4.18.16 Renovating Sleep

 As we grow older, sleep becomes less of a mystery. We slowly get to know the terrain .  No, it does no good to feel foreboding or upset if we have a sense it may be difficult to settle tonight. 

     Yes, a number of difficult events happened today that we had no chance to help settle , so yeah, there is a good chance the stirred and unsettled will be sitting there, when we try to come in for a landing .
     Yup , it's a wise dynamic our bodies and minds have, of needing to digest experiences in order to settle ourselves into restorative sleep .
     Of course, too, many of us have the experience of the whole capacity to sleep snowballing into very little or no sleep .        And no matter how you cut the deck, that is a very difficult thing, which tends to exacerbate whatever our vulnerabilities already are.
     But to sweat when it's happening is to fuel the deal.
     So it's worth our while to learn how to not stir.
     To make time to invite the necessary difficulties to come up for listening and digesting earlier in the day .
     And remind ourselves out loud that perusing this stuff after 5 pm is not an option.
     And when we find ourselves seemingly heading toward bedtime, with a bunch of anxious passengers all riled up ,with no place to lie down and hush up for awhile ,
It's a lot like having no landing strip in sight for awhile , not at all what we'd choose.
     But hey, there's gas in the tank, a good book or sketch book or water colors by our side ...
     We have our various tricks up our sleeve to pull out at just the right time, in case they help lower the landing gear, help set our sights on the quickly approaching ground.
     And if none of that works well at this moment, we learn through trial , error , and useless suffering to cool out about it, not allow thoughts going round and round ( even if we're quietly lying in the dark).
     We sip our unsweetened Sleepytime tea, and stay away from electronics so our pineal gland can go find its way home.
     How many hours have I sat up on the sofa bed in the living room , in the silent darkness , sending thought after thought fleeing until daybreak.
     Learning to make sure to take the time during daylight next time.
     Leaning my head patiently on the arm, as I watch in wonder the earth , outside my broad living room window , over the hours slowly moving past different distant ageless stars.