Naps!

In the early afternoon I have a hard time focusing. When I was in seminary, I had a "Ferris Bueller"-type teacher right after lunch, and in Texas everything is pretty much warm year-round. Suffice to say I gave up on being alert and simply tried to stay awake. But around 3:30 or so I'm back in the groove.

It's still hard for me to focus after lunch. No matter how much sleep I get the night before, or how much I exercise or how much/little caffeine I get, I wind up yawning at all that jazz. I've blocked out that time of day for tasks like returning e-mails or phone calls or going through the mail. No counseling. And DEFINITELY no studying for lessons or reading prep.

Why is it so awful in our culture to go for the 20-minute nap? I mean, the whole country of Mexico pretty much takes a siesta. Maybe there's something to early afternoon napping if it was good enough for DaVinci, Einstein and Churchill.

When did viewing sleep as a weakness come into fashion? One of the best times in kindergarten was right after lunch when you got the mats out and the teacher turned the light off. The elderly take naps, too. It seems that it's the years in between that lost the value of a good nap.

Maybe it's because Thomas Jefferson said that "Anyone who sleeps during daylight hours is a fool." Whatever the reason, when I become Grand Poobah of the World, we're all taking a siesta.