What is your relationship to time?
In 1975, in one of those rare free periods in life, my hippie brother Richard had just returned from a couple of peripatetic years and proposed a weekend drive to the Colorado River in my 64 VW bug. Richard was, to put it mildly, quite the minimalist and what I learned about living on the cheap on that trip came in quite handy later on. As we threw our sleeping bags into the back of my Bug on Monday morning we suddenly realized that neither of us actually had an actual reason to return home.
Richard proposed we continue over the river and through the scrub for a leisurely tour of Arizona, where he’d lived two years earlier. We meandered down desert roads and up into canyons for the next week, stopping in Tucson and Phoenix where he’d briefly held jobs (one as a school bus driver). The big treat was the night we spent inside a beat-up old school bus that still housed one of my brother’s bearded-weirdie old friends.
It was on this trip I discovered that despite never wearing a watch and despite having no clock in the car, Richard always knew what time it was, generally within a minute or so. I’d pop-quiz him whenever I caught a glimpse of a clock, or I’d ask him the time and turn on the car radio, where AM stations announced the time between songs, and he was always spot-on. Not as in It’s 4:00, but as in, It’s 4:03. I’d be lucky to land within the hour.
Sometimes I even lost track of what day it was during our ramblings. Richard couldn’t explain where his infallible inner timepiece came from. He didn’t consciously keep track of time, nor did he look at the position of the sun in the sky. He just knew.
How Your Body Keeps Time
When we are in good health and keeping regular sleeping and eating schedules, our bodies really do run like clockwork. Our body temperature rises just before dawn, helping us feel alert when we wake up; it then dips at night, promoting sleep. But when our body clock is disrupted, whether by occasional or continuous interruptions of sleeping patterns, and our natural circadian rhythm is either slowed or accelerated, all sorts of stuff can go wrong.
The things that can go wrong by not heeding your internal clock include everything from depression and weight gain to how severely that flu bug will kick your ass.
Yesterday I was told that I should be doing paperwork or other difficult chores between 6:00- 8:00 AM, when my mind would be at its sharpest. I beg to differ. First, those are prime sleeping and dreaming hours. Second, that’s when I’m more in the mood to meditate or play with the dogs, the time I’d rather let my mind warm up slowly, the time I’m more likely to enjoy a chat in a CUA diary than dive into, say, the comments of an I/P conflict-ridden diary. (Ok, I actually never venture in there for a good time.)
How well does your body keep time?
What’s your best time of day for certain mental or physical chores?
What do you want to talk about today?
What: A Daily Kos meet up for DK members and interested parties
When: Saturday, May 19th, 2018 — Time: 12:00-? PM
Where: Highland Brewing, Asheville, NC
www.highlandbrewing.com
12 Old Charlotte Highway, Suite 200
Asheville, North Carolina 28803
828-299-3370
Directions via Google Maps
Why: Friends, tools and networking to win in November
Food: Food Trucks plus
Fun: Brewery Tour
RSVPS
1. randallt, organizer (kosmail him to connect)
2. Lamont Cranston
3. Joieau
4. Gordon20024
MAYBEES :
1. Otteray Scribe
|
RSVPS
1. bleeding blue, organizer (kosmail him to connect)
2. rb137
3. Tbone Apollo
4. ptressel
5. SninkyPoo
6. FlamingoGrrl
7. Gemina13
8.
MAYBEES :
Kitsap River and Charles
|
Netroots Nation 2018