Nigh Night...

Everyday I am telling people about the benefits I have gotten through listening to The Listening Program. And I tell them everyone is different with different needs and they will get different benefits. But here, I am sharing the things this program has changed for me.

I sleep through the night.

That is a big deal. I have chronic knee pain that makes sleeping difficult for the last few years, but now I sleep through the night. And everything used to wake me up and once awake I could not get back to sleep. I would doze in and out of this quasi-sleep mode and finally get up to face the day without feeling rested or rejuvenated. But now I sleep through the night.

The sound of the television in the other room, or talking or doors being opened and closed, music being played in far off bedrooms, the heater/air conditioner coming on, vibrations in the heat vents, babies crying, trains going by down the road, the smell of a skunk, just about anything used to wake me up.

Now there are times t when, that was cool and may even have saved out lives. Twice I have been awakened in my life because the pilot light went out on the stove. Could have been intuition but my nose works amazingly well.

So sounds, vibrations, movement, smells, dreams, pain and other things; all kept me from sleeping deeply or well ,and from waking up refreshed for my whole life.

In week 2 of The Listening Program, I started sleeping more deeply although things still woke me up. I should also mention that things would wake me up and then my brain would kick on and it would keep me up. It never shut down! So even deeper sleep was wonderful!!!

By the time I started week 13 of The Listening Program, I was sleeping through the night. I woke up one morning at 6:30 because my alarm went off! The big surprise there is I never hear my alarm! I'm always awake by then and just shut if off. Now I sleep for hours and am not disturbed by all the little things that used to wake me and keep me up. I know it is listening to TLP that has made this monumental change in my life. Listening to music produced on purpose to effect change has worked for me.

I am now in week 16 and am still sleeping for 7-ish hours a night! I went to sleep at 11-ish last night and woke up at 6. Went to bed one night at 9:30 and woke up at 4:30 but I went back to sleep and slept until 6. This is amazing for me! And we all know sleeping helps your body heal and rejuvenate. My Dad the doctor used to say when we are sleeping is when we grow. Maybe I'll get taller now. I'll let you know.

Creative Thinking

As an aquarian mountain goat, by western and eastern astrology, nothing binds me to the planet. If you follow such things, I have the sign of aquarius in 5 or 6 areas of my chart and aquarius and goat are ostensibly the same sign, a gifted iconoclast!

I have mostly air signs, which makes me a great creative thinker, years ahead of my time generally. I see things far down the road and strategize accordingly. It's a gift, as I see things before they happen, am very intuitive and aware. It's a curse because few others see what I see and can not see such things becoming reality.

I mention astrology as its discovery for me and blending of the two signs, helped me put names to how I think and make choices. I jokingly say I can't think in a box if you pay me. Wise people have paid me well for thinking way out of the box. My work is one small part of my life, it's choices and lessons.

It may be timing and other factors, but I seem to find myself at yet another crossroad in life, deciding which road to go down. Rarely have I chosen a path other than one, "no leaves had trodden black." And I doubt I will now, either. Do what you love, the money will follow, is a career book I've read many times, searching for an elusive choice.

My friends are leaving homes, hometowns, businesses, friends and starting anew somewhere unknown to them. My children and grandchildren are scattering. Others, like me, are looking over their lives and thinking it's all going by too fast and something key to the heart may be missed. Are we walking away at substanial loss? Is it? What is of value really? When it is all accounted for, in retrospect, what was truly important?

Today it is my time, that is precious. And how I choose to spend my time and with whom, doing what, is the question.

No Pix

There are no pix in this post. No clever visual to connect to the missive contained herein. Just words.

But can't words convey a greater, deeper, personal meaning? Can't the theater of the mind transport faster and more effectively than pictures, video or movies? How often is the film as good as the book? I can only think of one example. Hunt for the Red October. The movie was as good as the book. The music helped. The rich, haunting minor movements of soul-touching Soviet orchestrations...

Music helps me. I'm sure it helps you. What do you listen to and when? How many times did you play the same song over and over after a break up? What song did you choose? Or did the song choose you? How often do you repeat the same piece when looking for clarity in a tough time? What do you play and how loudly, on a roadtrip?

Music touches emotion. This week, my friends and I seem to have been in a similar emotional space. Music did help. It kept one of us, among us a little longer. It helped a couple get through a grueling work week. For me, music helped ground me to the earth.

A nod to the The Listening Program and the wisdom to see it through no matter the hurdles. Doubt the hurdles are even near over, but the value is in the listening. I continue to sleep better unless outside disturbances occur. I am calmer and more grounded and I am able to deal with the memories continuing to bubble up to the surface.

It has not been pretty, that memory part, but allowing them to reappear, then grieve is helping me to heal. What would have flattened me not so long ago, still flattens but I am able to process through the grieving steps more quickly. And I come out on the other side with a tremendous gratitude for those who are dear in my life, music and the lessons learned.