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I just suffered through a week of insomnia. And I say suffered because insomnia is so utterly frustrating and such a torturous condition to go through every night. Your body is exhausted but your mind is relentlessly awake. And of course as you lie there awake all you can think about is how you can’t sleep, which inevitably makes the situation worse. It’s like a vicious cycle in your brain that you can’t seem to shut off!

I’m not prone to insomnia. In fact I experience it very rarely, maybe once a month at the most. And it is usually because I have a lot on my mind or I have an important day ahead of me and am paranoid about getting my sleep. But even on those nights I can usually take a dose of Melatonin and drift off in 30 minutes. This week however, was a different story.  I don’t know what happened but I had 5 solid sleepless nights in a row. This was surprising to me because there was nothing exceptionally stressful going on in my life. Just your normal day to day stress, but nothing that should keep me up at night.

Night 1 I blamed on the New Moon. I had no other reason to feel so wide awake, so I figured it must be some crazy moon energy. I thought it was odd that my normal sleepy supplements weren’t kicking in either. Going on only 2 hours sleep I thought for sure that next night I would crash early and sleep soundly….but I was wrong. As I lay awake again I stated to get really frustrated and freaked out. How was I going to get through the week? I know my body needs more sleep then this, I hope I don’t get sick now, etc…  So by the third night I wasn’t messing around. I picked up some Sleepy tea, some Valarien Root, and even some NyQuil pm. I wasn’t taking any chances! But despite my array of sedatives my efforts proved futile once again. By the fourth night I seriously contemplated calling my Western MD in the morning. I thought now I understand why people take sleeping pills, this sleeplessness is literally driving me crazy!

Then something changed for me the next day. The entire week I had been unable to sleep for more then just a few hours a night, and yet I wasn’t really that tired during the day. In fact, I felt fine. Every night I’ve been spending time fretting that I was going to be dragging the entire next day. That my brain would be all foggy and that I wouldn’t be able to focus on my work. And to tell the truth, that was never actually the case. I functioned just fine. So perhaps my body was getting all the sleep it needed? Maybe instead of spending my sleepless hours worrying I could actually make use of the extra time and be productive (like reading one of the many books that I say I never have the time to read).

Interestingly enough, right after this realization I ended up listening to a radio show with Dr. Sukhi Muker (check him out, interesting guy). He happened to be talking about sleep and how he only gets a few hours a night. He went on to explain that it doesn’t necessarily matter how many hours you get, it just matters how deep your sleep is. And if you listen to your body it will let you know how much sleep you really need. Hmm…coincidence? I think not!

After hearing this I decided that I would just surrender to the insomnia. I wasn’t going to try and fight it with a bunch sleeping aids anymore. I would accept it and trust that my body was getting all the rest it needs. That evening I didn’t try and get to bed at a certain time, in fact I didn’t even look at the clock. I let my body and mind wind down naturally. Funny enough I believe I drifted off to sleep around 11ish and slept soundly through the night, waking 7 hours later feeling completely rested.

Interesting how the minute I surrendered to the  insomnia and accepted it without trying to control it I was able to fall asleep easily. Isn’t that just like anything in life? The more we push against and try and control something we don’t like, the more it pushes back against us. I believe we could all practice a little more surrendering and a little less controlling.

Now whether or not my body really needs only a few hours sleep I’m still not sure. This is definitely a subject I am going to explore more. But what I do know is that there is no fighting insomnia, it’s a losing battle every time. And of course this concept of surrendering doesn’t just apply to insomnia. Think of situations in your life right now that are not in your control. Does fighting against them do any good? Wouldn’t you have more peace of mind if you could surrender and accept them?

So what is the “insomnia” in your life? And where do you need to surrender and let go?

I went out of my way the other day to swing by Whole Foods and pick up some organic blueberries, only to discover that they were out. I hate when I go to the store for one item and that happens to be the one item they don’t have! Annoyed I grumbled back to my car and drove to another market, they were out too. Now I’m pissed off, but determined. Trader Joes perhaps? Nope, nada. It seems that organic blueberries were M.I.A.

You see blueberries are one of my all time favorite foods, and my morning oatmeal is just not the same without them. This is why I spent an hour driving all over town trying to hunt them down.  Sounds crazy? Well, yes I’ll admit it’s a little crazy, I’m just a tad bit picky when it comes to my food. Why not just buy conventional you might wonder? Because conventional blueberries (and strawberries) are absolutely drenched with pesticides, and they soak them all up. You are actually doing more harm to your body then good by eating nonorganic blueberries, because the toxins from the pesticides completely counteract any antioxidants that might remain in that fruit. Now I’m not a complete organic snob. There are plenty of foods that I do not bother buying organic, but blueberries are non-negotiable for me. Now back to my search…

As a last ditch hope I stopped by Publix, but they were no where to be found. Disappointed I decided I would have to settle for a bag of frozen organic blueberries. I like frozen blueberries for smoothies but not for my oatmeal, they alway get mushy and never taste the same. But alas, they would have to do. I approached the cash register with my $5.00 frozen bag feeling defeated, and got in line behind a mom and her young daughter. I noticed that they happen to be paying with food stamps, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks, I was being a complete stuck up a**hole!

Here is this family that is obviously struggling a bit and I am getting myself all worked up over blueberries! Poor me I have to use frozen blueberries in my oatmeal tomorrow, how will I survive?. When did I become such a snob?  Clearly I had a case of  Rich People Problems.

Now to me I am no where near rich! I’m a full time graduate student taking out a ton of student loans. But I do have my own apartment, a car, health insurance, clothes in my closet, and food in my fridge. Not to mention clean water and electricity. Yes I grocery shop with a strict budget, but one that’s ample enough to provide me with organic produce. And while I feel that things are pretty tight for me financially, compared to two-thirds of the world  I am actually considered rich. And considering that 17,000 children die of starvation every day, my little blueberry incident seems absurd.

That night I really began to think about how much abundance I have in my life. It is so easy, especially in the Western world, to get swept up into not having enough. And I don’t think that there is anything wrong with wanting an affluent life. But we tend to get so wrapped up in the wanting that we don’t realize what we already have. I don’t think a week goes by that I don’t bitch and complain about money. Poor me, I can’t afford a new pair of boots this year, I don’t have enough saved up for that Vitamix that I’ve been wanting, I’ll have to wait till my upgrade to get the iPhone 5 at a discount… I could go on and on. But lets face it, if the biggest inconvenience of my day is that the grocery store is out of organic blueberries, I think I’m doing ok.

In fact I am doing more then ok. I have all my basic needs met and then some. As I write this blog on my Mac lap top, sitting in my new chiropractic approved office chair, and drinking purified water, I realize that I am quite blessed. Perspective is everything! So the next time I’m upset because I can’t get my favorite flavor of Kombucha tea I’m hoping that I’ll remember the phrase “rich people problems” and graciously come back to reality. A reality where I am safe, well taken care of, and abundantly grateful!

So fess up, what are your rich people problems? Where have you been annoyed where you should have been grateful? Try shifting your perspective to see how blessed you truly are.

Ever have one of those dreams that just stay with you the whole day? The kind leaves you with an uneasy feeling that you can’t seem to shake. I’m not talking about nightmares per say, but dreams that are just very disturbing. I had the not so pleasant experience of waking up from one of these dreams the other day. Laying in bed confused and disoriented as my alarm was going off, wondering what the hell was that all about?

Dreams can effect your entire nervous system and this one had certainly gotten to mine. I felt anxious with an underlying feeling of gloom and doom. Not the best way to start your day.

I attempted to shake off this dream with meditation and yoga, but it wasn’t doing the trick. Even my favorite radio morning show couldn’t make me smile. I felt anxious, overwhelmed, and depressed for no particular reason at all. Why am I so down? Was it just the dream? The approaching full moon? Am I PMS-ing? I didn’t know what was going on with me, all I knew was that I was officially in a funk.

Naturally, as I was in a funk, most of the day pretty much sucked. Everything seemed to go wrong, my energy felt scattered, and I had a really hard time focusing. By the afternoon I was fatigued and developed a really bad headache. I hated feeling this way and just wanted the day to be over already.

When I got home at the end of the day I collapsed on the couch frustrated, cranky, and still down. Now it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a funk but I knew I could get myself out of it. I have years of reading self help books, going to seminars, studying nutrition, etc…I had all the resources I needed to turn myself around.

I could Meditate with a smile on my face, signaling my brain to release some happy endophins

I could put on some fun music and dance around my apartment.

I could go for a sunset walk on the beach, taking in all the beautiful nature around me.

I could read one of my hundreds of self-help / inspirational books.

I could listen to recordings of some of my favorite motivational speakers like Tony Robbins and Gabrielle Bernstein.

I could read from my archive of The Daily Love emails that I’ve saved throughout the years.

I could call a good friend, one who I know would cheer me up.

I could write a gratitude list to remind myself of how great my life really is.

I could even just put on a funny movie.

But I didn’t do any of that, instead I just went to bed. I gave up on the day and decided to sleep off this funk. And you know what, it worked! I woke the next day feeling like a new woman, and my funk from the day before was completely gone.

Now I could have reached into my bag of positivity tricks and I’m sure something would have worked to turn me around. But the truth was, I just didn’t feel like it. I was tired and I didn’t have the energy to fight my feelings, so I surrendered to the funk. And what I found was that sometimes surrendering is the best strategy to take to turn yourself around.

I think the reason why this worked for me was that for one I accepted how I was feeling without judging it. So often we can be so hard on ourselves for not being happy 24/7. Is a perpetual state of happiness possible? I highly doubt it. This life is about contrast. You need the dark to better see the light, just as you need the lows so that you can truly appreciate the highs.

Secondly, I intended to feel better in the morning. Our intentions are powerful! Even though I went to bed in a funk, I stated out loud that I would wake up feeling better and back to my normal happy self. By stating this intention I made it very clear to my body, mind, and spirit that I would not tolerate another funky day.

Now my “sleep it off” strategy worked great for me, but if for some reason I did wake up feeling funky again I would have definitely turned to one of my self help tools that I listed above. And I would have dug deeper into my feelings. When we are stuck in a funk for days for no apparent reason, there is usually something you’re not seeing. You have to start poking around and find the source of your funk. It may be that you’re not happy in your relationship anymore and have been too scared to admit it. Or maybe your feeling unsatisfied and complacent in your job. And many times something can be nutritionally off for you. You could be eating something that you are allergic to which is throwing off the biochemical balance in your body. The bottom line is that if you’ve been feeling off for a week for no particular reason, don’t ignore it, get curious and explore it. You may find that it’s a simple fix, such as getting more sleep.

Funk’s are an inevitable part of life, everyone has them from time to time. Sometimes you can fight them and sometimes you just have to let it be and ride it out. And never underestimate the power of a good nights sleep.

How do you get yourself out of a funk? Any tricks or techniques that have worked well for you in the past? If you feel moved to, share and post in the comments below.