Sunday’s are my day of rest, . .  . if a physician ever really rests? I’m sitting out under the stars very late on this Sunday evening, into the wee hours of Monday morning.  (It’s our turn for flood irrigation at 2 o’clock in the morning).  But, I appreciate these times of solitude.  It is on Sunday’s that I’ve been able to work on twenty two life lessons (tough truths) that make life better. I do my best to treat Sundays as a “sacred” or “holy day,” a day of rest from my temporal labor, to contemplate the word of God, to pray & meditate, to participate in public worship and focus on where I am at in my personal spiritual development.

Yes, I know.  I’m a physician; and yet, I believe in God.

No, it is not a contradiction.  (I can already see my in-box filling up with agnostic castigation.)  Friends of mine claim atheism or agnosticism.  Yet in the day to day trenches of life, I find there is no real atheism. There is no such thing as not worshiping.  When it comes down to it, we all worship something.  We each have the choice of what we worship.  Worship being defined as giving adoration, reverence or homage to someone or something.

We have the choice of worshiping the God, a god (however you may define god), spiritualism, truth, ethical principles, nature, football, money, your body, someone else’s body, power, fame, etc.  You and I know this on a basic level, we just have to come to grips with what it is we hold on a pedestal, and to which we “pay homage.”

There comes a point, when one deals with life and death on a daily basis, that a person must question the very existence of God, and come to terms with who or what we actually pay homage.  I’ve sincerely asked that question . . . I’ll leave that story for another time.

It’s during my Sunday afternoons, that I’ve been able to contemplate and attempt to re-apply the “tough truths” of life that seem to challenge me.  So, instead of sharing some bacon with you this evening, I thought I’d share twenty two of the truths that I am working on improving in my life. (Though . . . they’re almost as good as bacon!)

Twenty Two Tough Truth’s that I’ve Learned & Had to Re-Learn in Life:

1. There is much about life over which we have absolutely no control. You cannot control everything that happens in life, but you can control how you respond.  Your response is your greatest power.  “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives, and everything to do with the focus of our lives.” (Russel Nelson)
2. It’s not about the cards you’ve been dealt, it’s about how you play the hand. (Randy Pausch)
3. W. C. Fields said, “Smile first thing in the morning and get it over with.”  My expectations often make me utterly unhappy.  Happiness is letting go of what you assume your life is supposed to be like right now, and sincerely appreciating it for everything that it actually is. 
4. In mortality, we will always be incredibly imperfect.  If you wait until you’re perfect before you share your stories, ideas, talents and gifts with the world, no one will ever hear from you.
5. A moment spent worrying is a moment wasted. Worrying will NEVER change the outcome.  Do more, worry less. Train your mind to see the lesson in EVERY situation, and then make the very best of it.  Liberating ourselves from our fears, automatically gives people the ability to do the same around you.  
6. The best lessons often come from the very hardest days.  If you are having a hard day, stand strong, there is a lesson here.  Sometimes you have to experience a low point in life to learn a good lesson you couldn’t have learned any other way. 
7. Success easily gets to our heads, and failure easily gets to our hearts.  Our true character is usually revealed at our highs and lows.  Be humble at the mountain top, steadfast in the valley’s and faithful in between. 
8. We often confuse being busy with being productive.  What you pay attention to grows.  So, focus on what truly matters and let go of what does not. “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” (Jim Rohn)
9. More money left un-managed just creates more problem.  Yes, we need money to live.  Earn it. Save it. Invest it. But, avoid spending money you haven’t earned, to buy things you don’t need, to impress folks you don’t even know. Manage your money so it doesn’t end up managing you. 
10. Most of us don’t need more to be happy – we need less.  When things aren’t adding up in life, begin subtracting.  Life gets much simpler when you clear away the physical and mental clutter that makes it complicated. 
11. Our fancy gadgets (phones, computers, tablets, radios, etc.) often get in our way and dehumanize us.  We all need to learn to be more human again.  Don’t avoid eye contact.  Don’t hide behind the gadgets.  Smile often.  Ask about people’s stories . . . And, then, listen.
12. We don’t always get what we give.  You will end up sadly disappointed if you expect people will always do for you as you do for them.  Not everyone has the same heart you do. 
13. Most arguments we have with one another are pointless.  Be selective in your battles. Peace in this moment may be better than being right. You actually don’t need to attend every argument into which you’ve been invited. “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every barking dog.” (Winston Churchill)
14. I’ve never met a strong and confident person with an easy past. Be grateful for your scars.  Be thankful for the emotional muscle and physical strength you gain from standing against the winds of life.
15. The only way to completely avoid pissing people off is to do nothing of importance. 
16. The true definition of “Hell” is to meet the person you could have become on your last day on earth. 
17. Just because you fell off the ketogenic wagon today, doesn’t give you license to drag it into the woods, set it on fire and use the insurance money to buy Twinkies. 
18. “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” (Mae West)
19. Ignoring your passion in life creates anxiety.  Ignoring the anxiety, creates panic and hopelessness. Never ignore what moves you. Mold your work around the lifestyle that brings you passion, don’t mold your passion around your career. 
20. The human body tends to move more or less in the direction of your expectations.  This is why it is so important to know that the attitudes of confidence and determination you feel and hold are just as much a part of your treatment program as medical science and technology.
21. The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those, who in times of great moral crises, maintained their neutrality. (paraphrased from Dante Alighieri)
22. A man would do well to carry a pencil in his pocket, and write down the thoughts of the moment.  Those thoughts that come unsought after in the moment are commonly the most valuable, and should be secured by recording them, . . . because they seldom return.  (Brigham Young)

Over the years, I’ve carried a leatherbound little notebook with me and I write down thoughts or quotes I hear into that little note book.  Among these thoughts and quotes I’ve collected, I’ve found that on Sundays, I can let my mind chew on them.

One of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that observing a weekly “day of rest,” or “holy day,” is that this behavior is one of the most important safeguards to health and wellness.  I’ve learned this from my personal experiences during periods when I didn’t observe the “day of rest” and periods where I have closely guarded that “day of rest.”  I’ve found that observing the Sabbath has truly become a “delight” as spoken of by the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah.

Science Demonstrates Importance of Day of Rest

What is fascinating, is that science has recently demonstrated how this works.  In early 2000, Marcus Raichle from Washington University demonstrated that the human brain demands 20 percent of the body’s energy and uses only 5-10 percent more when solving calculus problems, reading a book (or this blog post, for that matter) or writing a letter.  However, they noticed that some areas of the brain became notably less active when concentrating on a mental challenge, but fired synchronously when laying flat in an MRI scanner, allowing their thoughts to wander (1).

This was confirmed by a number of other researchers who noted that there was a coordinated communication between diverse areas of the brain when people were “resting.” This mysterious coordination between different parts of the brain during “daydreaming” has become known as the default mode network (DMN).  In the last few years, we’ve learned there are actually five different “resting state networks” that coordinate vision, hearing, movement, attention & memory. However, the DMN is the most researched and appears to be the most important.

Dr. Immordino-Yang reviewed the research on the DMN and found that downtime is an opportunity for the brain to make sense of what it has recently learned. It is during this “day of rest” that the mind coordinates unresolved tensions, conversations we had earlier in the week, re-writing verbal blunders, and practicing standing up to those that intimidate us.  Our minds shuffle through the neglected to-do lists and post-it notes on the mental refrigerator of our brain, searching for solutions and answers.  It moves back and forth through childhood scenes and futuristic adult hopes and dreams. It is during this time that our brain looks at the moral connotations of our performance with others (3).

Other research demonstrates that the mind solves very tough problems during this period of rest and day-dreaming.  You may have experienced something like this when you solve a problem while in the shower.  (I hate to admit it, but many of my problems get solved in the shower.)  When the mind isn’t actively working or learning something new, it can accumulate, memorize and rehearse recently learned skills, actually transcribing them onto new brain matter (4).  Recent research demonstrates that this recording of new memory and skill, called “sharp-wave ripples” actually occurs more often during “rest periods” than during sleep (5).

Meditation and the Day of Rest

Meditation and/or prayer have been shown to strengthen connections between regions of the DMN.  Those that observe a day of rest with meditation develop a more intricate wrinkled cortex, the outer layer of the brain that gives us the ability to perform abstract thought and introspection.  Meditation appears to increased both the volume and density of the hippocampus, the area of the brain essential for memory storage and the frontal cortex that allows us to control or rein in emotions.  Fascinatingly, meditation and observance of a “day of rest” slows the natural “wilting” of the brain regions required for sustained attention that normally withers as we age (6, 7, 8, 9).

How soon does observing a rest day or “keeping the Sabbath” become effective?  A number of studies show that noticeable changes occur within a couple of weeks.  More importantly, daily meditation has been show to be more effective in the long run than the total hours of meditation over one’s lifetime (10,11).

As a physician and a clinical hypnotherapist, I personally use and recommend daily meditation.  If you want a free copy of my self-guided meditation program for relaxation and weight loss, CLICK HERE.

Now, what I want to know, is does bacon intake during the rest day have any effect on the hippocampus, frontal cortex or wrinkle cortex?  I guess we’ll have to wait for that research to be completed.  In the mean time, check out my membership page to see what we do know about the use of fat and cholesterol does to help attention and energy.

References: