Insomnia

I’ve always been a light sleeper.

I remember when I was little and I went to a friends house for a sleepover. A spider crawled over my hand during the middle of the night (we were on the floor in sleeping bags) and it woke me up.

The pattern continues today. Sounds, movement…I can’t sleep through any of it.

3 AM seems to be the witching hour Creativity likes to visit as well. Apparently, it likes a hard REM reset, and then it goes gangbusters.

It used to drive me crazy.

My eyes would fly open during those crazy hours of the morning, and then I’d curse my racing mind. I knew I’d be up until it my family awoke.

Over the last year, however, I have tried a different approach.

“What if,” I thought, “I embraced it?”

Now when I wake up in the wee hours of the morning, I smile and say, “Good morning. What wonderful ideas do you have me for today?”

Usually, Creativity comes through, although I never know if it will be something to do with houses or painting or a lesson I’m working on. I welcome it all. I make mental notes or even get up and write my ideas down. I’m trying to let it be my new meditation.

And when there’s nothing (it happens), I politely tell it that I’d like to go back to sleep.

This is a much gentler way to live, and I’m enjoying it thoroughly. In fact, it’s starting to amuse me.