Last week the dark days of winter ended and the bright days of spring and summer began.
Did this happen because of the astronomical dance the Earth plays in it’s relationship to the sun? Well, yes, partially.
But, that is gradual. The moment we turn our clocks forward one hour is the moment we see a sudden change in the light of day. Suddenly the sun doesn’t set at 5:00 now it goes down at 6:00. Instantly we have an hour more daylight at the end of the day.
As the Earth continues around the Sun and your place on earth receives longer days you have longer hours to be outside. If you live in the north, you experience more light than you could ever want in the summer.
When I first moved to Europe I was amazed how long it remained bright. I remember walking home at 11:00 p.m. after a performance and it still be a little bit of light. I recall when I first moved to Zürich I would pass by houses at 7:00 p.m. and they would be shutting their shutters to make it dark inside.
Upon arrival in Europe and for many years afterwards, I couldn’t understand why they had those shutters and why they would close out the light of day when the world was so beautiful this time of day. But, I understand it now.
I have had a couple of apartments in Germany that had beautiful big glass windows and my apartment faced west. I would get the full force of the summer’s sun blasting into my apartment from 3:00 p.m. to about 9:00 p.m. It was really bright. So bright I couldn’t think straight. It was like having a huge search light pointing right into the windows. It was almost painful, and not to mention that if it was warm outside, the room could get really heated up due to passive solar energy.
Anyone who thinks solar energy doesn’t work hasn’t been in my apartment. It works.
So, if I wanted to do any work in my apartment I would have to lower the shades. The effect this had on me was interesting because I noticed something. When I let down the shades I would relax. I felt more rested and as if the day was over. It was time to unwind from the day, to put on some candles and have a nice thing to drink.
We are a part of nature as human beings. Our internal clocks work with the celestial clock and our body wants to live in harmony with the day. Being a performer, my “up” time started at about 7:00 p.m. in the evening and went to about 11:00. This is unnatural for the body.
In Germany, the night life doesn’t really start till after 10:00 p.m. If you go to a disco at 9:00 p.m. there is nobody there. At 2:00 a.m. it is hopping. In America this is unheard of really, especially in the province, which is everything that New York City is not.
But, my point is, when the sun stays up so long, it stresses me out. I have learned to program my evenings to begin at about 6:00 p.m. and not at 9:00 p.m. like the clock would tell us to do.
Don’t get me wrong, I love sitting outside and watching the end of the day in the summer, with it’s warm temperatures and balmy humidity. But, I don’t like it that the period of time between sundown and bedtime is so short.
But, moving the clock forward does something else. We are already one hour behind when we start our days. It seems that the times of day come much quicker in the summer time, and that we are constantly fighting the inner clock to get things done before the appointed hour.
If you look at the numbers, everything seems to be the same, but if you heed your inner clock, you will feel that you are an hour behind, at least for a good 6 weeks and the restful hours of evening are cut short.
For me, the worst time of day is the afternoon. My body clock is always down in the afternoon, say between 1-4 p.m. This is partially due to my schedule in Europe having been working from 10:00 – 2:00 and 6:00 p.m – 10:00 p.m.
In fact, because of this time of day, pretty much all of Europe has a “Siesta” from 12:00 to 3:00. This is being done less today than it was when I first arrived in Europe, but it is still in the psychology of the European and the farther south you go the more prevalent it is.
In fact, in countries like Italy, you close your shutters midday to keep the sun out or otherwise you will be baking in your house all night long because of the heat. They don’t really have air conditioning in Europe houses and apartments.
So, what does all of this mean? I don’t really know. I think, that the hours we are truly effective are few in the day and there are so many things that demand our attention. We need to work, to exercise, cook, eat, clean, practice our skills, and spend time with people and we want to feel great when we do these things.
For me, the most effective time is in the morning. So, all of my projects want to be done during this time and that isn’t logical to expect. So, we must prioritize our work in terms of our energy and most importantly we need to learn to take short “breaks” to recharge our batteries during the day.
We need to sleep fully, eat for energy, drink plenty of water and make sure we are getting the vitamins and minerals our bodies need to function well. Obviously, eating and drinking things that drain your energy is counterproductive and it messes up your body and mind in the process.
So, while the “fast time” is an enemy of my body clock, there are also other enemies to my constitution.
How do you have to live to be the most powerful you?
I think that is the real question in life.
Being powerful doesn’t mean you have dominion over others or that you are a force to be reckoned with in society.
Power means the amount of strength and energy you feel in your body to keep your mind fresh and your ability to perform tasks at a high level.
When I look at myself in the mirror, figuratively speaking, I must admit that right now I have very little power. I am not strong, I have no endurance, and I am tired most of the day. While I know how to fix it, I don’t. Why?
Because I have no structure in my life. Having a whole day unplanned destroys your energy because your mind doesn’t work on your schedule to adjust your energy levels. Without hourly deadlines your mind doesn’t know where it is going and since it doesn’t know you have to be somewhere it thinks you can relax. Relaxing is good, but not this kind of relaxing.
When you relax in the sense of having no deadlines, everything you do will be a chore. If you ad lib your day, you will never feel like doing anything.
The weirdest feeling I have is when I get out of a lesson or class and don’t know what I am doing next. I have this sort of disoriented feeling after I have done a scheduled task.
If I don’t know what I am doing next I am completely lost. I can wander around for hours before I get to the next thing. This is fatal.
Time is something to be managed and what is that really?
Time management is doing a specific task during a specific time and not allowing anything to get in the way of it.
It is so easy if you are on your own schedule to drop what you are doing when someone says, “Hey, can you come do this right now?” Of course, there is nothing saying you can’t do it, you can, because there is nothing saying you have to do that right now.
But, this is what steals away the time of your life the most.
Not getting done what you want to get done when you want to do it is going to rob you of your entire life.
I was having this discussion the other day about practicing music.
When you are given a role in opera, it is expected that you know it when you get to rehearsal. So you have to study when nobody else is looking.
Here is the thing. Lets say you want to go to dinner with someone. But, because you have to study you say no. But if you say no and don’t study, you have neither done one or the other and still you don’t know your music. What happens, and this is just a minor example is, because you don’t plan and execute your life according to your own schedule, you become unable to plan and do anything and even if you do you are thinking one or two or both of the following.
When you are working you are thinking about how much you wished you were out at dinner.
When you are out at dinner you are thinking about how much you need to be working.
So, neither activity gets the attention or the reward it needs or deserves. Life is nothing but being here and thinking you are supposed to be there and that is the definition of stress.
To alleviate this “stress” we begin to just “let it go” and not worry about it, which trains us to be lazy. The “it will get done when it must get done” method of living is extremely stressful and robs you of your power.
Anthony Robbins defines “power” as the ability to act. I would have to agree with him. But act when?
True power is the ability to act on your schedule, even when nobody is there to force you to do it.
Here is the thing about the clock…your body and mind work on the principle of learning. Learning is the building of habits. Your body and brain is an incredible robot, yes a ROBOT. The mind is trying to figure out what you want it to do at any given time. If you keep confusing it with saying your are going to do A and end up doing B, then you are programming yourself to be disoriented.
This isn’t about being good or bad, or any sort of moralistic preaching about leading a good life, the fact is, I dare say most of the people on earth are training themselves to be confused and disoriented.
It is disempowering to betray your own schedule.
So, in as much as your body needs to sleep, to exercise and to take in nutrients, you mind wants to know when to do these things and if you are confusing it, you are destroying your own life.
We all have our own lives to lead. We all have our own agenda. We all have to do a certain amount of adjusting for the time drainers required of us to differing extents.
But, if we don’t take charge and schedule our lives and do what is on that schedule at the appointed times then we are draining ourselves of our own life’s power and we spiral out of control.
Everyday is a practice session for life. We must practice our schedule everyday so our bodies and minds know what to expect and lets face it, if you want to become a dependable person, you will have to first be able to defend your own time, no matter whether it is summer time or winter time, morning time of evening time.
We cannot change time, we cannot change the universe, but we can change how we orient ourselves to it and make it work for us.
So, get out your planner and schedule your life. Defend that schedule at all costs, because it costs everything…it IS your life.
The “Power of Now”, a book by Eckhart Tolle, talks about there is no time but the present. What it teaches is that if you don’t do what you need to do the moment it needs to be done it will never get done and life is completely out of control. It is so very true.
Defend the now and do what there is to do on your terms, otherwise your power will be drained and your life will be completely outside of your control.