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Sleepless Nights
Anybody else have these. I usually don't have very many, but when I do they usually last for 3 or 4 nights. Nothing is on my mind or didn't eat anything out of the ordinary so I guess I will just suck it up and catch up on some reading or something. :mad:
Refusing to conform to the left wing mantra of political correctness by insisting on telling the truth does not make you a loud mouth.
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Several things to consider... As we all pretty much know, any stimulants prior to bed are not good (so no coffee or coke), as well as eating a large meal. A light snack is sometimes good for sleep however, unless it contains too much sodium or potassium (salted chips, stuff like that). Alcohol in small quantities can be okay, like one drink (no sugary mix) or a glass of wine. Beer has more liquid than is comfy however and the ol' bladder may object.
As for reading, if the book is too good your mind may get all racy and that will keep you awake longer. So a magazine, newspaper, or some easy short stories may be better than an intricate spy thriller. A dumb TV repeat might be fine, too.
Music, something soothing, regardless of the genre. For example, if CW, ballads, same for pop or rock. Jazz? Laid back piano is good. Classical? Haydn, Mozart, other composers from the classic period.
In other words, nothing too complex for the brain, whether it's food, reading, TV, or music.
Counting sheep might work for some here (I won't say who, ha ha) but actually any repetitive or "numbing" mental task can semi-hypnotize the brain a bit, getting your sleep endorphins working toward the big zzzz. I'm a bit of a math nerd, so for me, I sometimes try to remember the Fibonacci sequences. I might also recite to myself things like nucleotide pairs or physical constants like the Planck series. That sounds goofy and nerdy but really, anything to zone out the brain will work, you choose the topic. The old counting sheep is simply one mnemonic but it's never worked for me.
Now this sounds weird, but what also works for me is to concentrate on my physics reading and do what Einstein often imagined, considering what it would be like to "ride" on a beam of light. While I think of this, I consider how the time dilation works, and consider the relativity effect of being the moving observer and therefore seeing other things as moving and you being stationary. I said it was weird.
Oh, now what I'll do is to post a meditation I learned a long time ago, a meditation called "The Snowflake" that's a zen thing. It works to relieve stress, to ease minor pain, and to get to sleep. It sounds silly but if you understand the object of this meditation, to relax the mind, you'll see how it works.
Me, now being retired, I sleep in fits and spurts, same as my girlfriend who's also retired. So we'll end up going to bed for maybe 2-3 hours, getting up and reading or hitting the TV, dozing on the recliner or sofa, stuff like that, and we are doing fine. This of course won't work if you're stuck with a standard 8-5 schedule.
The Snowflake is a relaxing meditation that you can use to get to sleep, although it’s also good for just calming your mind.
Like all meditations, it’s a “trick” and therefore may sound a bit silly on reading. That’s okay. It works, which is the important thing. As you read through the exercise you’ll see the purpose of the story line and why each step is essential.
As you first try the exercise, you’ll be tempted to “skip ahead” in the steps to arrive at the end of the story line faster. That’s counterproductive because it’s the very process of going through the stages (or steps) of this meditation that creates the relaxing environment for your mind. Of course, as you become practiced, you may indeed find it possible to enjoy the benefits of The Snowflake technique without having to re-create each step in the story line. If that works for you eventually, so much the better. It indicates that your mind is already practiced to a degree.
But don’t skip the steps at first. Create each “scene” in your mind carefully, think upon it, take all the time you need to “fix” the scene in your imagination before you move to the next stage or scene. The process is all that really matters.
First, read through the story line until you know what you’re supposed to do at each stage without having to break your concentration and refer back to the text. It’s supposed to be performed in one long uninterrupted meditation. Also, if a part of the narrative doesn’t make sense to you, modify it a bit so that it seems reasonable. The entire story is a tool anyway, meant not to entertain but to place your mind at ease. Feel free to improvise just as long as you understand the basic methods at play here.
Sit or lie down and get comfortable. Don’t listen to music or have any other distractions ongoing. Close your eyes and begin…
The Snowflake:
There is an open field, a rustic field in the winter. Surrounding the field may be woodlands but there are no human habitations, no roads, no sign of people, wild animals, birds, other life. The field is unplowed and has lain fallow for a long time. The actual time period is uncertain – it could be modern times or it could be a thousand years ago. None of that matters – what matters is that you just consider the field.
All that you see is the open field in winter. The day is cloudy and not too bright and it’s not terribly cold. A snow is falling softly, gently. There is no wind, no noise at all, no blizzard or storm, just a gentle snow. Total quiet, only the softly falling snow, slowly, slowly falling upon the field. It’s as though the snow is part of the field itself and not foreign to it, as if the snow belongs to the field and is natural to be there. The only movement anywhere is the snow falling. Hold this image in your mind until you are content with the picture. The operative term here is “consider”, in that you “consider” the image in your mind. Realize that the term “consider” is somewhat passive as opposed to “think” which is more active, and zen is all about passive mental states.
Now, begin to “move” toward the middle of the field, all the time observing the snowfall around you. You don’t feel the cold because you’re not actually there, but the image is perfectly clear and sharp, surrounding you now that you’re moving toward the center of the field. The field is uneven but not rough, and the snow has covered everything by an inch or so. As you “move”, don’t try to actually walk or climb or physically stomp in the snow in your imagination, but instead just let your view float along.
Again, take the time for this moving scene to be well fixed in your mind. And also realize that each subsequent scene has to be clear and nicely “visible” to you before you proceed to the next step. This is the last “instruction” about what you’re supposed to do with the images, so for each successive scene or image, understand the process: take time to create the image clearly and focus on it with good concentration but without straining. Let it come naturally and it will – the creation of these scenes in your mind will become easier as you practice. What’s important is that you view or imagine these scenes as carefully as you can without becoming distracted by minute details. Just fill in the necessary things so that the image is well focused for you, then “consider” that image a while.
As your view moves toward the middle of the field, you come across an old abandoned well, an old fashioned well with a circular wall of rough stones just a few feet high, maybe ten feet across. The snow is continuing to fall. The snow is always falling, and you are always aware of this gentle snow, always. The top of the old stone wall has been covered somewhat by the snow. The well is abandoned and unused for many years, its roof gone, no bucket or rope or other wood structure, just the stone wall. And the snowfall.
The well isn’t deep, maybe twenty feet deeper than the surrounding ground. The well’s been dry and filled in for a long time. You now move to just above the well, centered above the old circular stone wall, and although you can see down into the well toward its snowy bottom, you’re not looking down, but sideways. You can see the snowfall continuing, across the top of the stone wall, out to the field beyond.
Now you begin to slowly descend and lower your view until you’re even with the top of the stones, and then you slowly lower again until you can no longer see the field, but are just seeing the inside wall of stones, visible to you because you’re inside the center area of the old well. You’re not dropping into the well but instead just slowly lowering your viewpoint.
Always, snow falling, always gentle snow. This is essential, to always consider the falling snow regardless of the other things in view. Now you can see the snow falling more easily because the snowflakes are falling past the nearby stones of the well wall. The snow doesn’t become faster, in fact it seems to be slower, slower, but always falling, falling, falling past the old stone blocks.
You are only seeing the snowfall and the old stone blocks, and the snow seems to fall again more slowly, gently, in total silence. Now move your mental focus out and away from the stone walls so that you no longer see the stone walls and instead, focus on just the snowflakes. They continue to fall silently, slowly, gently. The snowflakes fall past your viewpoint and now, all you can see is the snow, drifting down past your field of view, quietly, slowly.
Stay with the gentle snowfall for a while, the total lack of sound, lack of distractions, nothing else visible but the gentle drifting snow. Consider the snow and nothing else.
Now, focus on a single snowflake. Zoom in on the snowfall until only that single snowflake is there, drifting, drifting, drifting down. Drifting down in your view and drifting down inside your mind. Consider that snowflake only, nothing else. There is no sound, no distraction, nothing else visible but one single drifting snowflake.
And then, when you’re ready, take away the snowflake and simply consider the drifting…
when I wrote the text, I concentrated on repeating certain words, "snow falling, falling, falling" taking a hint from James Joyce at the conclusion of his great story "The Dead" where he uses the same technique to induce tiredness and weariness. And of course, the text makes these repeats because I want the reader to see that technique in action, and realize why it's necessary to focus on these key words "snow" or "falling" and insist on a totally placid and silent scene in the meditation.
It does work. Even if you laugh at it at first, it works.
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
Always happy to perform a public service, one chiropractor less to worry about...
And then, without any prior warning signals, I began to have strong hallucinations and periods where I was in a half-sleep before I fully woke.
My doc and I agreed, no more ambien. Thing was, parallel to this, I had lost a lot more weight, changed my sodium-laden diet, and began to breathe more easily, and after that, my sleep is deep and totally drug free.
I would like to get off the meds completely and have tried before. I take the proxac and buspar for anxiety due to an overactive mind. I have so far (15 years) been able to stick with lower doses. Although they completley curb the anxiety with the lower dose, my mind would still race at night, thus the trazodone. I generally take 1/2 dose of it and sleep just fine now. A full dose works really well, but I am somewhat "zombified" in the a.m.
I REALLY need to work on my overall health concerning eating habits...etc.. as you suggest, but for some reason, that is very difficult for me.
And then, when you’re ready, take away the snowflake and simply consider the drifting…[/QUOTE]
EUREKA!! I have found a new signature!!!
...Sam, any relation to Bob Ross?
I use a cpap also and will say that since I've been usung my machine I do sleep deep and restful. But I still go thru these stupid sleepless nights every so often but not like before without my cpap.
Oh well my wife says I'm being grouchy, so I told her not to talk to me and I wouldn't be so grouchy. Now its nice a quiet and I can get somethings done without being bothered! :tooth:
Wasn't he that guy who painted all those cloying landscapes? Kind of in the same category as those clown portraits or sofa-sized Walter Keane things? Or those Thomas Kinkade mass-produced monstrosities? Naw. The soporific text is just a tool for mild self-hypnosis, atypical totally of my own writing.
Below is my type of writing, in fact written just yesterday, from my new novel:
CAUTION!! DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU ARE QUEASY OR UPSET BY GRAPHIC TEXT!!
What remained of the young woman’s torso lay partly on the bed and draped off to the thinly carpeted floor. It took a moment for me to orient the body position, shoulders on the floor, hips toward the bed because the head was missing and the legs and arms butchered, angles badly distorted from what was once human.
Her intestines were strung across the bookshelves, random body parts sitting with diabolical neatness, centered on countertops and the desk. Pieces of her skin, bones, flesh, organs covered the room, walls, even the ceiling. I could maybe make out a foot and a hand and then my brain refused to further catalog this obscenity, instead blurred it over. So I simply pretended to look elsewhere.
“Who was she?” I finally managed to whisper.
I know you're just joking, but I'm sure you know that alcohol suppresses the vagus center where REM sleep originates, so it may put you to sleep but it can also prevent getting the needed deep sleep. It's not a good fix for anything but short duration sleep problems.