Sssh. Time To Go To Sleep

I am a constant thinker. It is not unusual for me to fall asleep with my mind on one or several issues. Normally once my weariness gives way to sleep land – the thoughts go wherever they go until they come to mind the next day. Recently I noticed something that troubled me; I could wake up in the middle of the night to grab a shot of diet Pepsi or visit the little girl’s room and face a startling realization. That realization – I awoke with the thought I fell asleep on still in full motion. I would awake to find that my mind was paused mid-sentence or mid-thought and I simply continued thinking.

Desperate to assure that I was merely tripping and not headed for a mental or physical breakdown - I mentioned my new sleep habit to a nurse friend of mine. She listened, simultaneously checking my pulse and said – “You are at a very dangerous stress point. What is going on?” What is going on? That little question consumed my thoughts for the majority of that night. There was in fact a lot going on – but nothing so major that I should be stressed to this degree. Still, there had to be something preventing my mind from reaching its normal point of rest. The lack of rest compounded the stress and every pertinent medical level began to reach volatile levels: blood pressure, cholesterol, glycemic. What is going on?

I had to admit that professionally I was in a situatio
I could not control, correct or even enhance. That position, however, was in contrast to my corporate training to work diligently always, troubleshoot and correct regularly, assess and shift or terminate as needed, learn and apply constantly. So I surmised that in the lack of mental and physical rest, there was a battle raging. The realization of the mind-pause as opposed to rest – signaled that I needed to take notice of the battle. How can you correct a situation you have no control over and eventually understand it’s a situation that isn’t your responsibility to correct, control or make better? You remove yourself from the situation. You determine that the faith you have in divinity and in yourself are strong enough to beat the moment at hand and provide for the moments to come. You remove yourself from the situation and trust that the vision you have for yourself is powerful enough to catch you.

In the realization, we have to figure out – what in the world is going on. You must ask - what is rocking my mental, emotional and physical existence so much that my mind and body are not resting? What is the literally putting my mind on pause until my open eyes simply activate the play button continuing the intellectual stream? Is it worth major body functions reaching dangerous levels? Sometimes we allow the opposed-to-self demands of life to place us on an unintentional suicide path. The unintentional suicide is thwarted when something like uninterrupted thoughts in the midst of sleep become our life paddles; reinvigorating that which was dying but really was meant to thrive.

I’ve often heard people say ‘each day you wake up you have another chance to get it right.’ That’s one of the most comforting statements when you consider that no matter how detrimental the error was today, if you wake up tomorrow you have the opportunity to fix it. You have a responsibility to take the life that God breathes into you and live it according to your vision and purpose. The really great thing about it is – it is yours – not your boss’, friend’s, family’s – but yours. It is your vision, your dream, your divine purpose, your life calling. So sssh it is time to go to sleep so that you can wake up and take hold of your new chance. Good morning.