Tag: ‘the’

A soul cake at 4am…

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A soul, a soul, a soul cake,

Please good missus, a soul cake…..

Endlessly ringing through my head. We were singing this minor key song this evening at choir and it’s turned into an ear worm….

When I went to bed a few hours ago I was determined not to be kept awake by intrusive thoughts. I was going to think of the word ‘the’ over and over again to keep my mind on the straight and narrow path to slumber. It almost worked, but the ‘the’s’ started to form into the Soul cake tune, and soon it took over.

It didn’t help that I’d gone to bed on an almost empty stomach, not feeling well, I’d decided just to eat a couple of sandwiches, and I was being kept awake by the feeling of hunger. I’ve come downstairs for something and ended up eating a tub of curried noodles.

Now I’m sitting in my armchair wondering what to do. I can hear traffic outside and the patter of rain on the ground by my front door, almost like the soft sound as a cat licks itself before settling down to sleep.

Maybe I’ll stay downstairs and hope that I can doze, or go back to bed and try and sleep with the radio murmuring softly. Insomnia is not my friend.

Soon it will be dawn again, things to do. But with the change of the clocks I always feel jet-lagged, unsettled, trying to find my comfortable place.

Maybe writing here, using my thoughts of other things will clip the earworm and stop the repetitive tune. I do hope so. Goodnight.

Lazy days?

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Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?

I don’t so much have lazy days, more procrastinating ones. So in that case they are unproductive. I’m bound with the strings of fear and anxiety, hard to move. I look on and think about what I could do, but I am blocked somehow. I think I have artistic block?

Lazyness would be nice, to just sit and relax, to stop churning thoughts. Your breath settles, you snuggle in your duvet. No thoughts of ‘I must do’ this that and the other.

I love thinking, I do it a lot, my mind is rarely quiet, but I have learnt to think the word ‘the’ over and over, it breaks the train of thought so you can’t fixate on something that’s distracting you. Not lazy, but it assists me getting to sleep. X

I try and meditate

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How do you relax?

I try to meditate at yoga, but I often lose the imagery and fall asleep instead! Somehow the words of different visualisations deeply relax me. Luckily I’ve never had to be woken up, and usually I wake up as soon as the teacher tells us to bring some movement back to our bodies.

I was also given advice about using the word ‘the’ to take your mind off your worries. Basically thinking the word ‘the’ over and over has no context, you can’t attach other ideas onto it. So as I say you lose the worries and you can relax.

Late

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What time do you go to bed and wake up currently?

Early to bed, early to rise, just isn’t me!

I think my circadian rhythm is out, because over the last few months I’ve gone to bed later and later. Then I eventually sleep for a few hours, before waking up around dawn. Then sadly I look at my phone! Spend an hour or so catching up with videos and messages, before falling asleep again and waking up in the late morning.

I don’t want to be this way, I sometimes need to be up and out earlier, but insomnia and an overactive brain can see me struggling to sleep. It doesn’t help that I have to wear a mask at night to help me breathe. I also do have painful joints and my arm is still very shaky and sore (I sound like a wreck!).

One thing to do is to think the word “the” over and over to yourself. This was recommended by my friend and it works when I remember to do it. “the” is a word with no connotations, it interrupts your train of thought and gives your brain time to disengage (at least that’s what I think!).

Anyway hope you all have a good night’s sleep. Best wishes!

Sleep deprived

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I was looking at a friend’s Facebook page and she talked about how some nights she sleeps well but on others she struggles to sleep at all with lots of thoughts flying around inside her mind.

It reminded me of something I now do. I’m not pretending this is a cure for the problem, but it might help? I wrote a comment about sleeping problems: “I get them a lot, but someone told me to think the word ‘the’ over and over again. It takes your mind off other things, while it is innocuous enough not to prompt other thoughts. It doesn’t always work but it certainly helps.”

It’s interesting that I’ve got so old without anyone sharing advice until this suggestion, except the old idea of counting sheep!

Sleep help

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Your mind is muddled, thoughts roll over and through your mind. Repeating over and over the things that went wrong in the day. Things pop into your mind from years ago. This is never ending, you start watching your alarm clock as minutes or hours tick by….

Then you remember, someone told you think of the word ‘THE’ nothing else, just ‘the’… Think of it slowly, over and over again…

Why? I think it’s because the word ‘the’ has no connotations, nothing to cling onto, while you are thinking ‘the’ you can’t think of anything else. It helps block roiling thoughts, and you just drift off to sleep. Honestly, over the last two months it has really helped. I don’t even remember drifting off, but then I sleep quite well….

Sleep and dream.

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Insomnia is a nuisance. It’s upset my sleep pattern for years. I still have trouble sleeping but someone told me a way of trying to alleviate the problem. I was told to think of the word ‘the’ to help me sleep. ‘the’ has nothing to latch onto, so while your brain is thinking of the word ‘the’ it’s hard to think of anything else. It actually seems to work for me.

It’s been a few weeks and I’ve actually found that I can get better sleep. My mind is sneaky though and as I’m starting to drift off it seems to insert the worries I’m trying to avoid, then I have to go back to ‘the’ again…. And sometimes again.

Another effect is that I’m having dreams, lots of them, I can’t remember them, but they seem quite interesting at the time. Maybe I should write them down.