I’ve written in this blog before about the Topic of Sleep — like here, here, here, and here, and less directly in other posts, too.
Sleep does seem to be An Issue for me these days. As a matter of fact, I’m seeing a Sleep Specialist this week (for the first time ever). So, of course, sleep is more on my mind.
Also, several people I work with in individual and group therapy have been talking more about sleep lately.
Sleep is in the air.
I think that’s enough of a reasonable introduction for this post. So without further ado, it’s Random Thought Time!
Moving the clocks back (or forward) screws people up.
Man, people in general have seemed “off” this past week, in so many different ways. I ran a group on Tuesday where EVERYBODY was late, by a substantial amount. That would have seemed quite weird, except “duh!” we turned the clocks forward last Saturday. And people have been talking more about sleep problems this past week. People have been more forgetful. I was definitely more emotional.
We seem to negotiate our ways through the world by taking in cues that help keep us on track and safer. I imagine disrupting any of those cues — like an hour suddenly disappearing — poof! — like a magic trick (where did it go?) — would put us off balance.
We never know how we are interacting with the world when we’re asleep, unless somebody tells us.
What kind of sleeper are you? Are you restless? Do you snore? Do you talk in your sleep? Do you look like you’re making balloon animals or do people consider calling 911?
Unless you have a video camera set up in your room, you’ve heard information regarding “You, While Sleeping” from other people — either experts or people you know in a rather intimate fashion.
And when you find out information that surprises you, that’s a little disconcerting, isn’t it? When somebody you love (or are paying for their expertise) (which could cover several circumstances) starts a sentence like this:
“Did you know that when you’re sleeping, you …..”
Don’t we cringe a little? Whatever the hell follows that opening, like …
- … say rude things about the President
- … look so peaceful
- … snore like a lumberjack
- … seem smarter
- … look disturbingly like my cousin Flo
- … poke me repeatedly in the abdomen
- … perplex the cat
- … wake up, every six minutes, screaming
- … are adorable
- … try to eat the pillow, or
- … do something that none of us in the Sleep Research Foundation have ever seen, so can we have your autograph?
… it’s going to re-cast our self-image, in some way.
Which can take some work, right? Also, this might be a Prime Time for self-judgmental thoughts. Let’s watch out for those, shall we?
Sleep is one of those “natural things we all do” that nobody seems to know how to do these days.
I guess I have nothing else to add to THAT.
I mean, I could list lots of other things we are all supposed to be born knowing how to do, that still seem difficult, to the extent that lots of people are making lots of money helping us do them, but …. nah.
It’s time to wrap this post up.
Chances are that the topic of sleep will be creeping back into this blog, pretty soon. Especially since I’ll be meeting with an expert, this week.
Thanks for being here, dear reader. And may you sleep the sleep of the innocent and the satisfied, all your nights. (Even if you look and sound really weird while doing that.)
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 