God and willpower

[AndyDT]

If I want to get up earlier and pray but it doesn't happen because I go back to sleep then how is it that God supersedes willpower? Surely God expects us to use willpower if not worship it?

I aim to get up at 5:30 but with the Xmas holidays it's been difficult somehow. I've been getting up around an hour later on average despite visualising. I have an affirmation, maybe I should use that more.

Wayne Dyer gets up at 3:30-4am, Margaret Thatcher had 5 hours sleep per night, Condoleeza Rice had 4 hours apparently, Geoff Thompson gets up at 5am. I've read about a house wife who became a novelist who gets up at 4, reads a bible writes a journal, exercises, answers emails at 6am them works from 10-4pm writing. I suspect at least three of these pray but there's iron will there as well.

Surely will-power, affirmations etc are more important than just praying?

[hefdaddy42]

I don't understand what you're talking about.  God doesn't impose his will on your will.  If you say you want to get up early, but you don't, then your willpower isn't strong enough to do so.  All of the people you listed have very strong amounts of willpower.  You seem to have answered your own question, insofar as I understand it.

[TheVoxyn]

I don't really get it either. God wants you to pray so he makes it better for you to get up in the morning? Seems a bit silly.

And I don't think it's only willpower. Getting up very early in the morning also seems to be a bit about conditioning and just how you feel when you wake up. Also, some people just need more/less sleep than others.

[SixDegrees]

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[rumborak]

I also don't see the point in comparing yourself to such high-strung people who are so wired that they only sleep 4 hours a night. It's certainly not healthy, and as they say, different strokes for different folks. I for one need my 9 hours, flat out.

rumborak

[Ħ]

Confusing question.

If you are trying to find time to pray, then just do it constantly thoughout the day when you can.

If you are asking if God imposes his will over man's will...well, that's just simply not true based on real world examples, like war.

[jsem]

I don't think it's healthy for any1 to get less than 6 hours of sleep.

[j]

Go to bed earlier.

-J

[sonatafanica]

If someone woke me up early every morning so that I could apologize for being human and thank them for shit that happened because of my own actions anyway, I would probably punch them square in the mouth.

[Jamesman42]

What a way to falsify the tone of the situation.

[sonatafanica]

Ah, no humor on this side of the forum. Gotcha.

[kirbywelch92]

Ah, no humor on this side of the forum. Gotcha.

I wouldn't say that, just no humor in your post.

[Jamesman42]

Ah, no humor on this side of the forum. Gotcha.

Maybe I should have just said "notsureifseriose.jpeg".

[AndyDT]

I've heard it said that prayer is more powerful than willpower and don't worship willpower. However, I intuit (which somebody else has said IS God talking to you) that I should use willpower having prayed. So the middle ground seems to be right for me, rather than one versus the other i.e. use both.

The people I mentioned pack their days full of things like meditation, exercise, writing, other engagements and as I say reading, journals etc. Maybe that is the answer but I think it still needs both prayer and will-power.

[AndyDT]

Go to bed earlier.

-J

That was the first thing I did. The examples shown though suggest you can reduce the amount of hours you need. I don't want to take it below 6 personally, although I do 5 occasionally if necessary. Again I think prayer and willpower is needed to put it in your subconscious and make the effort.

The "effort" needed I've found comes down to fear - fear of others, fear of tiredness, loneliness. The same thing in different guises.

[rumborak]

That was the first thing I did. The examples shown though suggest you can reduce the amount of hours you need.

No, that's not what they suggest. In any case, how do you know this stuff is even correct? Statements about people always get blown out of proportion. Who know, maybe Condoleeza Rice once said "Ugh, I haven't slept more than 4 hours per night in the last week because of my constant jet lag. Stupid traveling." Give it a few years and you'll find the myth that Rice regularly sleeps 4 hours per night.

rumborak

[AndyDT]

Dyer talks about it in his audios. Thatcher routinely had 5 hours sleep according to numerous accounts. The 4am woman I read about in a successful book - she apparently went to bed at 10am getting 6 hours. Admittedly Thatcher had "naps" throughout the day which probably would allow this but I think most people can reduce it by an hour or two.

[SixDegrees]

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[7StringedBeast]

Sleep as much as you need or that you can get in order to have a day where you aren't feeling tired or crappy because of lack of sleep.  Pray upon waking up, or whenever you feel like it while awake.  Problem solved.  Right?  Pray in the shower or something, kill two birds with one stone.

[AndyDT]

Dyer talks about it in his audios. Thatcher routinely had 5 hours sleep according to numerous accounts. The 4am woman I read about in a successful book - she apparently went to bed at 10am getting 6 hours. Admittedly Thatcher had "naps" throughout the day which probably would allow this but I think most people can reduce it by an hour or two.

But why do you want to? If it's a matter of packing more into the day, it's not guaranteed to work - your attention span, short term memory and reaction times will suffer if you cut down on the sleep you need. What you do get done will probably be poorer quality, and you may not even get any more done as you'll likely slow down.

Andy, if you don't mind me asking, why the relentless drive for self-improvement (which I've seen in several threads of yours)? Developing yourself is very meritable, but not at the expense of enjoying life.

I'm talking about packing in more hours in a manageable way. When I've come from 10-12 hours to 6 and a half and felt regularly /more/ energised, you'll forgive me at being suspicious of any advice like that.

In answer to your second point, I think that when you're not growing, or at least looking for the easy life, you're withering. Or at least that's what I definitely can relate to.

[SixDegrees]

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[eric42434224]

If you simply just did the things you aspire to, instead of studying and over-analyzing them in a paralyzing way, you would have plenty of time to get a nice 8 hours and have time left over for recreational activities.

[rumborak]

Andy, what about being a normal human being, not one who sleeps for 4 hours, not one who subscribes to any kind of New Age stuff he reads and wants to implement? I sleep 9 hours per day, and I'm doing mighty fine with my life. If you have the impression your life isn't giving you enough of what you would like, less sleep most likely isn't going to fix that.

rumborak

[AndyDT]

I'm talking about packing in more hours in a manageable way. When I've come from 10-12 hours to 6 and a half and felt regularly /more/ energised, you'll forgive me at being suspicious of any advice like that.

In answer to your second point, I think that when you're not growing, or at least looking for the easy life, you're withering. Or at least that's what I definitely can relate to.

Re. your first point; that doesn't surprise me. I feel horrible if I sleep for more than 8 hours, and I genuinely feel quite energetic after one or two 4-5hr nights. But I can't keep that up, and I know my performance suffers during the day even if I do feel better. So I'd caution you to be wary of chasing that energised feeling, as you can end up being quite exhausted without realising.

I agree it's important to always listen to your body.

Re. your second point; I agree that self-development is important, and I can relate to you feeling as if you have to constantly be working on something about yourself. I'm much the same. But I feel it has to be balanced with relaxation, or else there wouldn't be much fun in life. I feel good about myself when I work to improve some aspect of myself, but it's not fun the way kicking back with a new DT album is.

Sometimes it seems from your posts that you spend so much time trying to be better, you can never stop to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Hopefully that's a wrong impression.

I find these days that the growth is the fun especially if its related to what I want to do. If I need balance what works for me is definite relaxation (sleep, meditation), serving and socialising, good exercise.

[AndyDT]

I'm scorecarding it and taking an average at the end of the week, along with a few other metrics. It's recommended if you want to improve on something.