Listening to the Night Owl:An Exploration of Insomnia

by C.A. Bryson

‘Sleep no more!

Macbeth doth murder sleep, the innocent sleep,

Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care,

The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,

Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,

Chief nourisher in life’s feast.’

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc.2 l.36

William Shakespeare

Ah yes, that ‘ravelled sleave of care’. And how timely given recent events. Yes we are definitely feeling those ‘slings and arrows’ of life that Shakespeare wrote about so long ago. Personally, I swear by paint-by-numbers and crochet for late-night relaxation. But everyone is different in the way they wind down for the night. It’s an art though, it really is. Sleep is an art as well as a science. That’s why I like Paul McKenna’s 2009 book: ‘I Can Make You Sleep.’ It includes a hypnosis CD (more than likely available for download online now that CDs are just about obsolete.) McKenna has this really simple (but deceptively so, as it’s based on science); approach to improving your sleep: he likens it to a child on a swing. There’s momentum from the push as the swing goes up, and momentum as the swing then goes down. Up and down, up and down, in a kind of sing-song rhythm. (Actually his whole book is written in a sing-song way. He writes that he did that deliberately so that readers would not only gain insight into better sleep but feel sleepy just reading his book!)

His program contains these 3 parts:

1. Eliminate sleep disruptors

2. Introduce sleep enhancers

3. Optimize the sleep environment

Basically, I’ll summarize the highlights of his book with a few of my own insights or knowledge I have gleaned from reading the sleep literature:

· Try to get to sleep before Midnight. The reason is that after Midnight it’s harder to fall asleep. You wouldn’t think that but it’s true. So begin winding down around 10:00 or 10:30 pm, if you can.

· Go to sleep only when you are sleepy. I know this contradicts what I said above but it’s a balance. Yes, go to sleep early if you can, but if you don’t feel drowsy, don’t feel like you have to go to bed because it’s late. Get up at the same time each day and try to avoid sleeping in on the weekend. Tempting, I know. In fact, if you can get up a little earlier, so much the better because that will ‘prime the pump’ for a good night’s rest (remember the swing analogy)

· Try to exercise three times a week for 20 min each time. Even if you just go for a 15-minute walk around the block, it’ll help. Not only that, but the extra steps you get from a brief walk will keep your weight down as well. Also, exposure to daylight will reset your sleep rhythm.

· Here’s an obvious one, but I’ll mention it anyway because it’s so crucial: cut down on caffeine if you can. Even if you just switch that mid-afternoon ‘slump’ cup of coffee to tea, it’ll help.

· When I make the mistake of going to bed a bit too early because I’m worried I won’t get enough sleep, I often lie awake. If this is the case, I get up and do some painting. But you do what works for you. I also find folding laundry to be a very soothing nighttime activity. Just not anything too stimulating and try to stay off your devices if you can. It also helps to dim the lights 15 minutes before bed. Oh, and stay away from late-night news! My Mum used to watch CNN late at night, and then she’d lie awake. Well, no wonder! All those explosions and near escapes, who wouldn’t lie awake?

· Finally, keep your bedroom dark, minimize noise. Stay warm, if it’s winter (but not too warm), and stay cool, if it’s summer. Don’t go to bed ‘stuffed or starved’, is what the experts say.

The next piece I will share with you is another technique I have found helpful which is to schedule worry time. The following are the steps you need to follow. For the full article, see:

Worry Time: How to Schedule Your Anxieties

Worry Time : How to Schedule Your Anxieties

· A CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) concept

· Purpose: to control obsessive thoughts

1. Schedule the time: between 15 and 30 minutes. (But don’t schedule worry time just before bed!)

2. Write down your thoughts so you can see exactly what’s troubling you (besides which, the mere act of handwriting is actually soothing)

3. Keep worries inside worry time (but don’t get upset if you happen to worry outside worry time)

4. At the end of the week, go back and read the things you wrote down during your scheduled worry time (tip: Also schedule an ‘end of the week’ reflection on your weekly worries)

5. Finally, make this a long-term routine. (Note: you don’t need to have an anxiety disorder to schedule worry time)

Now, I leave you with an excerpt from Robert Frost’s poem ‘Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening’ (a kind of bedtime lullaby for you):

‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.’

Thanks for reading. Did you know that just reading a book for 20 minutes will calm your anxiety? It’s true, it’s been proven.

Walking Through an Enchanted Forest: The Healing Power of Nature

By C.A. Bryson

• 

• 

‘Over the cool wet grass

Where the river passes, carrying

The melted white of hillsides, down

Cedar swamp and maple-sugar bush and

Soft limestone

Gleaming dimly gold

Up through black water

And the sun, and

The water

Tumbling white gold black

Over the limestone…’

(Excerpt from the poetry of my father, D.M. Bryson)

You can just picture it, can’t you? The images my father evoked in poetry from so long ago. Yet you can picture that scene: suddenly you feel a sense of awe, beauty, and then, a sense of calm serenity, almost a century ago…

Fast-forward to 2020, and I came across the following headline: ‘Free Nature Therapy Offered to Pandemic-stressed Health Care Workers.’ (Margaret Gallagher, CBC News, December 13, 2020)

‘Forest bathing’, the Japanese word for which is ‘shinrin-oku’, was developed in Japan in the 1980s. Nature therapy is described as ‘a purposeful, meditative connection with nature.’

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/free-nature-therapy-pandemic-stress

In other words as Gallagher writes: ‘slow down to nature’s time.’

From the poem excerpt you can sense my father’s inherent love of natural beauty (also called ‘biophilia’). Indeed, a simple 15-minute walk in nature (or anywhere beautiful or awe-inspiring, such as Chartres Cathedral in France), has the following effect:

· Increased contentment

· Increased pro-social attunement

· Increased sense of altruism

· Decreased stress

· Increased overall well-being

Here are some suggestions for beautiful places you might like to explore:

Natural settings:

· Hike up a mountain

· Walk along a trail

· Walk along the ocean shore

· Watch the stars

· Watch a beautiful sunrise or sunset

Urban settings:

· Climb to the top of a skyscraper

· Visit an historic monument

· Go for an art walk

· Visit a botanical garden or zoo

· Just walk around with no destination in mind

· Or walk a labyrinth

Indoor:

· Explore a museum

· Visit a planetarium or aquarium

· Visit an historic monument or cathedral

Or, turn off your phone and go somewhere new. Tap into your child-like sense of wonder.

Here’s a few reasons why you might benefit from a nature or ‘awe’ walk:

· It connects you to something larger

· It decreases negative moods

· Increased happiness

· Increased generosity

· Less self-focused

· Less bogged down by day-to-day concerns

And, if all else fails, just go out and walk around the block for 5-10 minutes. You’d be surprized by how such an activity can give your mind a break and refresh your whole body/mind/spirit, and in fact ‘re-boot’ your mindset.

I leave you with the following quote:

‘When human beings lose their connection to nature, to heaven and earth, then they do not know how to nurture their environment or how to rule their world—which is saying the same thing. Human beings destroy their ecology at the same time that they destroy one another.’

From that perspective, healing our society goes hand in hand with healing our personal, elemental connection with the phenomenal world.’

(Chögyam Trungpa, ‘Shambala: The Path of the Warrior’)

Light in the Season of Darkness : Recollection of X-Mas 2020

By C.A. Bryson

“Dad and I made a gingerbread house, using a kit from Germany (see image above). I didn’t have a piping bag for the icing and it wasn’t included in the kit, so we just used a spoon. Oh well, at least the house held.”

In January the following lines came to me suddenly:

Day by day, time marches on,

The presents under the tree are gone…

It’s always a bit of a let-down when the lights and the tree are gone, but, looking back on it, I think the holidays this year were special, unique in our history, so I’d like to present my recollections, as well as a relaxation poem (I hope you like it!)

• As of December 23, 2020, Canada Post delivered 2 million packages to places across Canada.
• Dad and I made a gingerbread house, using a kit from Germany (see image above). I didn’t have a piping bag for the icing and it wasn’t included in the kit, so we just used a spoon. Oh well, at least the house held.
• I get a vision for an idea to help the more needy of our society.  Then 3 days later I read: ‘It’s not what life can do for you, but what you can do for life.’ Appropriate I thought, for the season of giving. Though of course, the holidays are also about receiving, and gratitude for friends and family, and a comfortable home to keep out the cold.
• I finished J.R. Tolkien’s book ‘Lord of the Rings’, all 600-odd pages of it. There are elves and terrifying creatures called ‘orcs’, dwarves and hobbits. At one point the main character, a hobbit named Frodo, leaves the comfort and security of his home (called the ‘Shire’), to travel and fight for the forces of good in the world. He ventures down a river with his companions, facing all kinds of dangers. Isn’t life similar in a way? Venturing down the river of life, not knowing where you’re going to end up, leaving the safety and familiarity of the shore? It reminded me of what I’m learning in a course on Buddhism with Pema Chödrön.
• New Year’s Eve, Dad and I get out our party hats, noise makers, different coloured garlands. I saw no reason why COVID should prevent us from celebrating the new year (the Year of the Monkey in Chinese astrology). For one thing my Dad, who is now past 88 years old, is still in pretty good shape for his age. That night, I meditate on choice. What does choice mean to me? To me, having choice in life validates my humanness: I have a right to choose, I have agency, autonomy. It seemed important to me at the time, as I contemplated the year ahead.

Here is an excerpt from my poem ‘The Light is in Our Faces’, composed December 14, 2020:

The lights are shimmering

In the portraits of our ancestors

The light is dancing on their faces

In the light, they live on

And I would have them here

To make merry on Christmas.

I would hear their voices

And their laughter

And we would be together

Across the ages. One family,

One history, our never-ending

Story.

…

So let us be glad this Christmas

That we are together

As a family

If only in the ether

Of space. Let us be proud

Of our history. And let us never

Ever forget the light

In our faces.

It turns out this year that my brother sent us an ‘elf dance’ that he had concocted on his cell phone: he and his wife dressed up in elf suits, dancing to a holiday tune. Very amusing and ‘light’. And considering Canada spends upwards of $51 billion annually on mental illness, a little elf dancing goes a long way!

My best to you all, in the hopes that your holiday brought light into your life also.