Do you ever go to bed at night completely exhausted and wanting seven or eight hours of sleep, and three hours later you’re still wide awake? Or do you sometimes fall asleep only to wake up refreshed 30 minutes later? You want to have your wits about you when the day begins; however, you think the way things are going, that might not happen.
A book I purchased in Galway, Ireland gave me a new way of thinking about sleepless nights. Although I don’t have the book with me, I remember a few of the author’s words. She said not to be concerned about losing a night’s sleep, just relax and enjoy the quietness of the night. It’s a soothing way to think. When we can’t sleep we can be still and relaxed, tomorrow will take care of itself. We’ll be fine.
When I don’t fall asleep, I usually do one of two things. I listen to my discs on the POWER OF NOW by Eckhart Tolle www.eckhardttolle.com , or I stay in bed and repeat a beautiful prayer. And when I repeat the words and concentrate on them, a calmness takes over. I give up the noise of the outside world and the thoughts in my head, and get into my own inner world. I read these beautiful words many years ago from a book written by Catherine Ponder, and have since read them in many other books. The prayer:
Be still, and know that I am God.
Be still, and know that I am God at work in this situation
Be still, and know that I am Supreme Good at work in this situation now
Relax, let go and let God
Relax, feel the peace of God
Feel the peace of God’s loving presence
Relax, let go and let God.
“When the mind is very quiet, completely still, when there is not a movement of thought and therefore no experience, no observer, then that very stillness has its own creative understanding. In that stillness the mind is transformed into something else.” -J. Krishnamurti, Indian Philosopher