Restful Insomnia

Ah, my manuscript is done. The book is retitled: A Better Brain for Any Age for publication by Conari in the fall (2008). Lots of research, some writing angst–defining emotions and creativity was a thrill.

Here’s what the book will contain:

• * Short Tour of the Brain
• * Not All in Your Head: The Body-Mind
• * Eating for Brilliance
• * Your Brain’s Environment
• * Play With Your Memory: Boosters and Stretchers 
• * Hey, Genius! Intelligence, Learning Styles, and Creativity
• * Emotions and the Brain: When You Can’t See the Forest for the Angst
• * Meditation and a Bigger Perspective: Less is More

I’m ready to blog again–in between edits, medical writing, and the stuff that pays.

Enjoy your nights,
Sondra

I love to meditate. It took me only 30 years to get here.

I started with TM (Transcendental Meditation) in… Cleveland, dating Andy, probably 1974. After the instruction, I was high as a kite, happy for the first time at my work, ready for a lifetime of joy. Then life returned–so disappointing. I kept meditating hoping that joy would return. 

I often fell asleep when I meditated, though I had occassional moments of beyond this. Once, I was driving to State College while Andy drove my blue Dodge Duster; I remember the darkness, the road, the body sensation of spaciousness. I don’t remember the content, just the sensation of more.

TM faded–I slept more than meditated. Over the decades I tried meditation classes, reading, during yoga. I say tried because I thought there was a place to get to…transcending my thoughts… and I never did. 

Still, there was something that kept me going.

I found myself meditating during Restful Insomnia. Lying in bed, returning to the breath. It lessened the Conscious Mind and I was proud of myself (see, I’m a good person, I meditate!). Then Ragini suggested I could get more connection to the spiritual and my mind by sitting up. I rousted myself vertical during insomnia, meditated, and returned to sleep.

Then I found the pleasure in meditation during the day.

Meditation has so many aspects. The body: lowers blood pressure, relaxes, deepens breath. The emotional: opens to the stories–true or not–behind the anger or fear. The spiritual: connects to the reality beyond the thoughts. The mind: trains focus and attention.

Researching for Brain Boosters, I read John Ratey’s A User’s Guide to the Brain. He says that movement is the essence of thought. That’s a whole ‘nother entry. Still, it got me thinking about paradox. Doesn’t stillness–meditation–enhance movement?

So now I practice being still. It’s not trying. I’m coming back, learning again and again that there’s stillness between the throughts, that there’s my breath, that there’s here and now. Always changing, here and now, but not moving. 

Even when I “don’t wanna” sit, there’s always soft pleasure when I do.

In fact, I’ll go breathe right now.

Enjoy your nights,
Sondra

Where have I been? I’ve been researching and querying experts on that plastic glob under your skull: the brain. Experts who know about

• Brain exercises
• Food
• Exercise
• Creativity
• Emotional intelligence
• Types of intelligence
• Energy medicine
• Meditation.

I’m writing the The Big Book of Brain Boosters: How to Keep Your Brain Alive–Well into the Next Decade (Conari, 2008). The book will let you know the latest research on brains–in English–and tips to maximize the brain.

The first tip: Eat lots of Omega-3s* to improve the fats in our brain compared to the overdose of Omega-6s (most cooking oils) and other fats (animal fats).

Omega-3s are in

• Walnuts
• Butternuts (what are these?)
• Flaxseed
• Oils (flaxseed, canola, soybean)
• Fatty fish (salmon, herring, tuna, mackerel, sardines, bluefish)
• Fish oil capsules

And somewhere I read ground cloves?! Maybe that’s why we love pumpkin pie. Omega-3s ease depression and help cholesterol. I wonder if Omega-3s help you rest at night?

Have other brain boosting ideas? Let me know.

Enjoy your nights
Sondra