Day 3736: Empty

Last night, on an empty-stomach walk before dinner, my husband Michael and I discussed

• how the new toilet’s fill tank stays empty too long after flushing,
• our lives that are thankfully not empty of wonderful people and cats, and
• politicians (including speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy) who seem empty of integrity, honesty, and a soul, which made me think of the The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot.

I don’t want this blog post to be empty of poetry, so here’s that poem:

Do you see any things that are empty in my images for today?

There are a lot of empty conspiracy theories out there, spread by empty people.

I’m sure that YouTube is not empty of “empty” videos.

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This is the way my blogs end, this is the way my blogs end, this is the way my blogs end, not with a bang but a thank you.

Day 2170: How to get back to sleep in the middle of the night

If, like me, you often wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep, try this before you go to bed:

1. Identify what might preoccupy your mind if you did wake up in the middle of the night (like challenging relationships, unfinished business, politics, heath issues, the holidays, ghosts of the past, the news, an upcoming event, money, food,  your inadequacies, ugliness, global warming, animals, conspiracy theories, etc.).
2. Write down one achievable action for each one.
3. If you can’t identify an achievable action, acknowledge that the situation is beyond your control.
4. Go to sleep.
5. When you wake up, remember that you’ve got plans that won’t work in the middle of the night, so there’s no need for your brain to engage.
6. If your awake-in-the-middle-of-the-night brain comes up another issue you didn’t anticipate, put it on the list of “Things to Do Tomorrow.”
7. Go back to sleep.

I hope none of my recent photos keep you up at night.

Here‘s something else you can try if you can’t get back to sleep at night:

 

You could also focus on gratitude. Sincerely, gratitude always helps.