sleep

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Spell a Day – Jan 30th 2016

Sleep is important to us all. If you are anything like me, you feel that you don’t get enough and sometime spend more time sleeping then you should because you have things to accomplish. I think the important part of sleeping is to get quality sleep, not necessarily quantity sleep. Personally, I have nights where I sleep barely 4 hours and feel fantastic. Other nights I can barely drag myself out of bed after 6 or 8. I have mentioned before how my wife hates that I can fall asleep so quickly.

I think part of it has to do with one’s mindset when you go to sleep. I find that the nights that I cannot put to rest the work and worry of the day, or the next day, then I toss and turn and sleep very poorly. If I can clear my mind and find some peace in sleep, I am rewarded with vivid dreams (Some waiting to be spun into short stories/novellas, or even full length Novels or series of novels). As the cliche goes, one must find your happy place before sleeping, in my humble opinion.

I encourage all of you, my Gentle Readers, to find someway to get the quality sleep required to keep your minds in top form. Share anything you like in the comments. Tips, tricks, funny anecdotes and stories. I look forward to reading them.

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Spell a Day – Jan 10th 2016

SleepDream

Today we are suppose to talk about dreams. The picture is our bigger dog, Moose. He is taking a little nap on the couch as there was nothing going on this day. He gets a little squirmy when he is bored.

To dream, at least the dreams we are to talk about today, one must be asleep. I don’t know about all of you my gentle readers, but Sleep can be a fickle mistress for sure. There are weeks where I am lucky to get 4 hours of sleep. There are times I have such vivid dreams that I have trouble waking up. It is where many a poem or story idea has come from. Now if I could just get them all down on paper I would have at least a dozen books on the market right now.

I have tried everything to get to sleep, even blending up special teas from ingredients known for helping one sleep. The best method I have found for falling asleep fast is merely to focus on breathing and willing my muscles to relax. My wife is driven nuts by my ability to fall asleep by controlling my breathing. I guess it is a form of meditation but I never studied meditation too deeply. I have trouble quieting the voices in my head for that, unless I am trying to fall asleep, then they just wait to attack my dreams.

I found an older poem I never shared with all of you on here that talks about sleep and dreams. I had a severe cold and sleeping with a stuffed nose is no fun. If you have never experienced that, count yourself lucky.

No Sleep
Head full of cotton
No rest for me on this night
A sinus clogged death

Eyes are wide open
Staring at the clock all night
No restful dream sleep

What is there to do
No pill works in the slightest
To end my torment

The quiet taunts me
As sleep eludes my doomed grasp
Until morning comes

 

Feel free to share your sleep deprivation remedies in the comments and see you next time.