"And now my beauties, something with poison in it."
I love to sleep. I could sleep 12 hours every single night and never get tired of it. :-)
In all my life, there has only been one year where I did not sleep well consistently. And that year is over. I am back to loving bedtime and all the things that go along with it.
It isn't just the night-time ritual I love, though. I truly see sleep as a time of healing. Whether our brains are overworked from too much work, not enough work, hard work, or working hard at something not even related to work, the truth is you cannot run an engine 24x7 without a little maintenance, and sleep allows an overworked engine to cool down slowly and completely. If we are not getting enough sleep (granted, 12 hours may seem excessive to some), our brain will overheat and the pistons will seize.
In fact, I recommend sleep to anyone who is confused or upset. This may seem counterproductive - you have a problem to solve, just how is sleep gonna help you do that? Trust me. When you wake up, your brain will re-engage without all the heat and friction that was blocking you from solving the problem in the first place.
I'll say this, though, to those of you who are thinking I'm bonkers: There is a time for doing a Rip Van Winkle, and there is a time where sleeping for 100 years is masking a deeper issue. If you truly go to sleep thinking that, if you sleep long enough or just refuse to get out of bed, your problem will go away, then you need to get some professional help. Sleep is a chance for our bodies and minds to relax, unwind, rejuvenate. Sleep is not some magical spell that will transport us from a world of problems to a world with none.
That's what pot is for.
posted by wood_song at 11:08 AM
11 Comments:
i'm reminded of a line from Shakespeare that "sleep knits the ravelled sleeve of care"...i've always loved that phrase...
11:46 AM
I love the sound of that.
I should confess, here, that I actually don't know if pot does that. For a product of the flower power era (and even being from LA), I am woefully ignorant of the use of and reason for illegal drugs.
1:40 PM
There is an Irish proverb: "A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures."
Personally I love my bed too much to waste all of my time in it sleeping. And no, I'm not just talking about the mixing of body juices. What I really like is that time between being woken by the impending alarm (I nearly always awaken just before the alarm goes off), and when I have to finally drag myself out of bed, usually at the behest of my swollen bladder. This is when I plan my day and put the world to rights.
What I dread is the time before Morpheus claims me; the anxious waiting for that sweet oblivion.
Our dear author has it only partially right when she talks of sleep's ability to reboot the hardware and allow the problem solving circuitry to reprime. I find that I often solve problems in my sleep; the answer comes to me unbidden in the morning. Restless nights are the product of intractable problems or problems whose causes are outside our remit.
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep
BTW The full Shakespeare quote (from Macbeth) is:
Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep,’ the innocent sleep
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.
3:55 PM
I love sleep. I love my bed. I love my pillows. I love my big down comforter. I love my sheets. Mmmmm. I love sleep... Thank you for this post.
7:14 PM
LOL! Father, I take the first bed, but without yoga-man. And please, you never sleep. Ever.
Anonymous, right back at you. Pillow-top mattress, soft lighting, 450 count cotton sheets. A few stretching exercises - legs, arms, back.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm...
9:18 PM
Ooh, ooh, Shakespeare! I wanna join.
"To die, to sleep-
to sleep-perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub,
for in that sleep of death what dreams may come
when we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
must give us pause."
I'll see your 450-count cotton and raise you a pair of the softest t-shirt material sheets ever.
2:30 AM
LOL! You would win that hand. Those are AWESOME sheets!
The good Father should try them. Perhaps he would sleep a few more than the average four hours he currently does...
7:24 AM
Feck t-shirt material sheets! How about a bed of real skin, preferably still attached to young (or not so young) nubile female flesh? I may not sleep well, but my dreams would be oh so ever pleasantly wicked.
Be not afeard: the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That, if I then had wak’d after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I wak’d
I cried to dream again.
12:05 AM
Why do they advertise it in pink if it's only available in green?
9:36 AM
Fr. A.S. Houle didn't think my t-shirt sheets were soft. In fact, they were so uncomfortable to him that he left my bed to sleep on the couch.
9:40 PM
PS The Freudian slip to end all Freudian slips:
I read the last two lines of fr. aiken formore's post, and thought it said, Ready to drop upon me; that, when I wak’d
I tried to cream again.
9:45 PM
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