relax – madalund
October 25, 2011 October 25, 2011 Madeline Lund	
I hate to clean!
I am using the word hate here! Strong emotion. Why?
As important and even healthy as it is, it is also usually frustrating. If you have a family that includes small children, then you know what I mean. I could clean the bathroom 100 times every day and it would still look like the worst off-brand, no locks on the doors, gas station “restroom”! Nothing restful about that.
Perhaps I should be happy about that–it means that the space is getting the use for which it is intended. I just can’t work up the enthusiasm for it.
Seems to me that life is like that “restroom” too. We usually don’t clean-up until we’re totally disgusted, fed up and have no alternative. Then, in typical human form, we wait two more years before we start. How in the world did we ever survive to 2011?
What makes change so difficult for everyone?
My dad used to say that growing up is a lot harder than anyone tells you. He was right–and it never stops being harder than anyone tells you! Change is the unknown. We think we figured out a way to survive the familiar, so we cling to it like a life raft. We are all caught up in that mess that won’t be tidy, clinging to the life raft. In my social service work, I regularly encountered people for whom life resembled the never tidy restroom. Addiction, loss, isolation and fear are the mess that won’t be tidy.
It is messy in my life sometimes. What are the untidy parts of your life?
The last couple of years have been filled with change. Change in living situations, change in employment, change in family structure, change in economics, change in politics…….. Even the earth itself is shaking and changing, quaking and erupting! We cling to the life raft tighter and tighter. Nothing restful about all that.
One of the things that I have learned (the hard way!) is that the cleaning part helps. As much as I hate to admit it, it does!
I have done some renovations to this blog site and will continue to make more. I want to thank my friend Richard Kraneis for pointing out the most obvious issue yesterday. He’s been around the blog block a few times and knows what he is talking about! Thanks Richard! I am inching my way towards tidy!
I think it has to do with the engagement of a different part of the human brain. By doing the mundane things that cleaning requires, you burn calories, release endorphins, focus on manual tasks and then the other processes of the brain have a chance to “reboot”, “resort” and “rework” the problems that can preoccupy us. The end result is that not only will the cleaning give some satisfaction in the measurable change, you may be able to get some of the answers when you give the brain a chance to do it’s thing in the background. Bonus!
We can let go of the life raft and find rescue and rest, even if it only lasts until the next kid rushes into the house. Bonus!
What is the cleaning you need to do bring that “Bonus!”?
Article: http://stress.about.com/od/tensiontamers/a/cleaning.htm
Tagged additction, care giving, change, cleaning, confusion, everyday life, fear, friends, ideas, isolation, loss, relax, restful, stress reilief, workLeave a comment	
August 21, 2011 Madeline Lund	
Today we again honored the tradition begun before my father’s generation and continued into my grandson’s. The Sunday Nap!
Some would say that this tradition was instituted by God in Genesis when after working six days to create the heavens and the earth and all that is in them God decided to rest on the seventh day. Regardless of how the tradition began, I am grateful for it and heartily endorse it. Rest is good.
Not only is it refreshing to get an hour of shut-eye, it helps to reset the mind and prepare us for another grueling week of same old, same old. Let me say that I just took a pole and 2 of the 7 poll subjects were still taking a nap! Not sure that this proves anything other than we are a family bound by tradition.
Sleep is important. Just like we learned in school we should each sleep 8-9 hours each night. Few of us do. Sleep deprivation can cause loss of productivity, accidents,
disrupt hormone production and the proper metabolic processing of carbohydrates. Severe sleep deprivation can cause symptoms that resemble drunkenness, including lack of coordination and poor judgement. Even if one does not sleep, the quiet rest in a calm space can do a lot for us. There is so much general noise in our lives that any excuse for quiet is a refreshing change. That is as far as we will go with sleep study information–don’t want to put you to sleep!
I look forward to the quiet of the whole house on Sunday afternoon. The homeyness of the family safe and snug. The refreshing decadence of it all–chores can wait, we have something important to do. I cherish and protect it vigorously. I hope I have passed it on to the next generations and if my poll is any indication, I have!
Daytime naps improve performance (biosil.wordpress.com)
How to Power Nap (foxnews.com)
An afternoon nap markedly boosts the brain’s learning capacity (kozar.wordpress.com)
Tagged family, quiet, refreshed, relax, tradition1 Comment	