Perhaps like most animals, it is in our human nature to hibernate during storms, but we seem to defy at every turn, our instincts to slow down and curl up for a nap. Whenever a storm is rolling in, my cat knows somehow ahead of time, even without going outside, and proceeds to settle in for a long sleep. Unlike our human lives that revolve around clocks and schedules, animals take each day as it comes.
Our ancestors lived by nature’s cycles – the rising and setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, the rhythm of the tides, and the change of seasons. Their lives were relatively stress free. They often carried out rituals of singing, dancing, and regularly giving thanks for the gifts that Nature had provided them. Joy was a natural state of being. Modern humans have attempted to separate themselves from Nature, thereby forgetting that life is a gift. We have become prisoners of the time construct that we ourselves have created.
We each have an internal clock that attempts to regulate our personal well being. Some people consider themselves to be ‘a morning person.’ Others are ‘night owls.’ Honoring what our bodies indicate to us will provide us with better health both physically and mentally. We have millions of people who are sleep deprived and anxious. They rely on caffeine, sleep aids, and anxiety medications just to get through the day. Many exacerbate their already frazzled nerves by eating foods containing only empty calories, drinking too much alcohol and/or indulging in recreational drugs, in order to keep up with our man-made timepieces.
Eventually, our bodies begin to wear out and slow us down. As gray hair and wrinkles creep up on us, so does our willingness to say no to our old notions of time. We can give ourselves permission to take a mental health day, to peek out at the falling snow and then simply curl up next to the cat or the dog and fall back asleep.
