I sometimes find myself awake in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep. Usually, my thoughts are extremely restless and busy, as I try to figure out why I’m not sleeping*— Did eat too much before bed? I shouldn’t read Reddit at night. Was it the glass of wine? Then I start to (silently) complain, Why aren’t I sleeping? OMG I have to get up in four hours! I’m going to be so tired at class tomorrow! By this time, my thoughts are racing—remembering a movie scene and thinking delightedly, Richard E. Grant was the perfect Sir Walter Eliot, imagining my neighbor’s dog knocking over a candle and setting the apartment on fire and how I would save my cats by going out the fire escape and if that’s blocked how I would shout to a passerby and drop them out the window into a stranger’s arms in their carrier, and reminding myself that I must get to the farmer’s market early for the good tomatoes on Sunday.
It’s these restless thoughts—more than sleeplessness—that create the fatigue and exhaustion many of us experience after a night of insomnia. So, although it’s not possible to force yourself to sleep, it is possible to calm and steady your mind, bring peace to your body, and let yourself rest and recharge. If you can disrupt your thinking and let yourself relax, you’ll feel lighter and more at ease in the morning and throughout the next day.
Today’s meditation will help you shift your attention — away from fantasies and worries—to reconnect with yourself, share your blessings with others, and find freedom in this moment. We’ll use these metta phrases:
May I/you/we feel safe.
May I /you/we feel strong.
May I/you/we be free.
And we’ll take inspiration from this pith instruction:
"There is nothing in this world that is worth losing a night's sleep over, nothing."
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