Excerpted from Ignite Your Light: a Sunrise-to-Moonlight Guide to Feeling Joyful, Resilient, and Lit from Within by Jolene Hart ©2020 Running Press.
Your personal energy— a mix of thoughts and feelings, food and movement, people and surroundings that are uniquely yours— shifts across different parts of your day. In the sunrise moments, the earliest parts of your day from about 5 AM to 9 AM, the energy of your mindset, movement, and the way you prepare yourself for the day ahead makes a lasting impression on your energy. In the busy daylight hours, from 9 AM to 5 PM, the energy of work and creativity, relationships and connection, and breath are major energetic guides. Sunset, from 5 PM to 9 PM, is a time when we make extra room for laughter, play, and music, as well as our sacred home space— all of which strongly influence our personal energy. Moonlight— the dark, inward hours between 9 PM and 5 AM— is when we pause for the energy of spirituality, energetic release, and sleep. Paying attention to your energy, especially what lifts it and what drains it, is a powerful tool for understanding your personal health. Be aware of these common energy drains that crop up in the different parts of the day:
Sunrise (5am to 9am) Energy Drains:
Reaching for your phone before you’ve taken time to awaken consciously.
Feeling that you are late or pressed for time from the minute you rise.
Failing to prep or think through essential parts of your routine the night before.
Viewing or reading upsetting news media as your first input of the day.
Jumping into your day without an intentional start.
Carrying yesterday’s anger, worries, or fears into the new day.
Daylight (9am to 5pm) Energy Drains:
Working through the day without breaks to reset your energy.
Lacking a balance between solitude and socialization.
Repetitive work that doesn't interest or challenge you.
Skipping lunch and/or regular hydration.
Forgetting to stand up and move around regularly.
Improper breathing and posture.
Sustained levels of high stress.
Lack of opportunities to connect to nature.
Sunset (5pm to 9pm) Energy Drains:
No time or space to unwind.
Daylight work that continues through the evening without rest.
A home environment that feels uncomfortable.
An evening meal that doesn’t adequately replenish your body after a day of work.
Too much time spent with devices that leave you drained or stressed.
Moonlight (9pm to 5am) Energy Drains:
Spending too much time with eyes focused on screens.
Bright lights, loud noises that excite the nervous system and brain.
Foregoing a full night of sleep to stay up late.
Binging on TV or snacks to release built-up stress from the day.
Worries that interrupt sleep.
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