Sleep is essential to brain function. Staying up late to watch the next episode can be enjoyable, but not at the cost of brain functionality. The body and brain need a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep a night. As all functions in the body, it can take a week or more for the benefits of a proper sleep cycle to manifest so staying true to a sleep cycle is important.

Watch less TV. Television has a way of mesmerizing the mind. Even watching documentaries can act as hypnosis of the mind. Turn the TV off and find other means of entertainment. Make the act of turning the TV on difficult. Unplug the TV and put the cables in a part of the house that is far away. Put a book or something interesting closer and see what happens.

Put something difficult in your life path. Find a task or goal that is important to you and make it your secret passion. Voluntarily adding difficulties and responsibilities to your life is a sure way to light up brain activity and give a sense of accomplishment. This is even more important as we age. Those who stay young in the mind, stay engaged in life journey through hardship.

It is essential to sleep the right amount at the correct times to maintain a healthy brain. Humans are diurnal, meaning they are awake during the day. The human brain has evolved to secret chemical based on the type and quality of light present in the environment. Humans were most successful hunting crepuscular creatures during dawn and dusk and thus evolved the sleep cycles to match.

The development of technologies that produce false lights have led to the growth of the waking periods for human beings. The further development of television, computers and smart devices have saturated the environment with blue lights that trigger waking chemicals in the human brain thus further disrupting the sleep cycle.

Alcohol has been used as a weapon in recent history to destroy the lives of Native Americans by white settlers. The familial and societal effects of alcohol have been well known. Americans tried to ban alcohol siting the same reasons above (prohibition).

Alcohol is the excrement called ethanol made by microscopic organisms. Alcohol occurs in nature and can be found in rotting fruits. It is easy to naturally ferment and with the invention of distilling, alcohol is concentrated.

An argument could be made that natural occurring rotting fruit might contain enough alcohol for an enjoyable experience but enough remaining sugars to impact a winter diet scarce in resources. The draw to alcohol is obvious in the scenario.

Over the last fifty years, new meals and food pyramids have been pushed on the population for the sake of the bottom line. Unfortunately, these foods and proportions do not lead to a long, heathy life. Alas, that was not the goal of those pushing these ideas. Now the first world societies are suffering the consequences.

Here we focus on the right food that will maintain a lean, strong capable body for a lifetime. Above all, intermittent fasting is the key to resetting the body chemistry daily. Without intervals of abstinence from calories, the body is constantly producing insulin which leads to insulin resistance and ultimately diabetes. There is another side to that coin; muscle gain is practically impossible. This is because of the saturation of insulin in the body from constant food intake. Especially carbohydrates.

Taking advantage of The Hero’s Journey first takes understanding. See this journey in your everyday life. Notice what happens to you when you don’t have this journey. Notice in others the feeling of listlessness that can come from denying adversities in their lives. When we are younger, we make believe these journeys. We conjure them to express our built-in desires to be more than the sum of our parts. As we grow, these journeys have more roots in the world. Our action become apparent in the world. Adversity is around every corner.

As our lives unfold, we become methodical in our everyday. There is no more adventure to be had, it would seem. Even though we are experiencing life through The Hero’s Journey, we lack the self-imposed journeys. The challenges that come from a voluntary adversity. Here we focus on creating something worth striving for and dedicating ourselves to the task.

As children, we are embedded with beliefs from a genetic perspective. We believe parents to be our protectors and that there is safety in groups. As the brain develops, these beliefs are expanded allowing the cultivation of personalities and abilities.

This accumulation of beliefs creates personalities. Belief in abilities lead to the cultivation of abilities through a repetition on belief, trial and failure, belief and so on. In our youth, we take these beliefs for granted. They are all around us as we grow. The bolstering of these beliefs into reality comes from proof thru repetition. We prove these beliefs to be true to ourselves thus solidifying them in our perspectives. As we age, we lose sight of this power. We become rigid in our beliefs about ourselves and the world.