Napping Beauty

I’m a professional psychic, but I don’t predict the future. I read energy, and the energy centers known as chakras.

People don’t have “good energy” or “bad energy.” Scientists define energy as the capacity to do work. I’m no scientist, but I believe doing work without significant meaning attached to it feels like being bedridden. Both are a suppression of energy.

You’ve probably heard energy referred to as inspiration. Drive, motivation, ambition. Passion, or will. Most people are actively suppressing their free will, doing the most day to day, leaving no time to consider what they’d rather be doing. Workaholics are procrastinating working on themselves, afraid if they slow down they’ll become acutely aware of what’s wrong. Ignorance is bliss, right? Except our bodies won’t allow us to ignore suppressed energy.

Suppressed energy can cause insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, depression, stress, weakened immunity, and physical ailments. If willpower is suppressed for too long, one loses the will to live—after all, the life they’re living is at odds with their wants.

What if I told you my clients have been inspired to change their entire lives by getting more rest? It sounds simple because it is. There’s a huge difference between making a plan of action, and taking inspired action. Inspiration doesn’t come to an exhausted person reserving their energy for survival.

For 2022, I’m creating a napping routine. Here’s how:

Less is more.

Studies have shown a 10-minute nap is best, producing immediate benefits that last as long as 155 minutes afterwards. I’ve experienced it many times, insisting I’m not sleeping but “resting my eyes.” I wake feeling refreshed, as if I’ve been asleep for hours, but I’ve barely been out long enough for a handful of Beatles songs to have played.

Play it calm and cool…

Literally. A cool environment encourages relaxation. Scandinavian parents leave infants and children outdoors for a winter nap, even in sub-zero temperatures. In Spanish culture, a siesta is taken in a cool home during the hottest part of the day. The Italian riposo is the same.

But spontaneous…

Taking inspiration from the Japanese inemuri. Inemuri is a nap lasting several minutes, whenever and wherever. I find that my body knows when it needs to be still. Scheduled naps often result in me lying there bored, just like in preschool. But a power nap taken at my writing desk? That’s… powerful.

First, tea time.

Counterintuitive as it may seem, research shows a caffeine-nap combination is more effective than a cup of coffee or nap alone. I do love a good earl grey before bed. It strengthens my lucid dreaming. I should note I don’t drink caffeine throughout the day, which can disrupt sleep. At most, I drink one cup in the afternoon and another before bed. I never drink it in the mornings, when I’m the most alert and full of creative ideas.

I’ve already gotten off to a great start this January, taking brief naps in bed before preparing dinner. I used to be too tired to cook, ordering take-out. Afterwards, I’d be too tired to read bedtime stories with my son. Now making dinner is my favorite part of the day, my eating habits are healthier, and I’m able to have quality family time in the evenings.

I remember my mother coming home after work completely spent, bitterly making meals for my brother and me. She had no choice. She couldn’t order food from an app back then, and even if the technology had been available the funds weren’t. Home felt scary. I never knew when my mother’s rage would erupt, and she never knew what the source of it was. She wanted to be a writer, not a factory worker.

I wish I could go back in time and say to her, “Dinner can wait, why don’t you take a nap?” It could’ve made all the difference in the world.