How many times in your life have you been asleep?
Quite a few I'd imagine when sleep is not around it can be easy to think of it as an enemy but it's not sleep is an old friend a natural process which we have all taken great advantage of in order to come to where we are without sleep we would not have been able to grow into adults without sleep we would not have been able to learn without sleep we would not have been able to work without sleep we probably would have died take comfort in the fact that sleep is a natural process and that although we all experience varying degrees of sleep quality throughout our lives when we're exhausted we will rest and this is why exercise is often recommended as an antidote for sleepless nights when we really deplete our energies the natural process will take over and indeed the imbalance that many of us experience in today's world in which the body does very little and yet the mind is overactive is very often the issue although exercise may work what's really important is that we relax and in recalling all of the good things that sleep brings and all of the times and many many times that we've enjoyed peaceful sleep can help us to greet it as an old friend babies sleep all the time it's only when the mind begins to form the thinking mind that is that we begin to have issues even babies who are described as bad sleepers actually sleep a lot of the time they just don't sleep when their parents want them to and perhaps their sleep is inconsistent of course when we're infants we have no concept of consistency and inconsistency as adults we find ourselves placing demands on sleep but being a natural process just like the rest of nature sleep knows not what a demand is and it has no idea whether it's fulfilling them or not so when we decide with the thinking mind I want to sleep between 11pm and 7am this is not heard by our old friend sleep this old friend has no obligation to us like every other natural process we can point to it's very much on its own agenda so what can we do about this?
Absolutely nothing there is nothing to be done to greet our old friend sleep just relax let that old friend invite itself in trust that it will come around and that like any other good friend you can pick up exactly where you left off having enjoyed a visit trust that this friend will visit again it will for even the most chronic insomniac this old friend will show up as much as it's welcome how does that chronic insomniac make sleep more welcome?
This person's focus need not be on the absence of sleep but rather on the enjoyment of relaxation and in such extreme cases it's wise to take up some method or practice what kind of method or practice?
A simple practice of mindfulness will be adequate to enjoy the sensations of the breath to see the mind when it wanders and celebrate but this is successful practice and then to return to the pleasant sensations of the breath this is a matter of skill development and like any other skill it requires practice over time we learn to relax and when we relax we can rest and when we rest our old friend sleep may just show up you
