Kissing Hot Cheeks (and other beautiful moments)

The Power of Now.  Living in the moment.  Carpe diem! Ok you get the point.  These phrases (among many others which will go unmentioned here I'm afraid) compose the background drumbeat of my conscience: always reminding me to enjoy each moment of life and returning my focus to what is important in my little world.  Of course I am not Deepak Chopra or Eckhart Tolle or a Buddhist monk so in my opinion I am never quite present enough.  I always get caught up in unproductive mortal emotions such as anger (if that drink cup falls on the ground spilling milk ONE more time!) impatience (when IS he going to walk through that bloody door!) frustration (I've tried and tried and tried and still the stupid thing won't go!) and too many others to itemize in such a short post.

However there are those spontaneous moments in the day that happen to snap me back to the absolute perfection of the present. More effective than any self-talk or meditation could accomplish, these are the moments that laser-focus my attention, sharpen my senses and dull out the world around me.  These are the moments that I live for.  Here are my favourites these days:

Ah, Blessed Sleep: 7 Tips for Overcoming Insomnia

Sleep has always been tricky for me. Even as a child I can remember lying awake for hours in the silence of night contemplating the size of the universe, the existence of God, and the presents I might get for my birthday. It didn’t happen every night and my energy levels during the day were largely unaffected, so this occasional insomnia was not a crisis in my life. A crisis it became though, once my post-baby sleep deprivation dragged me into the depths of depression and sleep was my only lifeline.