Self-Care

My legs aren't very hairy, I only shave in the summer.

You never wear jeans, jeggings, or tights?

Cherry, very rarely/ It is usually to warm and humid so i tend to stay away from them. But sometimes in the dead of winter I do, thats when it might only be in the 60s. 

Always look after number 1, but take a holistic view.

I've often found mindfulness meditation helpful in my concentration and relieves stress. Even a simple mindfulness breathing meditation can make a difference in lifting mood and calming a very active mind. I attended a few sessions when offered at work a couple of years ago. Since then, I've been applying it to my self. I just want to share if this can help.

Its really not about relaxing before meditation its the act of meditation that leads to relaxation.. I use one if Im stressed and cant sleep . First I close my eyes and concentrate on the darkness. Then starting on just my toes I send each part of my body to sleep so toes , feet ankles, knees etc as yet Ive never made it to head .. Im asleep before then..

I understand. If you are the type of person who has a very active mind or with specific emotional issues, it'll be a hard work. But, what's good in mindfulness is that you can do it in baby steps. No pressure to do the yoga style meditation You can do mindfulness while you are washing your hands. You wash your hands for 25 seconds. During the 25 seconds, you keep your attention focused on single thing, your hands. There, you feel the sensation of the water and the soap to your hands. It is being fully aware of your hand washing. You can also do it when you're brushing your teeth (focus on the sensation of the brush to your gums, teeth), when you're eating a slice of apple (focus on the taste or the texture of the food in your mouth), breathing (focus on the in and out of air as being aware of your breath), etc. Again, the idea is to focus your attention fully to one single thing. As you focus, your mind relaxes. Time kinda slows down, too. When you're ready, try it. You will see the difference. 

I always fall asleep when I meditate!

I just doze off after my eyes are closed for 5 minutes.

I do like napping. I also love my night's sleep and night's routine.

I've spent most of MY life sleeping. But my brain decided that, rather than me making a lifestyle choice.

Be like me, to bed at midnight and up by 4:30...

I like my sleep. If I try to continue working on things I get tired and make mistakes. Perhaps worse is that my workrate slows right down to the point where I am not making any progress.

One good thing about sleep for me is that I do dream up new ideas when laying in bed and even when I am sleeping sometimes.

Sometimes it's just something which I have been thinking about for a few days and I just dream about it. Other times I relax and think about strange or silly approaches to a problem. I doze off and the dream carries on. Sometimes a sensible approach comes to mind. It does not work with hard thinking though as I cannot get to sleep in that case. It's maybe a bit like astral projection and floating above a scene, so making it clearer than when you are in the thick of it. Meditation helps, or is maybe part of it. I haven't noticed that I have got novel ideas from dreams. I think it has usually been new perspectives on old ideas although some have maybe been abstract enough to appear new as I find that some come from less than obvious links.