Satnaam ji,
dandauth bandhna ji,
many people in the sangat are also saying it is so hard to get up early, or if they do wake up, then it is too hard to get out of bed.
with guru ji's kirpa we have found the following has worked for us and would like to share with everyone.
a) in the beginning, getting up early is only difficult if we have had not had enough sleep and hence are still tired. Sleep is very important for the body to heal and recover and recouperate, so nature in us is saying it needs more time to recover. We have two types of sleep light sleep and deep sleep. It takes about 4 hrs to get into deep sleep and unless we have gotten into deep sleep we will be exhausted if we get up before that. So the thing to understand in the beginning is to get up early, but to ensure we have had our full or at least enough sleep.
b) without having enough sleep it is difficult to get out of bed, because we are half-asleep and cannot over power sleep. So the best time to fight with sleep is actually when we are wide awake. So that means in the evening we are in full conscious state and can fight our mind to GOTO TO SLEEP early enough so we get out 7-8 hrs sleep.
c) once we understand the above points then with guru ji's kirpa this is what we did. We first resolved to go to sleep by 9pm and to get up at 5am - full 8hrs. Giving us 2.5 hrs before the kids got up at 7.30. This was very difficult as we were in a very bad routine of putting the kids to bed at 9pm then going downstairs to watch TV till 1 or 2 am. however, with guru ji's kirpa we started praying for amritvela and also had to make a real effort to put the kids to bed a t 9pm and then go to our own bed. but every night for about 1 month our mind would say - go downstairs and watch TV - your favourite programme is on etc. But we put the programmes on record and just watched them oon the weekend in the day time instead. Also the other times we were tempted to stay up late was when we had an argument at home or the kids strssed us out and our bad habit was to go and watch TV to get away from the people who were stressing us out and to have some TV time to relax. so we had to fight with that habit too. What really helped was having ot put the kids to bed at 9pm, forced me to go upstairs and then doing mool manter with them calmed my mind down from the stress and made me ready to sleep as well.
d) Then getting up at 5 am, we found it very difficult to just sit and conecentrate on naam simran internally because our mind was unsettled for lots of worldy reasons - anger and ego being the main ones. so we spent an hour doing yoga with Simran on tape and with our breath. Then 15 minutes doing relaxation and chanting , then 5-10 minutes sitting quitely doing internal simran. Do ardas and go and do some reiki on our daughter's skin - brings in compassion. After a few months of thins we also started doing kirtan at the end, that helped us no end, brought in a lot of love and connection with gurbani nad hence God as well.
The other thing to note is that to be able to go to sleep at 9pm, it means that we have to give up our social circle , our TV habits and our habits of staying on the phone to friends and of them callnig us after that time as wll. It also helps if everyone else in the house goes to sleep early too.
e) then on Jan 1 2009 with Dassan Dass ji's kirpa we resolved to get up even earlier and do 2.5 hrs of just naam simran. This was and still is very difficult. We struggled to find a comfrtable position to sit in, we fell asleep many times because of getting up at 1am or 2 am or 3 am, hence not having the full 8 hrs of sleep. so this has probably been too much of a jump from 5 am to 2 am. And we are still learning. however, with guru ji's kirpa once our eyes open we get out of bed without too much difficulty so that has helped alot. what we have learnt from this is that if we have not had enough sleep , even sitting for naam simran in the early hours we fall asleep or go into dream like state with silly dreams. So it is better to go to sleep early, pray for that , be strict about it and then do naam simran with full alertness - savdaan ekangar cheet ..sukhmani. Start by dong ardas, sit and listen to each syllable each sound os your naam simran, pay attention to each sound os Sat Naam, or ik oankar Sat Naam or mool mantr mixed with Sat Naam. Stay alert and focused. If sleep comes, then wither get up and do some yoga stretching, or just walk around and do naam simran , or got to sleep for a while, then get up again , do ardas and start again.
We said to Baba ji on the phone that it is very tough to do simran at amritvela because of our ego. Baba ji said to us "when the going gets tough, the tough get going!" Then He also said to us to imagine "put ego under one foot and pride under the other, then keep on jumping on them and keep them there." Baba ji is the greates, we have found it even easier to focus in our hirdha on his lotus feet and He is calling us again. Baba ji also said to us," Keep on calling for Him, keep on saying "Satnaam ji come on to our tongue, come into our heart, come into my hands and feet, come into every part." We have to invite Sat Naam into us and make ourselves pure enough for Him.
Dust of your feet
Harjit
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