How to sleep well?

I long to have a good night sleep. Probably its because I haven’t adjusted yet to my new environment here since from the quiet halls of the convent, I just transferred to a Brothers’ Residence with Brothers who are very much active with their ministries. I think it’s more on the lifestyle and not the people with me here. I love interacting with them during meal times and there’s no really problem with our relationships here.

How can I have a good sleep? Less time in front of the computer maybe. An article in Readers’ Digest wrote about keeping away from the computer 10 pm onward. Its for the body not to be tricked by the synthetic light since the brain might think that it’s still daytime. If I feel like writing, instead of writing a journal with a computer, I’d rather grab a pen and write in a notebook once it’s already time for sleeping.

Another thing that must be done, and what I really long to do, is to have a regular time for exercise. For almost four weeks, I only played four pickup games of basketball. Though not playing that much, at least I can still shoot threes 5 in a row and hang on the rim. Knowing my schedule first and setting up the exercise in my free time will do that. I’m not really the kind of person who plans but if it’s for my own good, then I’ll try. I just don’t know if I’ll do it.

Why should I bother to sleep early? To function properly during the day; To be less irritable; To have a sharp memory; To catch dreams; to make my dreams happen not just in dream world but also in the waking world; and to be energized enough to serve my neighbors.

I just hope that waking up without an alarm will keep on working until I come back to the comforts of our novitiate. I know I can get through this.

The writing talk

Write until I make sense
I want to keep this blog going for as long as I have the opportunity to do it. If not for the poor specs of the desktop I’m using, I would have put pictures in my every post. No wonder I don’t have pictures in my posts. It’s hard to navigate using an outdated desktop. Most of my entries are posted via e-mail. I’m done with explaining why my entries are like this. No more excuses. Just produce more content. The quality will follow if I produce more quantity. Like what the writer said on the Discovery Magazine in a Shaolin Monks inspired article, one kick practiced in 10,000 days is scarier than 10,000 kicks practiced in a day. Something like that.
Write like I talk
I know a lot of words but I don’t use them in my daily conversation since of course, I’m currently living in a Cebuano dominated place and I don’t speak Cebuano! Thankfully, I can practice my English more often every time I come home and have our dinner. I think there are not that many families who eat together in the same time and in the same dining table. Maybe they do it during dine outs. Not much often. Well, going back, I like to write the way I talk. That’s the writing talk. Even though I can say something in a sentence, I still write like I’m talking because those are the thoughts that came to my mind. No censoring. That’s the problem with not editing properly. But I’m more confident now that I lived with a multicultural place for more than a year, with English as our language. That means I’m now thinking in English and not code switching from Filipino to English. I’m sorry if I let my mind speak loudly.

Born to be a storyteller

I read somewhere in a local quarterly issued magazine which says that one of the most important assets educators have is the ability to tell stories. It’s what teachers have in order to connect with their students. In my journey as a future educator, I might have this particular asset. I think I’m born to be a storyteller.

I still remember that as a child, I made up my own stories with Rina as my first character. That’s when I am telling my story out loud in front of my imaginary friends as my audience on the side of the street. Like the time when my playmates laughed at me when I tried to sing “Bowowow“, a newly invented tune from a new song I composed about a barking dog. Even in composing songs, I realized that I cannot compose a song without telling a story. With my experiences as a child, maybe I’m not just too ashamed of being labeled as mediocre in my pursuit of becoming a great storyteller. Even chess grand masters started out as noobs, ‘no?

I don’t have to wait for great stories until I set out on this journey of becoming a storyteller. Retell stories, make my own, whatever it takes, just do it. I’ll just pretend to be a good one until my good become better, and until my better becomes best.