our lives and with that my focus is shifting to be less about time-suck social temptations and more about giving my body what it wants.