Imagination Trumps Insomnia

All my life, I’ve been a really good sleeper. I credit my Dad and his bear-like ability to sleep anytime, anyplace, for as long as he likes. I love to sleep. I have a deep delight in dreaming, too, and my dreamscape is an important part of my creative inner world. I almost always get my desired eight hours of sleep.

That said, over the past couple of years, every couple of months I’ve had something odd happen. I’ll wake up, or be woken up, a couple of hours before my normal wakeup time. And I just won’t be able to get back to sleep. Not odd if you’re prone to insomnia, but definitely weird for me.

My mind will race, either with worries or just with wild thoughts. I don’t let it get to me, usually, but it does take at least half an hour to get back to sleep.

Until last night. My cat Merlin woke me, mewing to go outside. I was a bit concerned I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, so I started giving myself a little pep talk. I started thinking something along the lines of, “well, you already got up and brushed your teeth, did some yoga, wrote for a bit, and now it’s time to go back to sleep.” I have no idea what inspired me to do this, and in fact I hadn’t done any of those things. As far as why checking off items on an imaginary list would allow my mind to relax and return to sleep, yeah, well, I know why that works. Thank you, old patterns.

This happened a couple more times during the night. When I rose to the surface of wakefulness, my mind would come up with a list of things I’d already done. Of course, as I was still mostly in the dreamtime at that point, the things became more fanciful. “I already did my yoga, had tea with the tigers at the zoo, and danced for the prince of dawn.” I must have done virtual yoga at least three times last night!

The thing is, it’s a cool trick. And it works. Try it yourself, if you need to!


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