Early to Bed, Early to Rise

A goal that I will fight like a lion for, starting from right now, is to be early to bed, and early to rise.

The consequences for breaking this pattern, and making this pattern in my life has been as night and day! I don't think I have words adequate enough to express how much I want this habit!

Although, one way I could attempt such, is to list all the blessings that are recorded in Randal A. Wright's article in the July 2015 Ensign, titled "Filled with Life and Energy."

Here they are:

• "your body and mind will become rested and then in the quiet of those early morning hours, you will receive more flashes of inspiration and insight than at any other time of the day."

• "...receive more assistance in the early morning hours than at any other time of the day."

• "I have also learned that actions traditionally associated with receiving revelation like prayer, scripture study, fasting, temple attendance, and service are greatly enhanced when I go to bed early and get up early."

• More than 5 mentions of inspiration/revelation received at an improved level.

• "Cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated" (D&C 88:124).

• "Invigorate means 'to fill with life and energy.'"

• "It is well to be up before day-break, for such a habit contributes to health, wealth and wisdom" (Aristotle).

• "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise" (Benjamin Franklin).

• "...longevity..."

• "...health benefits."

• "One of the great reasons, I am sure, why President McKay has lived to such a good, ripe, and vigorous old age has been the fact that as a young man he developed habits of retiring to bed early, arising early, generally before sun up, when his mind was clear and his body vigorous, to do the day's work" (Ernest L. Wilkinson).

• "...mental and emotional health."

• "To those who feel defeated and downtrodden, look to the early hours of the day for your rescue."

• "A study conducted by researches at Brigham Young University looked at the effect of several variables-such as exercise, nutrition, and sleep habits-on students' grade point average (GPA). The researchers found that of all the variables,'the largest relative effects on semester GPA'", and that would apply to the ATAR (for high school students) and WAM (for Australian uni students.

• "...knowledge acquisition."

• "I counsel our children to do their critical studying in the early hours of the morning when they're fresh and alert, rather than to fight physical weariness and mental exhasustion at night. I've learned the power of the dictum, 'Early to bed, early to rise'" (President Boyd K. Packer).

• "The world is a more beautiful place early in the morning. Life is so much more calm. Much more can be accomplished in a shorter amount of time" (Elder Joe J. Christensen, and Barbara Christensen).

• "If you go to bed at 10:00 and get up by 6:00 a.m., things will work out for you" (President Gordon B Hinckley).

• "...more I get accomplished in a day when I retire early and arise early."

• "When we win the first battle of the day against the mattress, we are far more likely to win more battles during the day."

• "We are... more likely to be filled with life and energy."

So don't mind me... I'm getting some early sleep tonight.