Alexandra J. Johnson argues for honoring winter's natural rhythms by prioritizing sleep and practicing a digital sunset, turning off electronic devices to align with seasonal cycles. She shares personal reflections on tuning into your body's needs for better rest and rejuvenation.
Hi, everyone. It's Alexandra J. Johnson. So today's video is on hibernation and digital sunset. But first, I want to introduce you to this sleeping dog on my lap, Zoe. We adopted her a few weeks ago. Say hi, Zo. Say hi. Aw, here she is. Hi, baby. She is fantastic and we love her and we won the doggy lottery and. Yeah. So I thought she could just say hello to all of you. And I've been thinking about it because I've been cuddling with her a lot and she's such a great little cuddler. And she goes to bed or starts to get sleepy early and she sleeps all the time, actually. But thinking about how important it is to honor, honor nature and honor the winter, because it's winter where I am right now. And honoring the seasons that winter is a time to hibernate. Winter is a time to go within. It's a time to get more sleep. And if you notice, the sun sets earlier, so the days aren't as long. It's a great practice to get into of honoring the sun. So when does the sun rise? When does the sun set? And you can get a lot of sleep if you were going to go to bed soon after the sunset. And then when the sun rises, which I am getting a fair amount of sleep recently as I've tuned into the winter months. And it feels fantastic, you know, to go to bed and be in bed around 8, 8:39. Sometimes I'm up a little bit later, but it feels fantastic. And just to let my body rest and sleep and getting 8, 9, sometimes 10 hours of sleep, which feels so fantastic and so right. So I think it's really important to honor the seasons and wherever the sun is and how it's when it's rising and when it's setting and just pay attention to it and practice something called digital sunset. And that's something that we do not every day, but most days around here where we honor the sun setting. And as the sun's setting, we turn down our lights and turn off computers and phones and anything digital just shut down and really tune in and tap into that rhythm, the flow of nature. And when we do that, we notice that we start to get more tired and there isn't stimulation from the Internet to the computer to our phone to bright lights that keep us awake. And the more that we practice this digital sunset, the more that we're going to get in tune with nature. And that's my big thing right now, really getting in tune with nature and the rhythms and the cycles of nature and then also getting in tune with my own rhythm, like what's ideal for my body. And when does my body want to eat, when does my body want to sleep? And I think it's such an important thing because so many times we just eat because the time to eat, but we're not actually hungry or we feel tired or we think we shouldn't go to bed so early. And really for me it's really honoring my body and honoring what feels good for me and what is my natural pace and tune into that. So tuning into my pace and my rhythm and my cycles and then also tuning into nature cycles. So that's my big practice right now. And this is a beautiful time to hibernate, to go within and really allow your body to heal and to rejuvenate, to get a lot of sleep and prepare for the spring. Then when the spring comes, you are rested and ready to rock and roll. So that's the idea for today, really honoring the, the seasons and hibernating and then also practicing a digital sunset. And it's a really beautiful thing when we can really tune into that and then have the discipline to turn everything off and go to bed. I know I was feeling a little maybe guilty or that there was something wrong when I'm starting to feel tired around 6:30, you know, and it's dark out, but I'm like, I can't go to bed this early. But I'm really just honoring it and saying, okay, let's start getting ready for bed. And I've been feeling fantastic and great and I know that it's gonna be a beautiful winter and spring is going to be extraordinary because I'm gonna be well rested and restored and rejuvenated. So. And I know, I know it's the holidays so everybody's running around doing all their things, but if you can try to honor this and really notice the difference in your body and, and take the time that you need to hibernate in whatever way that looks for you. But honoring, honoring that process. So I hope you have a fantastic day and Zoe will say goodbye to you. Say bye, Zoe. Say bye. Bye. Alright, have a wonderful one and I'll talk to you soon.
