The wages of insomnia, the beauty of sleep.

Sleep is a delicious and precious and thing, isn’t it? It permits us a few precious moments of respite from the world, a heavenly journey into dreams and alternate worlds that we cannot even think of visiting in our lives in the real world. Some among us who are tired, or those who have been through difficult times in life – perhaps having lost motivation or a felt a career or personal setback – sometimes look forward to sleep as a moment of escape from life’s challenges, another country full of possibility different from the rather dreary prospects of our daily lives, or at least they seem dreary.

For some of us, though, sleep is not something that comes easily. Whether we have anxious feelings about work or our personal lives, or are simply feeling the impact of the changing of the seasons or the full moon – for some of us sleep is a country we have to work very hard to visit. Indeed, when insomnia strikes, we tell ourselves that we should really be sleeping, that it is somehow our fault that we are not. Or we think about all the things that being tired the next day will stop us from doing, and that gets us down.

Sometimes a streak of insomnia will last a week, as I recently experienced, and it becomes something to overcome. When you do, as you will inevitably do, you sleep through the night and some of the morning, and wake up feeling refreshed. What an extraordinary moment. That feeling of refreshment is worth more than a fleet of sports cars, or a pasha’s tent.

Why? Because sleep means peace of mind for us. It means rest. It means inner quiet and serenity. It means that we feel right in the world, that somehow neither today nor the prospect of tomorrow seem worrisome.

Sleep is the bridge between our days, the raft that takes us across the river separating periods of wakeful time. We can live several lives during our sleep, and when we are in a good emotional place, that can be enlivening. It can make waking up seem exciting, and new day something to look forward to, rather than dread.

Sleep is a beautiful thing. I wish you a good sleep and beautiful, inspiring dreams.

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