Comments on: Halfway Through a Year (Plus My Secret Hippie Productivity Tool) http://www.katasharya.com/pieces-of-life/halfway-through-a-year-plus-my-secret-hippie-productivity-tool/ Notes on Writing, Life and Other Enchantments Thu, 09 May 2013 15:10:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Kat Asharya http://www.katasharya.com/pieces-of-life/halfway-through-a-year-plus-my-secret-hippie-productivity-tool/#comment-1745 Kat Asharya Tue, 17 Jul 2012 03:12:42 +0000 http://www.katasharya.com/?p=921#comment-1745 you’re welcome! so glad to share — i hope it inspires you like it’s done for me! xo k.

]]> By: Toni http://www.katasharya.com/pieces-of-life/halfway-through-a-year-plus-my-secret-hippie-productivity-tool/#comment-1730 Toni Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:13:03 +0000 http://www.katasharya.com/?p=921#comment-1730 Love this calendar. Just got one for myself. Every year, for xmas, my friends and I get each gifts that consist of “our favorite things” that we discovered over the past year. I’ve got this one bookmarked, as it’s a great way to start a new year fresh.

Thx!

]]> By: John http://www.katasharya.com/pieces-of-life/halfway-through-a-year-plus-my-secret-hippie-productivity-tool/#comment-1582 John Fri, 13 Jul 2012 22:15:30 +0000 http://www.katasharya.com/?p=921#comment-1582 That’s OK! Thanks for your thoughts. The good news is that I’m having a little mini-vacation this weekend so I don’t have to worry about sleep schedules at all for a couple days.

]]> By: Kat Asharya http://www.katasharya.com/pieces-of-life/halfway-through-a-year-plus-my-secret-hippie-productivity-tool/#comment-1560 Kat Asharya Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:15:18 +0000 http://www.katasharya.com/?p=921#comment-1560 hi john! sadly, i don’t have resources to recommend, per se…i remember doing research on the idea of “sleep hygiene” that helped me a lot, which sounds really weird but is really just a way to talk about establishing an evening routine that signals to your mind that it’s time to sleep. my problem was that my mind was so overstimulated by the end of the day that it would just not shut off, and i’d do things like forget to take out my contacts and then get into stupid debates with myself about getting up to take them out or just falling asleep anyway. (it sounds irrational and it is, but it seems perfectly normal when it’s 3AM and you haven’t slept in 24 hours.) there are other things to do to help my mind switch off: i keep the lights low, i don’t read new fiction in bed anymore, i don’t browse the internet or look at anything with a glowing screen, i don’t listen to certain bands. in short, i am the most boring human in the hour or two before i go to bed. i think i get so bored i just go to bed! and of course i do all the stuff they say, like sleep in a cooler room and get lots of exercise earlier in the day. and sometimes (this is so funny to admit) i do a meditation before i sleep, too, stuff like ocean sounds, etc. it is so woo-woo, but it can be helpful for me.

but your problem may be different, i don’t know. i think it helps to know the persistent emotional and mental pattern underlying the physical pattern. it’s not as easy to figure out, because when you’re tired but you can’t sleep is not really an optimal time for self-awareness!

oh, and finally the thing that reset me ages ago was moving out of my fifth-story walkup in new york, which was so physically arduous that for the first time in years i fell asleep before midnight! it’s kind of extreme, but maybe there’s a physical equivalent for you?

anyway, i’m sorry i don’t have anything more specific for you! one thing i discovered is if you can get extremely specific about why you can’t fall asleep, it is much easier to find a solution. a friend of mind, for example, would suddenly get a burst to write before he slept, but he realized it wasn’t necessarily inspiration but a kind of guilt b/c he’d neglected it during the day (he always said he produced nothing good writing at night.) so he made more time for it during the day and that helped. but the trick, he said, was realizing there was a guilt there, a sense of something important to cram in, that kept him from sleeping properly.

xo k.

]]> By: John http://www.katasharya.com/pieces-of-life/halfway-through-a-year-plus-my-secret-hippie-productivity-tool/#comment-1539 John Fri, 13 Jul 2012 04:17:23 +0000 http://www.katasharya.com/?p=921#comment-1539 I have never been able to find a planner thing that I like in the USA. In Japan I could. I like a vague “morning-afternoon-evening” kind of setup, rather than lines for every hour, and I like cute pictures that fit the seasons and holidays. Easy to find in Japan, impossible here.

Kat, I remember you’re a recovering insomniac, and you’ve had some success. Do you have any resources to recommend? I’ve been trying to get into a more normal-human sleep schedule for the past two weeks and it is really not working so far.

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