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The Value Of A Nighttime Routine

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a Barnes and Noble gift card which I was SO excited about! The first book I purchased…

by  [email protected]

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a Barnes and Noble gift card which I was SO excited about!

The first book I purchased was ‘The Power Of Habit’ by Charles Duhigg. I’ve heard about it on several podcasts so I finally decided to pick up a copy and it did NOT disappoint.

I’ll let you discover all the powerful knowledge it contains but it really forced me to look at the habits that I’ve established, break unhealthy ones and create new ones.

The first habit that I created was a night time routine. This has been a TOTAL game changer for me as my sleep and energy levels have improved tremendously.

If you don’t know….Sleep is. SO. IMPORTANT. I don’t need to show you the facts, do I?

Here is a breakdown of my night time routine!

I usually try to be in bed by 10:30ish-11pm. I wake up, naturally, with no alarm clock around 7am every.day. Personally, I’ve found that my body feels best when I get between 6.5-7.5 hours every night. When I sleep more than that, I feel lethargic and off the entire day. During more stressful seasons of life, I can sleep up to 8.5 hours. But generally, I sleep a solid 7 hours.

As always, do what feels best for your body and lifestyle!

My night time routine typically begins in the kitchen (weird, I know but hear me out!)  I usually take this time to do some light housekeeping. I might take out the trash, run the dishwasher, pack my lunch or prep some breakfast, I’ll wipe down the counters. If I need to lay out paperwork or put something in my car that I cannot forget, I take this time to lightly prepare myself for the day ahead.

Next, I take a shower.

I like to view this as “washing off the day” This signals to my brain that “it’s closing time” and I instantly feel relaxed. It always feels amazing to have the hot water warm up my entire body. Plus, I mean who doesn’t love to clean off any dirt and stank from their day?! I love the feeling of getting to my bed all nice and clean. I don’t wash my hair every day so I usually take the time to exfoliate, shave or wash off a face mask.

Once I’m out of the shower, I put lotion on my entire body. I have REALLY dry elbows so I usually put a heavy duty moisturizer on those babies first. I also put on any serums or eye creams that I’m using. (Should I do a skincare routine?!) There are a lot of fancy nighttime moisturizers out there but honestly…I straight up lather on some coconut oil all over my face and neck and my skin has never looked better!

My absolute FAVORITE part of my night time routine is my journaling.

I keep two journals by my bed. I purchased a pocket-sized daily planner that has about 6 lines for each day. I use it to write down the things I am most grateful for.

My entries usually look something like this:

I am grateful for my health.
I am grateful for my bed.
I am grateful for my dog.
I am grateful for fresh drinking water.
I am grateful for food in the fridge.
I am grateful for (person, event, book, song, podcast, app)

Try not to overcomplicate it. It can be simple. It can be weird. It can be silly. They don’t have to make sense to anyone but you! It’s really about cultivating a sense of gratitude from the day you’ve had. It’s also, especially, nice to look back at your entries when you’re having a particularly rough day and seeing all of the things you have to be grateful for.

The other journal I keep next to my bed is a composition notebook. (I bought mine at the 99cent store!) I like to take just a few minutes to write down any ideas that I have, what frustrated me, what made me happy, if something significant happened that day, anything that I’ve learned, bucket list items, goals, daydreams that I had… ramblings…thoughts…It’s really just a safe place for me to cleanse my brain of whatever it is holding onto from the day.

It’s kinda like your brain taking a shit.
A brain shit.
And shitting is good.
Everyone needs to shit more.

(Sorry for the toilet humor. I saw an opportunity and just went for it.)

I will be honest – I don’t always feel like doing the journaling portion of my night time routine. As much as I love a good brain shit, I find myself staring at my journals like…REALLY? Just go to bed!

But then I remind myself that this takes no more than 10 minutes and I’ll hit the pillow with a smile on my face.

Once that is done, I read for about 30 minutes. This is one of those things that my parents coaxed me into when I was a child. I’ve always loved to read and my parents encouraged me to read as much and as often as possible. When I was younger, on the nights I couldn’t sleep (because you know…monsters!) my mom would crawl into bed with me and read. Even though I know that there are no monsters under my bed, I still find comfort in crawling into bed and reading until my eyes are fatigued.

Usually, while I’m reading, I also put on my ‘bedtime’ playlist. It’s about 12 songs that are non-lyrical. I try to avoid music that has words or is super upbeat during this time of night to prevent myself from getting too hyped up. (Sorry Kendrick Lamar)

I quickly find myself drifting off to sleep once I’ve been reading for about 30 minutes.

Recognizing my night time habits has opened my eyes to how VALUABLE they are to signing to my brain that the party is over and it’s time to settle down. When I stray from my routine, I don’t sleep as well, I’m forgetful, I’m not prepared, my anxiety skyrockets and I’m waaaayyy less productive.

As any other habit or ritual that I’ve created, I try to incorporate new things or mix them up depending on the season of life I’m in and structure it for what works best for me!

Do you have any nighttime rituals or habits that help you guys get into ‘bedtime mode’?!

I’m always interested in trying out new things!

Let me know in the comment section 🙂

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  36. What’s up?

    I found this article very interesting…please read!

    Do you remember the blockbuster hit film The Matrix that was released in 1999? You may not know this, but it has deep spiritual implications concerning the times we are living in and Bible prophecy.

    It tells a story of how these “agents” are trying to turn us into machines. We are closer then ever before for this to become a reality when they cause us to receive an implantable microchip in our body during a time when physical money will be no more.

    You may have seen on NBC news concerning the implantable RFID microchip that some people are getting put in their hand to make purchases, but did you know this microchip matches perfectly with prophecy in the Bible?

    “He (the false prophet who deceives many by his miracles) causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name…

    You also may have heard of the legendary number “666” that people have been speculating for possibly thousands of years on what it actually means. This article shares something I haven’t seen before, and I don’t think there could be any better explanation for what it means to calculate 666. This is no hoax. Very fascinating stuff!

    …Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666″ (Revelation 13:16-18 NKJV).

    To see all the details showing why the Bible foretold of all these things, check out this article!

    Article: https://biblewoke.com/rfid-mark-of-the-beast-666-revealed

    GOD is sending out His end time warning:

    “Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name'” (Revelation 14:9-11).

    In the Islamic religion they have man called the Mahdi who is known as their messiah of whom they are waiting to take the stage. There are many testimonies from people online who believe this man will be Barack Obama who is to be the biblical Antichrist based off dreams they have received. I myself have had strange dreams about him like no other person. So much so that I decided to share this information.

    He came on stage claiming to be a Christian with no affiliation to the Muslim faith…

    “In our lives, Michelle and I have been strengthened by our Christian faith. But there have been times where my faith has been questioned — by people who don’t know me — or they’ve said that I adhere to a different religion, as if that were somehow a bad thing,” – Barack Obama

    …but was later revealed by his own family members that he indeed is a devout Muslim.

    So what’s in the name? The meaning of someones name can say a lot about a person. God throughout history has given names to people that have a specific meaning tied to their lives. How about the name Barack Obama? Let us take a look at what may be hiding beneath the surface…

    “And He (Jesus) said to them (His disciples), ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven'” (Luke 10:18).

    In the Hebrew language we can uncover the meaning behind the name Barack Obama.

    Barack, also transliterated as Baraq, in Hebrew is: lightning

    baraq – Biblical definition:

    From Strongs H1299; lightning; by analogy a gleam; concretely a flashing sword: – bright, glitter (-ing, sword), lightning. (Strongs Hebrew word H1300 baraq baw-rawk’)

    Barak ‘O’bamah, The use of bamah is used to refer to the “heights” of Heaven.

    bamah – Biblical definition:

    From an unused root (meaning to be high); an elevation: – height, high place, wave. (Strongs Hebrew word H1116 bamah baw-maw’)

    The day following the election of Barack Obama (11/04/08), the winning pick 3 lotto numbers in Illinois (Obama’s home state) for 11/5/08 were 666.

    Obama was a U.S. senator for Illinois, and his zip code was 60606.

    Seek Jesus while He may be found…repent, confess and forsake your sins and trust in the savior! Jesus says we must be born again by His Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of God…God bless!

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