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    Permission to Nap, Taking Time to Restore Your Spirit
    Permission to Nap, Taking Time to Restore Your Spirit
    Permission to Nap, Taking Time to Restore Your Spirit
    Ebook163 pages2 hours

    Permission to Nap, Taking Time to Restore Your Spirit

    By Jill Murphy Long

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    About this ebook

    This soothing and inspirational book reveals the sweet secret of living well, the afternoon siesta. Its peaceful prose invites harried women to learn the art of reserving a few precious moments for herself in order to balance family, relationships, passions and/or a career.

    From creating a personal ritual for relaxation and a nap sanctuary to involving all the senses: aromatherapy, massage, meditation, hot and iced beverages, eye pillows, comfortable pajamas and much, much more...these tired individuals will now know how to organize their lives to accommodate a bit of R&R.

    A nap nourishes the mind, body, and spirit, allowing the return to a busy day, feeling renewed and refreshed. Chapter by chapter, learn how to rekindle affection for rest in a busy world and be fortified with good reasons to pause each day in the name of better health, improved creativity, and strength.

    Twelve luxurious nap recipes help anyone begin this new healthy ritual for life.

    Witty quotes and easy recipes will encourage inward reflection and offer valuable moments to regain life’s harmony. Working mothers, career women, stay-at-home moms, and even men—all need to hear they have “permission to nap.”

    Meant to be cherished and referenced time and again, this gentle guide makes a beautiful gift for any busy person.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJill Murphy Long
    Release dateOct 8, 2011
    ISBN9781452480183
    Permission to Nap, Taking Time to Restore Your Spirit
    Author

    Jill Murphy Long

    Jill Murphy Long is the author of novels and a non-fiction book series. She also writes screenplays and teaches creative writing. Since 2005, she has been a book editor and advocate for dozens of other writers to publish their books. Prior to writing books, she worked in advertising as a creative director and copywriter for several LA agencies before opening her own: The Ad Group and Murphy & Watt Advertising. Her first best-selling book, Permission to Nap, Taking Time to Restore Your Spirit received the Excellence Award, a distinguished recognition presented by the Chicago Book Clinic and the 2003 Benjamin Franklin Award by the Publishers Marketing Association. The author has appeared on CBS and Fox television stations and has been a guest on other stations throughout North America. Interviewed by NPR and other major metro radio stations, she has also been hired as a keynote speaker at symposiums, conferences, universities, libraries, and spa resorts including The Golden Door, Canyon Ranch, and Red Mountain Adventure Spa & Resort. Her other titles, Permission to Play and Permission to Party, received press coverage in: USA Today, Better Homes & Gardens, Dallas Morning News, Los Angeles Times, American West In-flight Magazine, Chicago Sun Times, EPregnancy, and the international spa magazine, Pulse, to name a few. Her books have been sold in gift catalogs and at their websites such as: Isabella, Femail Creations, Paragon, Victorian Trading Company, and Jessica’s Biscuits. Jill has e-published Skiing With God, which will soon be released as an audio book. The Conduit will also be available as an audio book in the summer 2014. When she is not writing, she’s making a movie, skiing, or cycling. To book this author for your next creative engagement, please email: jillmurphylong@gmail.com

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      Book preview

      Permission to Nap, Taking Time to Restore Your Spirit - Jill Murphy Long

      Permission to Nap

      Taking Time to Restore Your Spirit

      by Jill Murphy Long

      Copyright 2002, 2011 by Jill Murphy Long

      Published by Permission Books

      Smashwords Edition

      Cover Image: Flaming June by Lord Frederic Leighton, Museum of Art, The Luis A. Ferre Foundation, Inc. Ponce, Puerto Rico.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval system—except in the case of quotation embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author: permissiontonap@yahoo.com

      This is not a medical book. If your insomnia becomes a chronic problem, please contact a healthcare professional.

      Published by Permission Books

      POB 770089

      Steamboat Springs, CO 80477

      (970) 846-1428

      permissiontonap@yahoo.com

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Long, Jill Murphy

      Included bibliographical references.

      1. Stress management for women. 2. Nap (Sleep).

      Smashwords Edition / License Notes:

      This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to

      Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

      -Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      Chapter 1 Women Who Nap Shamelessly and Without Permission

      Chapter 2 The Truth About Napping—Today & Tomorrow

      Chapter 3 Because I Want To—and Good Reasons

      Chapter 4 Seasonal Escapes at Home—Luxurious Nap Recipes

      Chapter 5 Relaxation Techniques—Meditation, Yoga & Massage

      Chapter 6 Enter an Enlightened World—Aromatherapy

      Chapter 7 The Sounds of Sleep—Fountains, Chimes & Music

      Chapter 8 Dedicated to Soothe—Iced & Hot Beverages

      Chapter 9 Truly Lavish Essentials—Tactile Comforts for Indulging

      Chapter 10 Morpheus’ New Choices—Peaceful Nap Sanctuaries

      The Perfect Companion: Books

      About the Author

      Introduction

      "We must be learn to be still in the midst of activity

      and to be vibrantly alive in repose."

      –Indira Gandhi (1917-1984)

      I wrote this book because I saw how tired, frustrated, and depleted many women have become living their fast-paced lives. I witnessed this situation ten years ago and again today as I updated this book. The truth remains that most women: young, new mothers, mothers of teens, career women, wise women and the newly retired are still not sleeping as well as we should or as much as we want. Our minds, bodies, and spirits require time to be quiet and still. For many, relaxing is a difficult habit to develop; it goes against ingrained in us ever since were first adorned in pink. Women are trained to multi-task, not to sit and do nothing.

      As part of my research for this book, I conducted a survey about napping among friends and business associates across the county. I asked them to tell me if they napped, how they accomplished it, and if they didn’t—why not? The responses came in from tiny towns and the big cities. In handwritten notes, many expressed frustration at having no time to nap, let alone sit for fifteen minutes and breathe. Others told me that they felt lazy if they put their feet up or had to be sick to relish a cup of tea and be still for a while. Married women and mothers reported that their partners or children interrupted them. Many voiced there was not a quiet place in the entire household to find tranquility, and too many replied, I’m just too busy. Most of the woman did admit to dreaming of time alone, yet only a few actually rested or napped on a daily basis.

      Women (and men) should be allowed to slow their days and sit for a while. Whether they sleep or not—doesn’t matter; what matters and is essential is the downtime. This is much more than just a book about naps—it is a book of discoveries, an introduction to elements and ingredients to consider when creating a personal relaxation ritual and designing a nap sanctuary. It is a gentle guide for expanding your creative spirit and improving your physical and mental health.

      Everyone needs a relaxation ritual. Your personal choice could be a twenty-minute nap, morning yoga to awaken the body and mind, a quiet session of walking meditation, or a little time sitting in nature, which can replenish the spirit and be counted as a nap—at least in my book.

      We also need a place where we can go to rest—a sanctuary filled with soothing colors, comforting textures and fabrics, and calming aromatherapy to provide a undisturbed haven, an oasis of comfort and beauty, a place for peacefulness and rejuvenation.

      This self-care habit will grant you the continual serenity that your spirit seeks and needs. With a respite secured between your busy hours, daily living can become much sweeter. Give this time to yourself as a gift. Consider this book a grant of permissions—permission to rest, permission to pamper yourself, and of course, permission to nap.

      Return to Table of Contents

      Chapter 1 Women Who Nap Shamelessly and Without Permission

      "It is good to have an end to a journey towards;

      but it is the journey that matters in the end."

      –Ursula K. Le Guin,author

      When I started to write this book, everywhere I looked I saw signs to take a nap. In a national women’s magazine, an alluring photo of an Adirondack chair placed pond side with a frosted beverage beckoned the weary. A grocery store ad headline read: Lynn’s Having 50 Guests, A Deli Tray, A Fruit Tray and Oddly Enough, A Nap. In a men’s magazine, an ad showed what pure tranquility looked like with a close up photograph of a young father and son napping in a hammock. Real Simple magazine primarily extolled the importance of living a calmer, more enriched, and balanced life.

      For most women, however, the actual act of napping eludes us. Daily exhaustion and an urge for caffeine have nothing to do with age, but with how fast life is moving and the less-than-adequate sleep received each night. The body, a resilient system, can be recharged if given the chance, yet women always have something else to do.

      Many female poets and authors illuminate the importance of relaxation as a part of every woman’s daily life. Poet Emily Dickinson set an example for Victorian ladies and napped. Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, Isak Dinesen, Madeleine L’Engle, and Alice Walker affirmed a woman’s decision to rest in their peaceful, yet convincing prose.

      Decades of medical research support the body’s need for at least eight hours of sleep per night to repair and regenerate for the new day. Sleep studies also revealed that the midday dip in energy is natural. When we respond with a siesta, we give our bodies a chance to distress.

      Cultural Snapshots

      I spoke with international authors, business executives, and women from around the world and became more convinced this venerable napping tradition of many cultures is a good, healthy habit, one Americans should adopt for life. Ancient civilizations considered napping as normal as eating and drinking. Historians find traces of this daily habit as early as the fifth century B.C., when Asians, Athenians, Romans, and Egyptians delighted in the custom of afternoon sleep.

      Today, Spain, Latin America, China, India, and parts of the Middle East are still big napping territories. Most Europeans—except the Germans, our forefathers of the Protestant work ethic—usually snooze or relax in the middle of the day. For the Chinese, the age-old custom of xuixi, which means to rest, is practiced regardless of where they reside. If you try to reach a diplomat in the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. between noon and two in the afternoon, they will be doing what they have always done at this time—napping.

      In America, this act of self care is all too often a luxury of the rich, retired, kindergarteners or college students, or permitted only if ill. This downtown is something the American psyche desperately needs and wants. Women are the number one candidates for this well-deserved rest, but why aren’t we napping?

      …there is a luxury in being quiet in the heart of chaos, said author Virginia Woolf.

      I believe she is right.

      Where Are All the Napping Women?

      In my country of origin, South America, I never felt guilty about napping. In the United States, people think they should always be on the go, said Pilar Leslie, mother and senior care residence administrator from Rancho Santa Margarita, California.

      Most American women feel guilty about taking time for themselves. Others are frustrated from being interrupted by everyone—husbands, kids, friends, family, and neighbors—when they try to make time to be alone and those who do take naps reportedly have to protect their time and then must justify why they were sleeping in the middle of the day.

      The bright side of my survey was from those that indulged regularly in beautiful naps or made time to do other spirit-settling activities. They celebrated with an elegant tea party for one, read inspirational quotes or affirmations, meditated, practiced yoga, and lounged in a comfy porch chair just to watch the afternoon sky. Some relied on soothing music or wrapped up in a favorite blanket and did nothing but breathe. They have discovered how to slow their fast worlds for a few precious moments every day. We should applaud those who have adopted this healthy habit into their lives and then we should join them.

      The Men vs. Women Nap Factor

      Why do women tend to feel guilty about napping, but men do not? asked Pam Lee, mother and high school English teacher in York, Pennsylvania.

      Men have always created their own space without guilt and without permission. Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison frequently snoozed. Within the office of politics and world diplomacy, Sir Winston Churchill changed into his pajamas to nap and Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, also enjoyed his siestas. Former Presidents Johnson, Coolidge, Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush Sr. and Jr. opted for regular afternoon shut-eye sessions to combat their demanding schedules. Leonardo da Vinci credited for his increased creativity to the influence of a midday doze. Johannes Brahms purportedly worked on his famous lullaby around his nap each day.

      As our world moves faster, women keep adding more to their lives. Ozzie and Harriet are no longer the rule—in fact, they are fossils. Today’s Harriet endures a mad dash to the daycare center five days a week. Another source of stress is the lack of help around the house. Domestic duties still fall disproportionately

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