The two things keeping you awake

How are you sleeping at the moment, dear Reader?

If the answer is “Like a baby, thanks Giles,” then you can skip this one.

Otherwise, grab yourself a hot cup of cocoa, snuggle up warm and read on…

😴

You see, I’ve had a few conversations about sleep with clients recently, and as a result, the issue has crystallised for me.

Keeping it simple—because, as Syd Banks said: “Look for simplicity. Simplicity holds the key you’re looking for”—I’ve come to see that there are basically only two reasons for not sleeping.

Either:

1. We mistake thought as being helpful, or
2. We mistake thought as being harmful.

See? Simples.

🤷🏻‍♂️

In the former case—seeing it as helpful—we’re going to keep ourselves awake all night by paying attention to it. Delving into it. Having arguments with people in our heads. Trying to solve problems. Fretting. Analysing.

If it looks like you’re going to get stuff sorted, by lying there thinking… then that’s what you’re going to do.

Instead of sleeping 🤦🏻‍♂️

In the latter case—seeing it as harmful—we get really freaked out by it; scared by the stories it makes up about tomorrow and the day after and the day after that. And we spiral a bit.

Or, as we lie there, tossing and turning, we think we’ve identified what’s happening as being “unhelpful thought” and so we try really hard to do battle with it; meditate it away; resist it; fix the problem.

But it’s sneaky so we don’t notice that all of that involves… [drum roll please 🥁] … more thought!

😬

The fact is, that thought is neither harmful or helpful, it’s completely neutral.

Thought just is.

Or, if it helps, let's flip it:

1. Recognise thought as harmless (it’s not made of anything; it can’t harm you)!
2. Recognise thought as helpless (i.e. the mind’s gonna do what the mind’s gonna do; it’s trying to help, in its own special way, and there’s nothing to be done about that).

The observant among you will note that these two things (=duality) are in fact just ONE thing: your relationship with thought. How you see it.

Change that and your life changes completely… sleep ’n’ all.

😲

I just wrote an article on sleep for the Focus Magazine, and in it I concluded:

“Sleep is the most natural way that life looks after you.”

And really, it’s only the fact that the mind doesn’t know that, that has it intervening in the first place, trying to do all the jobs that sleep—and life—does for us in the background.

But on some level, YOU know that.

And that’s the direction to look in, for a good night’s sleep.

💟

Giles

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