Not sleepiing is for sissies I like mineral water and sleeping. Anything with bubbles—Perrier, S. Pellegrino, no name, President’s choice, as long as it bubbles in your mouth. Sleeping is a different story—much pickier. I used not to sleep, having trouble falling asleep, or at least sleeping fitfully, with the awareness that I was awake. Not funny. I used to dread to lie down, tired but dreading the moment that sleep would not come, with me willing nothing else but sleep. The story is fairly common. And the trick counterintuitive. Open your eyes and keep them open; think deliberately about something, something physical with surfaces, details, knobs—not feeling, not ideas, but something physical and concrete. Get up and stop thinking about wanting to sleep. And by all means, do not take anything over the counter. It does not work, it actually has a rebound effect: you don’t sleep and the next day you sleep on your feet while awake. A nurse taught me a trick. Visualisation. With your eyes wide open. You have to get out of your mind and get into your body. And keep those eyes open. You are on a beach, the sky is blue and there is a slight breeze. It is warm. Feel the warmth on your skin. Feel how it feels to be warm. Enjoy the warmth. Your feet are bare. You walk on the warm sandy beach, one foot after the other, one foot after the other, and every time you feel each grain of sand between your toes, warm and dry, one foot after the other. You walk on the beach, and you feel warm and good, not excited, calm; and you walk on, slowly, thinking about each of your feet, the palm slowly touching the sand, warm and dry, and continue to walk. There is a boat waiting for you at the dock, and you continue to walk towards that boat that is waiting there for you, only for you. . It could be Spirit of Cedar Lake. It can be your favourite boat that you build piece by piece. There is no hurry. Open your eyes and look at the boat. Keep on walking and thinking at those palm on the warm sand. The boat has been brought there for you. It is for your enjoyment. And you keep on walking towards your boat. Calmly, with the sun and the sky. The boat is there now. You bring three of your favourite people on the boat. You have to choose three companions on the boat, not family, not friends, not somebody you feel you have to take on that boat that is there all for you. And you start choosing who do you want on the boat for a happy voyage into the sea, under a blue sky and a nice breeze. And then you have to think of three things you have to bring, nothing that you have to bring, but three things you really want to bring for you own enjoyment. And you think at each one of them, why this and not that. If you are still awake then, there is another section to the story, but likely you have fallen asleep if you have taken the time to savour your body on the beach and not just thinking about the idea of the beach. You have to feel that beach with your feet at each step, under the warm sun and the blue sky. Following this great story I discovered my own visual story. With a large budget of money and time, I would open my eyes wide in the dark and start rearranging the space of my home: visually and physically, meter by meter, wall by wall slowly and with great pleasure, create the most fantastic space possible with what I had: move this wall, tear this down, paint this, add a solarium, add a floor a door... Sleeping takes work. It does not just happen. You have to take it by surprise. Not sleeping is for sissies. It is so old hat and hardboiled.
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Not sleepiing is for sissies
I like mineral water and sleeping. Anything with bubbles—Perrier, S. Pellegrino, no name, President’s choice, as long as it bubbles in your mouth. Sleeping is a different story—much pickier.
I used not to sleep, having trouble falling asleep, or at least sleeping fitfully, with the awareness that I was awake. Not funny. I used to dread to lie down, tired but dreading the moment that sleep would not come, with me willing nothing else but sleep. The story is fairly common.
And the trick counterintuitive. Open your eyes and keep them open; think deliberately about something, something physical with surfaces, details, knobs—not feeling, not ideas, but something physical and concrete. Get up and stop thinking about wanting to sleep. And by all means, do not take anything over the counter. It does not work, it actually has a rebound effect: you don’t sleep and the next day you sleep on your feet while awake.
A nurse taught me a trick. Visualisation. With your eyes wide open. You have to get out of your mind and get into your body. And keep those eyes open. You are on a beach, the sky is blue and there is a slight breeze. It is warm. Feel the warmth on your skin. Feel how it feels to be warm. Enjoy the warmth. Your feet are bare. You walk on the warm sandy beach, one foot after the other, one foot after the other, and every time you feel each grain of sand between your toes, warm and dry, one foot after the other. You walk on the beach, and you feel warm and good, not excited, calm; and you walk on, slowly, thinking about each of your feet, the palm slowly touching the sand, warm and dry, and continue to walk. There is a boat waiting for you at the dock, and you continue to walk towards that boat that is waiting there for you, only for you. . It could be Spirit of Cedar Lake. It can be your favourite boat that you build piece by piece. There is no hurry. Open your eyes and look at the boat. Keep on walking and thinking at those palm on the warm sand. The boat has been brought there for you. It is for your enjoyment. And you keep on walking towards your boat. Calmly, with the sun and the sky.
The boat is there now. You bring three of your favourite people on the boat. You have to choose three companions on the boat, not family, not friends, not somebody you feel you have to take on that boat that is there all for you. And you start choosing who do you want on the boat for a happy voyage into the sea, under a blue sky and a nice breeze. And then you have to think of three things you have to bring, nothing that you have to bring, but three things you really want to bring for you own enjoyment. And you think at each one of them, why this and not that.
If you are still awake then, there is another section to the story, but likely you have fallen asleep if you have taken the time to savour your body on the beach and not just thinking about the idea of the beach. You have to feel that beach with your feet at each step, under the warm sun and the blue sky.
Following this great story I discovered my own visual story. With a large budget of money and time, I would open my eyes wide in the dark and start rearranging the space of my home: visually and physically, meter by meter, wall by wall slowly and with great pleasure, create the most fantastic space possible with what I had: move this wall, tear this down, paint this, add a solarium, add a floor a door...
Sleeping takes work. It does not just happen. You have to take it by surprise. Not sleeping is for sissies. It is so old hat and hardboiled.
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