See You In The Morning: On Getting A Good Nights Rest.

  

   

   I must be the first to admit that I now greatly detest my younger self for not sooner realizing the immense value in a consistent sleep schedule. I protested, I resisted, I rebelled against it. I dreamt to stay up all night like the adults. Now that I am an adult, or close to one, I dream to sleep like a child again. I write this with no sleep, I kid you not. I repeat, I have not closed my eyes since I woke up yesterday. Anyhow, we are all rather capricious in our younger years; and we tend to miss those important things, those things of great value, those things that we will eventually miss as we grow older. Like a consistent sleep schedule. I can remember a time when I could wake up properly, do the activities for that day, whether that be going to school or something contrary, come back home, shower, eat, say my prayers and sleep like a baby on Christmas Eve. Now my days are something like this: wake up at 2 past noon, eat, sit and watch youtube videos or social media, exercise, shower, eat, say my prayers, and then get in bed and continue to watch youtube or social media for 7 hours straight, go to sleep at 5 or 6 AM, wash, rinse, repeat. 

   I tire greatly of this vicious cycle. I wish to break it. Which is part of the reason why I have decided to just stay up long enough until night time comes, then I can get back on track, back on a consistent sleep schedule. For now, then, I shall just look something akin to a zombie, or an emo. Speaking of which,you can notice instantly whether a person has gotten a great night's sleep. They are energized, extroverted, and ready to communicate; whereas one who has not had great luck in the sheets (in terms of sleep that is) is, of course, tired, drained, introverted, and would rather you not talk to him. People who get consistent good night sleep are on average more attractive and smarter; ones who do not are just on average less attractive, more so than they are less intelligent. There are, perhaps, many brilliant men who can not get a good lick of sleep for the life of them. But not getting good sleep does not make you brilliant, or more so than you might already be; on the contrary, it makes you duller. Lazy. And most likely, stupider to some degree. I should want to be both attractive and smart rather than one or the either.

   You shall also notice a sharp decrease in productivity without sleep. This is logical. When one is drained of any energy his brain and body may have received from a good rest, one will not have the drive to do much of anything but sit around, watch youtube videos, stay on twitter and worst of all; write about how bad of sleep he's been getting recently! The utter horror of it all! A productive mine is a efficient one. But a mind must first have energy and proper rest before it can be productive and thus effective.

   Here are some solutions for my fellow nocturnals; It may be wise to stay up for one whole day just to reset yourself in a sense, so that you can have a level of exhaustion that is proper for a good night's rest. Exercise during this day, not to extremely though; we want a good night's sleep, not an eternal one. After this has worked, which, I feel, it inevitably will, and you have gotten such a good sleep that you cry tears of joy when you wake up, and praise God above for the sliver of heaven you just experienced, at night, put away all technological devices. Phones, Laptops, tablets and the like. This is so you do not get distracted and stay up longer. If you insist on having one device with you, then make sure you are reading something on that device, an ebook or a pdf file, and are not watching youtube videos. Read something boring, like a science textbook. Those things have a Nyquil like effect. Or you can read one of the greats, and fall asleep in the world of Shakespeare or Charles Dickens. The main thing I would suggest is to keep all devices away from you. it will inevitably end with you back to square one. Read a physical copy of a book to fall asleep to. Or just close your eyes and go to sleep like a normal person would do. That works just as well. I hope this helps my fellow Night Owls. With baggy eyes and a dejected countenance, we will triumph over this insomnia that has plagued us for too long. Excited? I am as well. See you in the morning!

Models Of The Past: Getting Started On Living The Traditional And Virtuous Life.

   

I see many online talk at great length about practicing virtue, learning a skill and living a life of a traditional man. But I feel as if many are left without examples of how one should do that. No models to follow or to copy are presented. It is imperative then that we study the lives of those great men of old and renown that came before us. For without them, we would not be where we are today. So for every aspect of life that a man may improve or have the motivation to, here are the men to emulate to a degree:

1.  In Spiritual Life: All of the Orthodox monks and Church Fathers

2.  In Skill/Talent/Work: The men of the Renaissance era (of course, not adopting their philosophy, but their disposition in work,talent and achievement)

3. In Observing: The Philosophers

    The men of the Renaissance, in public, social and work life, should be emulated; insofar as the Christian Religion allows, so as to not become victim of an extreme rationalism, of which is wholly antipode to the Faith. An important aspect of the era of men in the Renaissance is how they were able to balance their interests, talents, and social life. This is something modern man struggles greatly with, for whatever reason that may be. Thus, why I believe they should be emulated. The Monks and the Church fathers, in the spiritual and religious life, to a degree that is permissible to the majority of the laity, should be emulated heavily. This is self-evident. They teach us in the best way possible how to properly Love God and how to live like it as well. 

   The Philosophers, more specifically Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Blaise Pascal and among others, should be emulated in the manner of accuracy one observes and diagnoses the phenomena of life, especially in the societal, political and socio-existential relm. It must be noted that these aspects of life, for the Christian, should not be in any sort of contention, but should work in a holy unison and harmony. With the spiritual life being primary, and everything latter to it, secondary. This should give many a clear view on how to live a virtuous life; and others a interest in doing so. Whether one is successful in completely emulating these men of renown is not the purpose of living the virtuous life. 

    It is rather a matter of whether one has made God proud by way of one's disposition, that is the determiner for whether one has lived a successful lifestyle. How successful you are in the world has a causal relation to how successful you are with God.