PREPARING THE MIND FOR SLEEP
Sleep, gentle sleep, how have I frighted thee?
SHAKESPEARE.
Not long ago I heard a young lady say that it was simply impossible for
any woman to look charming or to be agreeable right after getting up in
the morning. The Rev. Dr. Bushnell declared that "a man must be next to
a devil who wakes angry." The way we feel when we awake in the morning
depends on how we were feeling or thinking when we went to sleep.
If we retire holding a grudge against a neighbor, with a resolve to "get
square" with somebody who has injured us; if we have hatred or jealousy
in our heart; if we are envious of another's success, and if we go to
sleep nursing these feelings, we awake in a depressed, exhausted state,
feeling bitter, pessimistic, irritable, unhappy, about as nearly like a
devil as it is possible for a human being to feel. The destroyer was at
work all night, running amuck among the delicate brain and nerve cells,
furiously tearing down what beneficent Nature had taken such pains to
upbuild. But, when we take pleasant, kindly, loving thoughts to bed with
us we awake refreshed, in a happy, contented frame of mind. Our
sleepless faculties spent the hours in upbuilding, performing friendly
offices for us during the night.
Few people ever think of preparing the mind for sleep, yet it is even
more necessary than it is to prepare the body. Most of us take great
pains to put the latter in order; we undress, take a warm bath, massage
the face with some sort of refreshening salve, cold cream, or oil; we
make sure that our sleeping room is properly ventilated and that our bed
is clean and comfortable, but to the matter of preparing our minds we
don't give a thought.
Instead of making our subconscious mental processes build for us in the
night, we allow them to tear down much of what we have built during the
day. Many of us grow old, haggard and wrinkled in the night, when just
the reverse ought to be the case, for Nature herself has ordained that
night should be the building, the renewing, time of life.
If we were only to prepare the mind for sleep with the same intelligence
and care that we prepare the body; if we were to give it a cleansing
mental bath, wiping from memory's slate all black, discordant pictures,
all the worries and fears which vexed and perplexed us during the day
instead of having the nightmare panorama passing and repassing before us
during the night, robbing us of needed rest and neutralizing our
upbuilding, recuperative forces, what a difference it would make in our
achievement, in our lives!
I know men whose lives have been revolutionized by adopting the practice
of putting themselves in a harmonious condition, getting in tune with
the Infinite before going to sleep. Formerly they were in the habit of
retiring in a bad mood, tired, discouraged over anticipated evils,
worrying about all sorts of things. They would discuss their misfortunes
at night with their wives and then fall to thinking over the unfortunate
conditions in their affairs, their mistakes, and the possible evil
consequences that might result from them. Naturally, their minds were
in an upset condition when they fell asleep, and, as might have been
expected, the melancholy, black, ugly pictures of the misfortunes they
feared, vividly exaggerated in the stillness of the night, became etched
deeper and deeper on their brains and did their baleful work, making
real rest and reinvigoration absolutely impossible. When they reformed
their habits, changed their thought, and retired in a peaceful frame of
mind with the intention of going to sleep, instead of tossing about
thinking of their troubles, their business straightway began to improve.
They were stronger, fresher, more vigorous, more resourceful, better
able to cope with difficulties, to make plans and to carry them out than
when they were depleting their physical and mental resources by robbing
themselves of their best friend, Nature's restorative,--sleep.
Many people tell me they cannot stop thinking after they go to bed.
Their brains are so active, doing their next day's work, that they
cannot stop the mental processes for hours.
Of course you cannot stop all thinking the first night you begin to form
the new habit, when you have practiced the old night-thinking habit for
years; when perhaps as far back as you can remember you have gone to bed
every night worrying, worrying, thinking, thinking, planning, planning
ahead for days, for weeks, for months, planning ahead perhaps for the
coming year. But if you persist, and make it a cast iron rule to allow
no anxieties or fears, no business troubles or discords of any kind to
enter your bed chamber, you will succeed in accomplishing your object.
Think of your chamber as the one place sacred to rest, where the things
that trouble and harass and vex during the daytime shall find no
entrance. Put this legend over the door, or in some conspicuous place
where you can see it. "This is my holy of holies, the place of supreme
peace and power in my life from which all discord must be shut out."
When you undress and lie down, say to yourself, "I have done my best
during the day. Now I am going to drop thinking, drop worrying and
planning, and get good, refreshing sleep to prepare me for to-morrow's
work."
Clear your mind not only of all anxious, worrying business thoughts, but
also of all ill will or hatred toward another. Resolve that you will
not harbor an unpleasant, bitter or unkind thought of any human being,
that you will wipe off the slate of your memory everything you have ever
had against any one; that you will forget whatever is unpleasant in the
past and start with a clean slate. Just imagine that the words
"Harmony," "Peace," "Love," "Good Will to every living creature," are
emblazoned in letters of light all over the walls of your room. Repeat
them over and over until that other self, that personal secretary just
below the threshold of your consciousness, becomes saturated with the
ideas they convey, and after a while you will drop into slumber with a
serene, poised mind, a mind filled with happy, joyous, creative
thoughts.
Of course, until the new habit is fixed, thoughts will intrude
themselves in spite of you, but you needn't harbor them. You needn't
allow yourself, under any circumstances, to go on thinking about
business or any discordant thing after you retire any more than you
would allow a madman to slash you with a knife without making any
attempt to defend yourself. You can, if you only persist in the new and
better way, fall asleep every night like a tired child, and awake in
the morning just as refreshed and happy. Your subconscious self will,
after a while, carry out your behests without any conscious effort on
your part. This sleepless subconscious self is, in fact, one of the most
effective agents man has to help him accomplish whatever he desires.
Insomnia, for instance, which is the curse of so many Americans, may be
entirely overcome by its aid.
If you are a victim of insomnia, and go to bed every night with the
thought firmly fixed in your consciousness that you are not going to
sleep, you are, to a great extent, the victim of your belief. The
conviction in your subconscious mind that there is something the matter
with your sleeping ability is largely responsible for the continuance of
your trouble.
We know by experience that we can convince ourselves of almost anything
by affirming it long enough and often enough. The constant repetition,
after a while, establishes the belief in our minds that the thing is
true. We can establish the sleep habit just as easily as any other
habit.
It is perfectly possible by means of affirmation, the constant
repetition in heart to heart talks with yourself to regain your power to
sleep normally. Your subconscious self, that side of your nature which
presides over the involuntary or automatic functions during sleep, as
well as while you are awake, as, for instance, walking, and other things
which do not require volition of the mind or especial will power, can be
made to obey your commands, or rather suggestions, to overcome insomnia.
Say to this inner self: "You know there is no reason why you should not
sleep. There is no defect in your physical or mental make-up which keeps
you awake. You ought to sleep soundly so many hours every night. There
is no reason why you should not, and you are going to do so to-night."
Repeat similar affirmations during the day. Say to yourself, "This
sleeplessness is only a bad habit. If you were ill physically or
mentally, if you had any serious defect in your nervous system which
would give any excuse for insomnia, it would be a different thing, but
you haven't anything of the sort. You are simply the slave of a
senseless obsession and you are going to break it up. You are going to
begin right away. You are going to sleep better to-night, to-morrow
night, and the next night. You are going to get through with this bogie
you have built up in your imagination which has no existence in reality.
Nothing keeps you awake but your conviction, your fear, that you are not
going to sleep."
Prepare your mind for sleep in the way already suggested by emptying it
of all worry and fear, all envy and uncharitableness, everything that
disturbs, irritates, or excites. Crowd these out with thoughts of joy,
of good cheer, of things which will help and inspire. Compose yourself
with the belief that you will go to sleep easily and naturally; relax
every muscle and say to yourself in a quiet drowsy voice, "I am so
sleepy, so sleepy, so sleepy." The subconscious self will listen and in
a short time will automatically put your suggestion into practice.
It is needless to say that if insomnia is a result of bad or irregular
habits, the victim must first of all change his habits before he can
expect any relief.
Man is a bundle of habits. We perform most of our life functions with
greater or less regularity, so that they become practically automatic.
Regularity, system, order are imperative for our health, our success and
our happiness. This is especially true in regard to sleep. We must keep
regular hours, be systematic in our habits, or our sleep is likely to
suffer.
If you play as hard as you work, refresh and rejuvenate yourself by
pleasant recreation and a jolly good time when your work is done, and
then at a regular hour every night prepare your mind for sleep, just as
you would prepare your body, give it a mental bath and clothe it in
beautiful thoughts, you will in a short time establish the habit of
sound, peaceful, refreshing sleep.
Whatever else you do, or do not, form the habit of making a call on the
Great Within of yourself before retiring. Leave there the message of
up-lift, of self-betterment and self-enlargement, that which you yearn
for and long to realize but do not know just how to attain. Registering
this call, this demand for something higher and nobler, in your
subconsciousness, putting it right up to yourself, will work like a
leaven during the night; and, after a while, all the building forces
within you will unite in furthering your aim; in helping you to realize
your vision, whatever it may be.
The period of sleep may be made a wonderful period of growth, for the
mind as well as for the body. It is a time when you can attract your
desires; it is a propitious time to nurse your vision.
Instead of making an enemy of your subconscious self by giving it
destructive thoughts to work with, explosives that will destroy much of
what you have accomplished during the day, make it your friend by giving
it strong, creative, helpful thoughts with which to go on creating,
building for you during the night.
There are marvelous possibilities for health and character, success and
happiness building, during sleep. Every thought dropped into the
subconscious mind before we go to sleep is a seed that will germinate in
the night while we are unconscious and ultimately bring forth a harvest
of its kind. By impressing upon it our desires, picturing as vividly as
possible our ideals, what we wish to become, and what we long to
accomplish, we will be surprised to see how quickly that wonderful
force in the subjective self will begin to shape the pattern, to copy
the model which it is given. In this way we can correct habits which are
wounding our self-respect, humiliating us, marring our usefulness and
efficiency, perhaps sapping our lives. We can get rid of faults and
imperfections; we can strengthen our weak faculties and overcome vicious
tendencies which the will power may not be strong enough to correct in
the daytime.
If, as now seems clear, the subconscious mind can build or destroy, can
make us happy or miserable according to the pattern we give it before
going to sleep, if it can solve the problems of the inventor, of the
discoverer, of the troubled business man, why do we not use it more? Why
do we not avail ourselves of this tremendous mysterious force for life
building, character building, success building, happiness building,
instead of for life destroying?
One reason is that we are only just beginning to discover that we can
control this secondary self or intelligence, which regulates all the
functions of the body without the immediate orders of the objective
self. We are getting a glimpse of what it is capable of doing by
experiments upon hypnotized subjects, when the objective mind, the mind
which gets most of its material through the five senses is shut off and
the other, the subjective mind, is in control. We are finding that it is
comparatively easy while a person is in a hypnotic state to make
wonderful changes in disposition, and to correct vicious habits, mental
and moral defects, through suggestion.
There is no doubt that so far as the subjective mind is concerned we are
in a similar condition when asleep as when in a hypnotic trance, and
experiments have shown that marvelous results are possible, especially
in the case of children, by talking to them, during their sleep,
advising them, counseling them, suggesting things that are for their
good.
Parents should teach their children how to prepare their minds for sleep
so that the subconscious self would create, produce something beautiful
instead of the black, discordant images of fear which so often terrorize
little ones before they fall asleep and when they wake up in the dark
hours of the night. How often have we noticed the troubled, fear-full
expression on the face of a sleeping child, who was sent to bed with
anger thoughts, with fear thoughts in its mind after a severe scolding
or perhaps a whipping.
A child should never be scolded or frightened, or teased, especially
just before bedtime. It should be encouraged to fall asleep in its
sweetest, happiest mood, in the spirit of love. Then its sleeping face
will reflect the love spirit and the child will awaken in the same
spirit, as though it had been talking with angels while it slept.
Children are peculiarly susceptible to the influence of our thoughts,
our suggestions to them during sleep. Their character can be molded to a
great extent, their ability developed, their faults eradicated, and
their weak points strengthened during sleep. In some ways the
suggestions made to them in that state have more effect than those made
to them when awake, because while the objective mind often scatters and
fails to reproduce what is presented to it, the subjective mind
gradually absorbs and reflects every suggestion. Many mothers have found
this true, especially in correcting bad habits which seemed almost
impossible to reach while the children were awake.
If you want to make your child beautiful in character, in disposition,
in person, think beautiful thoughts into its mind as it falls asleep;
speak to it of beautiful things while it sleeps. I believe the time will
come when much of the child's training will be effected during sleep.
Its æsthetic faculties, the love of music, of art, of all things noble
and beautiful, special talents, and latent possibilities of all kinds
will be developed through suggestion.
In the marvelous interior creative forces lies the great secret of life,
and blessed is he who findeth it. Doubly blessed is he who findeth it at
the start of life.