Rhythm And Rick Rubin
According to Science DAILY, “A circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle in the physiological processes of living beings, including plants, animals, fungi, and cyanobacteria.” While many believe this rhythm is generated internally, it can be influenced by external sources like sunlight and temperature.
Why do some people do their most creative work in the middle of the night? What makes someone get up at dawn ready to get after the day? We’ve all fallen prey to labeling ourselves a night owl or morning person. Can someone change the way they are wired to optimize health, creativity, and other personal goals? Record producer Rick Rubin talks about how changing his circadian rhythm actually improved his health. Rubin was a self-professed night owl that learned to embrace mornings with game-changing effects.
Years ago, I was up earlier than usual to get ahead of traffic for a meeting. Using the quiet early hours unproductively, I was flipping through Facebook. I ran across a post for Deepak Chopra’s 21-day Meditation Challenge. During the 21-day period, Deepak Chopra posts 8-10 minute guided meditations each day. I’d read a bit about meditation and had been intrigued by it, but never managed to dig in. Following some vein of intuition, I quickly signed up before racing out the door to enjoy the comforts of GA-400 traffic. After my morning meetings, I returned to finish the day from my home office. It’s not in my nature to shy away from anything with the word challenge in it.
I logged into the Deepak Chopra site and downloaded the first guided meditation. I found some headphones, put them on, hit play, and closed my eyes. During the first few minutes, I found myself in between giggling and thinking about the results of someone walking into my office during my experiment. Though I tried really hard to move beyond them, these juvenile and ego-protecting reactions stayed with me during the entire 10-minute session. I wasn’t naive enough to expect exponential results from a single session, I was intrigued enough to continue the experiment. Before I knew it, I completed the 21-day challenge with tangible results. I actually looked forward to the time when I focused on nothing more than my breathing and a single word. Going through the process taught me that I never had an off switch. Now I do. Immediately after the challenge, I purchased the series of guided meditations and made time for them every morning. If I missed a day, I could definitely feel the lack of focus and a shorter fuse crept back in. I found something that would be the catalyst to create my morning rituals, which I’ve been holding to years.
Just as Rick Rubin found his way out of being a night owl into a new rhythm of embracing the morning, my night owl badge was ceremoniously removed.
