What is Sleep?
A common question of today’s parent, whether you are nursing an older baby in the wee hours or can’t sleep because your teen has stayed out a little late.
This fact is clear: parenting does not end when the moon and stars grace the sky.
And that sometimes results in what may seem to be not enough sleep.
When nights become tense because sleep fails to set in the way we’d like, try to find the feeling of Supersedent Sleep.
For parents with young ones, create a safe place near you for them to explore and allow yourself to rest until you feel the peace just before sleep. When you feel pulled further towards the desired state (sleep!), do not resist, yet allow yourself to remain aware of your surroundings as you stay barely awake. Even if you must get up and tend to something, revel in the tranquil feeling of Supersedent Sleep.
If stressful thoughts creep in, repeat these truths:
- When I rest my mind, my body rests also
- With a rested mind and body, I respond more clearly to myself and children
Accept that while your idea of sleep may not be totally realized right now, Supersedent Sleep will not only do… it will bring much needed relief when you let it.
Posts at Innate Wholeness are shared with the intention of creating a shift in awareness. Please take what speaks to you and leave the rest. Thanks!
Hi Amy, I had an experience with this 2 nights ago that I wanted to share.
I read this from you years ago, and have always remmebered it and tried it to some degree when something was keeping me awake.
2 days ago, my son got a really bad croupy cough. He coughed a bit during the day and a lot once we tried to get to sleep.
We have dealt with this before with him and didn’t see a need to go to the er (as we have before in the middle of the night) so we planned to go to the urgent care clinic in the morning.
He was able to sleep from 4 am to 7 am and so, so was I. At 7, I got up and tried to get him as comfy as possible and got him water and medications, etc, hoping he would be able to go back to sleep.
He wasn’t able. He coughed every 10 seconds, a loud, barking, jarring cough. At about 9 am, I gave up trying to get him back to sleep and decided to just wait it out until my husband came home with the car so we could go to urgent care. I knew it would be about a one and a half hour wait.
I laid on the bed next to him while he coughed and watched a DVD.
I had no plans for sleep. I knew I couldn’t. I just wanted to rest. And you know what? I entered a restful state that can only be described as completely relaxed, but totally aware, and quite refreshing. For that whole one and a half hours I was awake, with my eyes closed, still, and relaxed.
And, for the whole day, in spite of getting only 3 hours of sleep, that state followed me. I was tired, but I never felt on the verge of losing control or getting upset (which is how I usually would have been with 3 hours of sleep). Funny, my son was also quite calm and happy all day in spite of getting no sleep.
So, night falls again, and although I am looking forward to bed, I can tell it is not coming soon. He is still coughing the loud barking cough every couple of minutes.
I stay with him and play with him and watch tv with him. We hole up in a room with a vaporizer. When he wants food I make it for him … I still had that relaxed state going on, even as 10 pm and 11 pm come. As my husband goes to bed.
Every once in a while I mentioned that I am looking forward to sleep because I am so tired but I never once tried to put my son to bed because the night before when I had laid him down and tried to get him to sleep earlier in the evening he coughed so hard he threw up.
I didn’t want to risk that again and I knew he would have the best idea of when he could actually sleep.
As the night wore on and he relaxed he coughed less and less. I just hung out with him and laid down next to him and made sure to stop any thoughts that started trying to say “oh my God, what if we don’t sleep again?” and etc.
At 1 am he tried to lay down himself and that caused him to cough so hard he threw up, so he say up in a lazy boy chair and watched another dvd. at 2 am I made him and I an egg.
at 3:30 am he turned off the computer and slept sitting up in the chair.
I slept too. I was up in 4 hours helping him to sit back up (he had slouched and was coughing hard) and every couple of hours after that he coughed a few times and I would wake up and listen.
And at noon I got up and felt rested enough to be up for good. He is still sleeping. and I feel fine
I guess my whole point with this is that supersedent sleep can be as refreshing as regular deep sleep, and do even more for your awake mind.
My other point is that when I don’t resist what’s going on, even if it can seem problematic, things are much sweeter.
My son told me several times in the last 2 days how much he loves me and how I’m the greatest mom ever (I’m probably not, but this experience has brought us very close).
And I feel good
January 18th, 2011 permalinkThank you for sharing, Lisa
Your experience demonstrates this inner aliveness beautifully.
January 18th, 2011 permalink