Sleep is a mysterious business. It seems like time out from life, time when not much is happening. Yet my feeling is that growth and healing really take place during sleep. It is a time when the controlling mind is out of the picture and processes which we know not of can take their course, unhindered by the inefficient bumbling of the thinking mind. It is during sleep that we integrate the day’s experiences into our being. It is through sleep that we are revitalised, rejuvenated, ready for a new day.
I used to sleep a solid eight hours or more every night but something changed, about a year ago. Since then, I have been sleeping perhaps four or five hours each night. After that I awaken, yet the physical body feels in need of a little more rest, so I lie contentedly in bed. Sometimes my consciousness enters a state somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. Then strange, lucid dreams come to me. These dreams are as implausible as ordinary dreams, yet I am fully aware that I am dreaming. Furthermore, I am never in the dream, I am always observing it as one would watch a movie.
I mention all this because, whilst staffing on the Path of Love, one night my sleep was normal: For the first time in a year, I slept for about eight hours and I had a normal dream. By that I mean that I was an actor in the dream and I was not aware that I was dreaming. It was a dark and disturbing dream. Even in the dream I felt disturbed. Yet in the morning I felt refreshed and later that day I had the “holy shit” realisation which I wrote about in the previous blog entry.
Since the Path of Love, I have been sleeping all night, without any dreams as far as I know. It feels like my being is absorbing and integrating the energy and experiences from that intense week. It is a reminder that after intensely transformative experiences, we need to have some quiet time, time to digest, time to sleep.
Sweet dreams!
