Stress and sleep

Stress and sleep are intimately connected

Sometimes, stress is a message that we’re not living our best destiny.  Stress and sleep are deeply connected and when you start not sleeping, it’s a good time to review what’s going on in your life.

I was doing my usual flick down my Facebook timeline and came across a very wise soul talking about lobsters. 

I never thought about how lobsters grow, but was fascinated by the way lobsters develop.  Apparently, as they are growing, they get uncomfortable because their shell does not grow with them, so they have to shed the shell that is keeping them small and grow a new one to cope with the expansion.

They don’t do that going about their normal day hunting for food and procreating, they withdraw from their world, go hide under the rocks in peace and shed their shell there.  Once they have cast off their old persona, they grow a new one to accommodate the expansion and come back out into the world in their new form.

If they didn’t get the discomfort, they wouldn’t seek the peace to shed their shell and therefore wouldn’t grow.

Imagine how painful it would be to be bursting out of your shell?  Ouch!

Now let’s compare that to the way we deal with discomfort.  We get the discomfort in the form of stress, anxiety and insomnia.  Then we run to the doctors because we feel so terrible and end up with an antidepressant or sleeping pill.  However that’s just ignoring or avoiding the growing pains.  Pain is a messenger, so why do we try to dull down the discomfort?  Would we rather stay small?

If we don’t listen to the messages from our inner guide, we will never grow and remain small in our own little world.

I thought it would be interesting to compare the practice of meditation to the development process of a lobster.  Nature is so very intelligent and if we choose to take notice of the rhythms of nature, we could learn an awful lot and be better for it.

Think of meditation as being a bit like the lobsters going underground to shed their shell, allow for growth and coming out all shiny and new.

Every time you meditate, you are allowing for the expansion of your consciousness

Running from morning to evening, hardly taking a breath, dulls the senses and keeps you small.  If you make time in your day to breathe and quieten the mind.  If you have a quiet mind, you’ll be more closely connected to your intuition and inner compass.  When that happens you’ll make better choices for your life.

In fact, meditation is an essential empowerment tool for anyone wishing to be the very best they can in their work and personal life.  It’s also an important part of an Ayurvedic lifestyle.

If we never take time for growth, we get stressed, anxious and depressed.  These symptoms are signals from the unconscious letting you know that you need to change something, or you are on the wrong path.

Taking a break can help you find the time to meditate and hear your inner voice.  Find out what happens on a sleep retreat here

Talk to me about a bespoke retreat!