A friend sent this photograph last evening and I just loved it!
I used to go to bed at night, letting my mind wander all over the place until I finally fell into a restless, fitful sleep. In those days, I always woke up still feeling tired. Sleep was necessary, but not refreshing or renewing. The more I began to focus my mind, especially right before I fell asleep, on good thoughts, the better I felt in the morning. Then I started to notice that important thoughts; new ideas and solutions to issues that I had been wrestling with, were almost being “presented” to me while I slept.
It’s odd that this part of us, the need for sleep, is looked upon by so many as a necessary evil. If we can’t figure out why we need the amount of sleep that seems to be right for us individually, then we somehow label it a weakness. I’ve heard people say with pride that they only needed 4 hours of sleep a night. As if the more hours we stay awake and alert, the better we are.
Something very important happens during sleep…some connection that is vital to our well-being in a way that is beyond scientific, rational explanation. But to reap the benefits, we need to drop the worries and concerns of the day and turn our selves over to the great healing and renewing power that is waiting for us, just below our conscious minds.
And if tonight my soul may find her peace in sleep, and sink in good oblivion, and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.
D. H Lawrence
