Sleepless nights

"Don't try to solve serious things in the middle of the night." (Phillip Dick) from the blog -JacksWinningWords.blogspot.com. That is certainly good advice, but oft times hard to follow. Who hasn't awakened in the middle of the night in some sort of panic about something that you forgot to do or thinking about something that is upcoming the next day. Laying there and letting your mind race is a sure formula for a sleepless night. Since it's dark, one can't stare at their green dot (see posting for August 12) either; so, something else is required.

I find that letting some mindless little ditty or song loose in my mind tends to crowd out the thoughts about whatever was keeping me aware and it works wonders in getting back to sleep. Now you really do have to combine this with at least one or two rational thoughts along the lines of the above saying by Phillip Dick. If it's truly a serious matter, then I find that a little time in prayer usually helps, too. The short phrase "Not my will, but Thy will be done" works wonders for me. You'll have to find a prayer that works for you.

Mostly, the things that keep us awake are just things that one could worry about, but, not do anything about until the business day starts anyway. If what's occupying my mind is really something that I fear I will forget about in the morning, I may get up and write it down. The real goal, of course, is to clear your mind of the thoughts that are keeping you awake and to get a good night's sleep. Lately, I've found that the theme song from the movie The Sound of Music has the desired affect of pushing out other things and putting me back to sleep. You'll have to choose your own song, too.

The other thing that I've noticed is that the great ideas I may have had while lying there awake at might seldom seem quite as great in the light of day. I suspect that the semi-asleep state that one is in while lying there contributes to flights of fantasy that seem like good ideas at the time. Of course, if the issue keeping me awake is anxiety over some pending event or confrontation, those things just seem to grow and become much more serious in the darkness, sort of like the closet of anxieties in the cartoon Opus.

We all have our own anxieties, insecurities and daily worries; but, if you can develop some simple little coping mechanisms to help you block them out and get back to sleep, then the hills really will be alive with the sounds of music (or maybe that's snoring).