GET SOME SLEEP:
Our experts unanimously agreed: Sleep is free and has virtually zero health drawbacks, making it the one treat no one should skimp on. Pillow time gives you energy, bolsters your immune system, boosts your memory, and even helps you get (or stay) slim.  Cut slumber short, and you'll find it harder to make decisions (no surprise to anyone who's struggled through a workday after a too-late bedtime). Plus, you'll increase your risk for anxiety and depression.  "Lack of sleep has also been associated with hypertension, glucose intolerance, and belly fat -- all risk factors for heart disease," says Nieca Goldberg, M.D., medical director of the New York University-Langone Women's Heart Program.  Aim for seven to eight hours of sleep a night, the amount that studies show is ideal. If you're up-and-at-'em on less, don't sweat it: Some people are just wired that way, Goldberg says. But if you have trouble falling or staying asleep, or can't seem to drag yourself out of bed on a regular basis, talk to your doctor about possible underlying causes, such as anxiety or sleep apnea."

I can certainly attest to this.  Getting a good night's sleep makes you feel better.  A lack of sleep makes the days seem long, the work seem hard, and increases irritability...

Read the whole piece--it suggests that playing hooky can be good for you, too.  I'm all for that!

TODAY'S MOEBIUS MOMENT:
Actually it's a memory.  I was at our high school's mixer.  It was held during the school day on the Friday of the first week of school.  It was an outdoor thing, where we played silly games, etc.  So one game was--you had to pass an orange from person to person, all the way to the end of the line.  First team to do it wins.  Only thing?  You had to pass the orange without using your hands--by holding it in that crook between your chin and your neck, and passing it to the other person that way.  Just my luck...I'm standing next to this girl, who I really didn't know, and who wasn't a popular cheerleader type, but who...well, just wasn't the type who wanted much to do with someone like me.  When the orange came to us, we kind of stood there awkwardly and then I just handed it to her in my hand.  Anything to get that over with!  Ugh.  It brings all those awkward feelings back just thinking about it...

But, you know what--you live with those things, you get past them, you move on, survive, and advance.

"I do believe that we each have a place inside of us where fear resides, that fear of being unworthy, a sinner, carrying bad karma, untouchable.  Seeing and accepting one's "flawed" condition is a core spiritual experience, and essential step in developing emotional maturity.  It is a basic human task, the task of redemption, and it is hard work.  There is no turning aside.  If we ignore this soul retrieval work, we remain fragmented and powerless, vulnerable to fear, addiction, and the metaphor of victimhood.  Because that place of fear is where predators and manipulators of all sorts--sexual, financial, religious, political, warmongering--come to feed.  And that is where cruelty is born--in fear of not being acceptable, worthy, valued and loved.  Paradoxically, I have found wholeness through (and with) what at first seemed to be my flaws.  Working through my fear and shame, I have come to discover that I am whole.  I know now when people turn away, they're not turning away from my face, but from themselves, from their own fears."--David Roche, THE CHURCH OF 80% SINCERITY.